Alexandre Vinokourov places top 10 in age group at Ironman World Championship

Astana general manager Alexandre Vinokourov secured a top 10 age group finish at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii this weekend.

The 45-year-old placed seventh out of 287 competitors in the men’s 45-49 category with a time of 9 hours 13 minutes and 38 seconds.

His time was around 18 minutes slower than that of category winner Koen Van Rie from Belgium – but only 5 minutes 11 seconds short of securing a podium place.

Vinokourov secured his place in the event, which comprises a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a Marathon-distance run of 26.2 miles, in a qualifying event in Copenhagen in August.

The Kazakh athlete finished second in that event in a time of 9 hours 4 minutes and 16 seconds, which would have been enough to secure him the bronze medal in Hawaii.

During a racing career spanning 1998 to 2012, Vinokourov won four stages apiece at both the Tour de France and the Vuelta, clinching the overall at the latter in 2005.

He also won Paris-Nice twice, among other stage races, Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2005 and 2010 and the road race at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

However, his career was overshadowed by allegations of doping and he was banned from racing for two years from 2007-09 as a result of an illegal blood transfusion following an anti-doping control during the Tour de France.