Vino sets his sights on the Olympics
22.07.2004/ Hi everyone,
I have moved with my family into a nice big apartment in Almati because of the better training opportunities. Almati is known to many as Alma-Ata. It's the capital of Kazakhstan and is very nicely situated. To do some mountain training, I can pedal up the Tientschan mountains to the south of Almati. For flat land training, I pedal to the north. The Steppes start there.
Following an operation, I quickly recovered from my shoulder injury. Thanks to the good basic training I did in the springtime, under the supervision of our Team doctor Lothar Heinrich, I feel like I have found my form again very quickly. I will decide today or tomorrow when to go back to Monaco. The Tour of Wallonia starts in Belgium on Monday. It is not such a tough race, and would be a good opportunity for me to return to competition.
The Belgian race could be very important for me. I would like to start the HEW-Cyclassics in Hamburg on August 1st, but that will only be possible if our team boss Mario Kummer is able to make an assessment of my form. If I can't start in Belgium because the shoulder is still not ready for the argy-bargy of competitive racing then I will make my comeback at the Regio-Tour in Germany on August 4th. It will be tough but I want to hit top form in time for the Olympics in Athens on August 14th.
Here in Kazakhstan I have been following the Tour de France on the Eurosport channel and on our Team website. My German is not the best, but fortunately we now have an English version of the site. And, in any case, the results are international.
I was always convinced that Jan Ullrich would fight back in this Tour. I was on the phone to Jan. He was weighed down the whole first week with a cold. Other riders would have given up in these circumstances. Jan persevered. On Tuesday he found his racing legs and his aggressive spirit again. Fortunately for Lance Armstrong he was surrounded by team-mates and he had allies in the CSC boys to chase down Jan.
Nevertheless, I still think that Jan will make the podium in Paris. I can also see Andreas Klöden take my place on the podium alongside Lance Armstrong and Jan.
Good luck, and we'll see each other again soon.
Alex Vinokourov
Source: www.t-mobile-team.com |
