Mar 24, 2006
Vino to Defend Liege Title
Alex Vinokourov has been absent from many races this year choosing instead to train on the mountainous roads around Nice. He made a recent appearance at Paris-Nice while out on a training ride, but only to say hello to his teammates and other pals. Before this week Vino has not slapped a racing number on his new Liberty Seguros team kit.
This focus on training is all geared to winning the Tour de France in July, a tough task considering he is not a Time Trial specialist.
Currently there is a rare Vino sighting in Spain, where the Kazak leads the Tour of Castille and Leon. His training seems to be paing off with good form. So, with his current good form, Vino will try to carry it over to defending the Liege Bastongne Liege title that he won last year.
Vino will not have to worry about getting the glue from the racing numbers off his light blue and yellow Kazak champions kit too much this year. After Liege, Vino will only race the Daupine Libere as a tune up to the Tour. Gee, I think even Lance Armstrong did more racing leading up to the Tour than what Vino is doing this year.