 |
||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alex Zülle | |||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Perro Loco "Rompetechos" | |||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | July 5, 1968 | |||||||||||||||
| Country |  Switzerland |
|||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Retired | |||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road | |||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | |||||||||||||||
| Professional team(s)1 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1997 1998 1999–2000 2001–2002 2003–2004 |
ONCE Festina Banesto Team Coast Phonak |
|||||||||||||||
| Major wins | ||||||||||||||||
Vuelta a España (1996, 1997), 9 stages World Time-Trial Champion (1996)Giro d'Italia, 3 stages Tour de France, 2 stages Tour de Suisse (2002) Vuelta al País Vasco (1995, 1997) |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Infobox last updated on: | ||||||||||||||||
| August 14, 2007
1 Team names given are those prevailing |
||||||||||||||||
Alex Zülle (born July 5, 1968) is a Swiss former professional road bicycle racer. During the 1990s he was one of the best cyclists in the world, winning the Vuelta a España twice and taking the second place in 1999 Tour de France. He was world time-trial champion in Lugano in 1996.
Contents |
Biography
Early career
Zülle was born and brought up in Wil in the canton of St. Gallen, son of a Swiss father, Walter Zülle and Wilhelmine, from Brabant, Netherlands. As a child he wanted to be a skier but at 18 he was injured in an accident. He began cycling in Holland for rehabilitation before giving up because it was too windy.[1]
His father, having bought cycling equipment, persuaded him to give cycling another go when they returned to Switzerland. After several years as a successful amateur, Zülle turned professional in 1991. He approached the former sporting director of the Swiss team, Helvetia, Paul Köchli, but Köchli signed Laurent Dufaux instead.[1]
Zülle then approached Manolo Saiz, but was rebuffed because, among reasons, he did not contract riders who wore earrings. Eventually, Saiz softened and Zülle rode for ONCE as a stagaire or apprentice in the Volta a Catalunya. He attacked frequently and finished third. Saiz relented and Zülle signed his first professional contract in September 1991.[2] He remained with ONCE until 1997. [3]. Most of its riders were Spanish. Zülle spoke only Swiss-German when he joined but at the end of the Vuelta a España he answered journalists in Spanish.[4]
Festina affair
In 1998, Zülle joined Festina. The team was banned from the 1998 Tour de France amid doping allegations which later became known as the Festina affair. Five Festina riders including Zülle admitted taking EPO.[5] Zülle said he took it to satisfy his sponsors. He also said he was deprived of his spectacles during the police interview.[6] On 28 November 1998, Zülle's haematocrit was found to be 52.3%, 2.3% over the limit.
1999–2004
His career coincided with that of Miguel Indurain, five-time Tour de France winner, and of Lance Armstrong, who won seven times. Zülle never won the Tour but twice finished second. He did win the Vuelta a España|Vuelta, Giro d'Italia, Tour de Suisse and the Tour de Romandie.
Zülle retired in 2004, and held a party for his fans in Wil in October that year.[7]
Palmarès
- 1992
- 1st Overall, Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
- 1st Overall, Vuelta a Asturias
- 1st Overall, Vuelta a Burgos
- 1st, Escalada a Montjuïc
- 1993
- Paris-Nice
- 1st Stage 1 and 8
- Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 1, 6 and 21
- 2nd Overall
- 3rd Overall Vuelta al País Vasco
- 1994
- 4th Overall, Vuelta a España
- 1995
- Tour de France
- 1st Stage 9
- 2nd Overall
- Vuelta al País Vasco
- 1st Overall, Stage 3 and Stage 5(b)
- Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
- 1st Stage 5(b)
- 2nd Overall
- Euskal Bizikleta
- 1st Stage 4(b)
- 2nd Overall
- Tour de Suisse
- 1st Stage 1, 6 and Points Classification
- 2nd Overall
- 3rd Overall, Paris-Nice
- 1st Stage 16, Vuelta a España
- 1996
World Time-Trial Championship (1996)- Vuelta a España
1st Overall and Stage 15
- Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
- 1st Overall, Stage 3 and 5(b)
- Volta a Catalunya
- 1st Overall, Prologue, Stage 3 and 6
- Euskal Bizikleta
- 1st Stage 4(b)
- 2nd Overall
- 1st Prologue, Tour de France
- 1997
- Vuelta a España
- 1st Overall and Stage 21
- Vuelta al País Vasco
- 1st Overall and Stage 5(b)
- 2nd Overall, Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
- 2nd Milano-Torino
- 3rd La Flèche Wallonne
- 1998
- Tour de Romandie
- 1st Stage 4(b)
- 2nd Overall
- Giro d'Italia
- 1st Prologue, Stage 6 and 15
- 3rd Overall, Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
- 3rd Overall, Vuelta al País Vasco
- 1st Stage 21, Vuelta a España
- 1999
- 2nd Overall, Tour de France
- 1st Stage 13, Vuelta a España
- 2000
- 1st Stage 1, Vuelta a España
- 2001
- 1st Stage a, Paris-Nice
- 2002
- Tour de Suisse
- 1st Overall and Stage 1
- Tour de Romandie
- 1st Stage 4, 5 and Points Classification
- 2nd Overall
Grand Tour Results (2 victories)
| 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2001 | 2002 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour de France | ||||||||||
 General classification |
DNF | 41st | 8th | 2nd | 26th | DNF | DNF | 2nd | - | - |
 Mountains classification |
- | - | - | 3rd | - | - | - | - | - | - |
 Points classification |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
 Youth classification |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Stages won | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Giro d'Italia | ||||||||||
 General classification |
- | - | - | - | - | 14th | DNF | - | - | - |
| Mountains classification |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
 Points classification |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Youth classification |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Stages won | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | - |
| Vuelta a España | ||||||||||
 General classification |
DNF | 2nd | 4th | 20th | 1st | 1st | - | 49th | 109th | - |
 Mountains classification |
- | 2nd | - | 3rd | - | 2nd | - | - | - | - |
 Points classification |
- | 2nd | 3rd | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Combination classification |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Stages won | - | 3 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | - | - |
See also
- Doping at the Tour de France
- List of doping cases in cycling
- List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
References
- ^ a b "portrait : how it all began". alex-zuelle.com. http://www.alex-zuelle.com/english/alex/alex.htm.
- ^ "Interview with Alex Zulle". cyclingnews.com. 1998-01-01. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/1998/jan98/jan1.html.
- ^ "portrait : startschwierigkeiten" (in German). alex-zuelle.com. http://www.alex-zuelle.com/alex/alex.htm.
- ^ "portrait : ein schweizer in spanien" (in German). alex-zuelle.com. http://www.alex-zuelle.com/alex/alex.htm.
- ^ "Tour de France". Sports Betting. http://www.instantactionsports.com/uk/sports-articles/cycling006.html.
- ^ "Drugs scandal update". Cyclingnews.com. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/1998/jul98/jul27.shtml. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
- ^ "Zulle parties out". cyclingnews.com. 2004-10-21. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/oct04/oct21news.
External links
- Official website (German), some content available in English
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Miguel Indurain |
World Time Trial Champion 1996 |
Succeeded by Laurent Jalabert |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
