Viatcheslav Ekimov

Viatcheslav Vladimirovich Ekimov (Russian Вячеслав Владимирович Екимов; born 4 February 1966) is a Russian former professional racing cyclist. A triple Olympic gold medalist, he was awarded the title of Russian Cyclist of the Century in 2001.

Biography Ekimov was born in Vyborg, and started training as a cyclist at age 12 with a bicycle school affiliated with the famous centre of Aleksandr Kuznetsov. He trained in Leningrad at Lokomotiv and later Armed Forces sports society during the Soviet era.

Ekimov won three Olympic gold medals: in the track team pursuit in Seoul (1988) for the USSR, and in an upset, in the road time trial in Sydney (2000) for Russia. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Ekimov won the silver medal for Russia in the men's road individual time trial, losing to American Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton later admitted to doping and Ekimov, who had raced for many more years than Tyler with the infamous Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel partnership, was promoted to gold.

Ekimov joined the USPS team in 1997 as its first key international signing, briefly retiring in 2001 before rejoining the team the following year. In the 2003 Tour de France Ekimov placed 10th in the prologue. He was a key force in the winning team time trial effort in stage four and was important to Lance Armstrong's fifth Tour victory both on the flats and in the mountains. He missed the 2005 Tour de France due to injuries received in a training ride with Armstrong in Texas. During the final stage of the 2006 Tour de France, now racing for the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, he announced that the 2006 Tour would be his last. He was honored by the peloton on the final stage, who allowed him to lead them over the line on the first of the eight laps of the Champs-Élysées. Ekimov started and finished 15 Tours de France, tying him with Lucien Van Impe for the second most Tour finishes, behind Joop Zoetemelk and Sylvain Chavanel.

In September 2006 he finished riding for Discovery, but stayed with the team as Assistant Directeur Sportif to Johan Bruyneel. He helped guide the Discovery riders during the U.S. Pro Cycling Championships in 2006 as well as the Tour of California and the Tour de Georgia.

On 9 September 2009, it was announced he would join as Directeur Sportif.

In October 2012, he was announced as the general manager of the Russian . The UCI, in a letter written to Katusha Team, denied them entrance into the 2013 World Tour. Among the many ethical violations the UCI cited, the appointment of Ekimov was among them for reasons unspecified. After the end of 2016 season Ekimov stepped down from the role.

Major results

1988

1st Prologue, Stages 7 & 8 (ITT)

2nd Overall Circuit Cycliste Sarthe 1989

1st Stage 5b 1st Stage 1 Tour de Trump 2nd Overall Tour of Sweden 2nd Overall Circuit Cycliste Sarthe 3rd Overall Tour de Normandie 3rd Overall Vuelta al Táchira 1st Prologue & Stage 1 1990

1st Stage 2b (ITT) Critérium International 1st Stage 5 Vuelta Asturias 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France 2nd GP Wielerrevue 3rd Overall Tour Méditerranéen 1st Stage 5 (ITT) 4th Overall Nissan Classic 5th Overall Tour de Trump 8th Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme 9th Overall Tour du Vaucluse 1st Stage 5 9th Overall Tour de la Communauté Européenne 1991

1st Stage 20 Tour de France 1st Stage 3 (ITT) Critérium International 3rd Grand Prix de la Libération (TTT) 4th Overall Vuelta a Murcia 5th Overall Tour Méditerranéen 5th Overall Settimana Ciclistica Internazionale 7th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 9th Overall Three Days of De Panne 9th Overall Nissan Classic 9th Milano–Torino 9th Rund um den Henninger Turm 10th Overall Euskal Bizikleta 1992 1st Züri–Metzgete 1st Druivenkoers-Overijse 1st Stage 4 Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France 2nd Overall Three Days of De Panne 3rd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 1st Stage 6 3rd Overall GP du Midi Libre 1st Stage 6 (ITT) 3rd Trofeo Melinda 3rd GP Rik Van Steenbergen 3rd Grand Prix des Nations 3rd Baden-Baden (with Olaf Ludwig) 4th La Flèche Wallonne 4th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 6th Overall Tour Méditerranéen 6th GP Gippingen 6th Rund um den Henninger Turm 9th Giro di Campania 1993 1st Clásica de Almería 1st Stage 5 Tour de Suisse 2nd Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 1st Stage 2 2nd Grand Prix Impanis-Van Petegem 2nd Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde 3rd Road race, National Road Championships 4th Overall Vuelta Asturias 1st Stage 5 5th Overall Ronde van Nederland 5th Japan Cup 5th Rund um den Henninger Turm 6th Overall Three Days of De Panne 8th Liège–Bastogne–Liège 9th Overall Vuelta a Murcia 1st Stage 2 9th Grand Prix de Fourmies 10th Giro di Lombardia 1994

1st Stage 2

1st Stages 5 (ITT) & 11 (ITT) 1st Veenendaal–Veenendaal 1st Stage 2 Tour de Luxembourg 2nd Overall Kellogg's Tour 2nd E3 Harelbeke 2nd Leeds International Classic 3rd Overall Paris–Nice 4th Overall Ronde van Nederland 5th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 5th Overall Three Days of De Panne 1995 1st Stage 5 Tour de Suisse 2nd Overall Ronde van Nederland 1st Stage 3b 2nd Overall Tour DuPont 1st Stage 11 (ITT) 4th Overall Vuelta a Burgos 4th Paris–Roubaix 7th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 7th Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme 8th Overall Paris–Nice 8th Tour of Flanders 1996

3rd Overall Ronde van Nederland 4th Tour of Flanders 4th E3 Harelbeke 5th Grand Prix des Nations 5th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx 6th Overall Vuelta a Murcia 1st Stage 2 7th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico 8th Overall Tour de Luxembourg 8th Paris–Roubaix 8th Japan Cup 9th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships 1997

1st Stage 5 Vuelta a Castilla y León 2nd Paris–Camembert 3rd Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme 1st Stage 3 4th Overall Paris–Nice 1st Stage 7b (ITT) 4th Overall Ronde van Nederland 5th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 5th GP du canton d'Argovie 8th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré 1st Stages 2 & 4 (ITT) 9th Overall Tour de Romandie 10th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 10th Tour of Flanders 1998 1st Stage 6 PruTour 2nd Overall Ronde van Nederland 2nd Trofeo Luis Puig 3rd Overall Three Days of De Panne 3rd Grand Prix Eddy Merckx 5th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk 7th Overall Vuelta a Andalucía 7th Tour of Flanders 7th Scheldeprijs 9th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships 1999 1st Stage 15 Vuelta a España 1st Stage 5 (ITT) Tour de Suisse 1st Stage 3 Gran Premio Internacional Telecom 1st Stage 3 Vuelta al Táchira 2000

1st Stage 3b (ITT) 1st Grand Prix Eddy Merckx (with Lance Armstrong) 4th Overall Tour de Pologne 10th Chrono des Herbiers 2001 3rd Overall Three Days of De Panne 3rd EnBW Grand Prix (with Víctor Hugo Peña) 6th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 1st Stage 5 (ITT) 6th San Francisco Grand Prix 6th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx 7th Overall Ronde van Nederland 7th US Pro Championship 8th Road race, National Road Championships 10th Overall Volta ao Algarve 2002 4th San Francisco Grand Prix 5th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx 6th Grand Prix des Nations 2003

1st Stage 4 (ITT) 1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France 3rd Paris–Roubaix 3rd San Francisco Grand Prix 5th Overall Three Days of De Panne 6th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships 6th Trofeo Laigueglia 7th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx 8th Tour of Flanders 2004

1st Stage 4 (TTT) Tour de France 2nd Overall Ronde van Nederland 1st Stage 4 (ITT) 2nd Overall Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon 5th Overall Tour de Georgia 5th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx 2005 1st Stage 4 (ITT) Three Days of De Panne 2006 2nd Eindhoven Team Time Trial

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish