Denis Menshov

Denis Nikolayevich Menshov (often mistakenly romanized as Menchov, ; born 25 January 1978) is a former professional Russian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2000 and 2013. He was best known as a general classification rider, a climber and an accomplished time trialist. In 2005 he finished second in the Vuelta a España and in 2007 he finished as the champion. He also won the centenary Giro d'Italia in 2009 and finished second in the Tour de France in 2010 becoming the first Russian to do so. He was later disqualified from that Tour de France, as well as the 2009 and 2012 editions, owing to adverse biological passport findings.

Professional career

Banesto (2000–2004)

Born in Oryol, Menchov started his professional career in 2000 with the team of José Miguel Echavarri. His first success came in 2001, when he won the Tour de l'Avenir, a stage race for young professionals. A year later he won a stage in the Dauphiné Liberé. In 2003, Menchov had his breakthrough when he finished 11th in the Tour de France, and won the young rider classification. 2004 was his last year at Banesto and his most successful. He won Tour of the Basque Country, a stage in Vuelta a Aragón, a stage in Paris–Nice and stage five in the 2004 Vuelta a España, from Zaragoza to Morella.

Rabobank (2005–2010) Menchov's contract ran out in September 2004 and he moved to the Dutch Rabobank team for two years. He became team captain following Levi Leipheimer's departure to Gerolsteiner. Menchov was Rabobank's main contender for the 2005 Tour de France, but due to a cold, he finished 85th, 2h 35m behind Lance Armstrong. His 2005 Vuelta was more successful. He won the opening time trial to Granada and the stage nine time trial to Lloret de Mar, and wore the leader's jersey. On the fifteen stage, he lost sight of Roberto Heras on a climb and ended the race second behind Heras. Heras was later disqualified for doping, and Menchov received the official win of the 2005 Vuelta, but the title was given back to Heras in 2012. He also captured the event's Combined Classification.

In the 2006 Tour de France Menchov won the 11th stage – the second mountain stage – from Tarbes to Aran Valley–Pla-de-Beret after a sprint with Leipheimer and Floyd Landis. The final week took its toll and he dropped from 3rd to 6th in the Alps. He later moved up to 5th overall after the disqualification of race winner Floyd Landis.

Menchov abandoned the 2007 Tour de France on stage 17, the day after his teammate Michael Rasmussen was fired from Rabobank. Later that year, he won the Vuelta a España after leading during the second half of the race. In the Vuelta he also won a stage, the mountains classification and the combination classification.

In 2008 Menchov concentrated on Tour de France and did not defend his Vuelta title. He ended third in the Tour because Bernhard Kohl was disqualified for doping. Also Menchov finished fifth in Giro prior.

In 2009 Menchov won the Giro d'Italia, with wins in stages 5 and 12. Despite crashing in the final kilometer of the last-stage time-trial through Rome, Menchov held the pink jersey and extended his lead by 21 seconds, winning by 41 seconds over Italy's Danilo Di Luca. Menchov also won the points jersey that year.

In the 2010 Tour de France, Menchov came in second place after passing Samuel Sánchez in the final Time Trial. He was third originally, but moved to the second spot as a consequence of Contador's victory being revoked due to a doping affair, as was decided on 6 February 2012. He was later retroactively disqualified and stripped of his second place finish, following a two-year doping ban initiated in 2014 after his retirement. Menchov was also disqualified from the 2009 and 2012 Tours. He was later retroactively disqualified from the 2012 Tour following a post-retirement doping ban. After, the Olympic Games, Menchov rode the Vuelta a España where he won the penultimate stage in Bola del Mundo after outsprinting Richie Porte. After suffering a knee injury before the Giro d'Italia, Menchov announced his retirement from the sport of cycling in 2013.

Return to the sport: Gazprom–RusVelo (2019) Menchov returned to cycling in 2019, in the role of directeur sportif for UCI Pro-Continental team Gazprom–RusVelo.

Doping On 10 July 2014, a UCI press release detailing various athlete sanctions specified that Menchov had been banned (for a period of two years) until 9 April 2015 due to adverse biological passport findings. Due to this, he has been disqualified from the 2009, 2010 and 2012 Tours de France.

On 22 January 2015, USADA released its reasoned decision on the case of Dr. Geert Leinders in which it stated that Menchov received blood transfusions during the 2005 Tour de France.

Career achievements Major results

1995

1997

1st Stages 3a & 3b

1st Stage 2 Okolo Slovenska 3rd Overall International Tour of Rhodes 1998

7th Overall Ruban Granitier Breton 1999 9th Overall Vuelta a Navarra 2000 3rd Time trial, National Road Championships 2001

7th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 7th Overall Route du Sud 2002 2nd Overall Vuelta a La Rioja 6th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 1st Stage 2 2003 1st Clásica a los Puertos de Guadarrama

2nd Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León 6th Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas 8th Overall Vuelta a La Rioja 2004

1st Stage 4 1st Stage 5 Vuelta a España 1st Stage 6 Paris–Nice 2nd Overall Vuelta a Burgos 2nd Overall Vuelta a Aragón 1st Stage 1 7th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2005 2nd Overall Vuelta a España

1st Stages 1 (ITT) & 9 (ITT)

3rd Overall Tour de Romandie 8th Overall Critérium International 2006 5th Overall Tour de France 1st Stage 11 6th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 1st Stage 4 9th Overall Volta a Catalunya 2007

1st Stage 10

3rd Overall Volta a Catalunya

1st Stage 5 (ITT) 4th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 8th Overall Vuelta a Murcia 2008 3rd Overall Tour de France 4th Overall Tour de Romandie 5th Overall Giro d'Italia 5th Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León 6th Clásica de San Sebastián 2009

1st Stages 5 & 12 (ITT)

5th Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León 2010 2nd Overall Tour de Romandie 2nd Overall Vuelta a Murcia 3rd Overall Tour de France 9th Overall Vuelta a Castilla y León 2011 2nd Overall Vuelta a Murcia 1st Stage 2 5th Overall Vuelta a España 5th Overall Tour of Austria 7th Overall Giro d'Italia 2012

1st Stage 20 Vuelta a España 4th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 2013 4th Overall Volta ao Algarve 8th Gran Premio Città di Camaiore

General classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish DSQ = Disqualified