Denis Menchov
 Menchov at the 2011 Tour de Romandie |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Denis Nikolayevich Menchov | ||
| Nickname | The Silent Assassin The Pope Denny[1] |
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| Born | 25 January 1978 Oryol, Soviet Union |
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| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Weight | 65 kg (140 lb; 10.2 st) | ||
| Team information | |||
| Current team | Team Katusha | ||
| Discipline | Road | ||
| Role | Rider | ||
| Rider type | All-rounder | ||
| Professional team(s) | |||
| 2000–2004 2005–2010 2011 2012– |
Banesto Rabobank Geox-TMC Team Katusha |
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| Major wins | |||
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| Infobox last updated on 3 January 2012 |
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Denis Nikolayevich Menchov (Russian: Денис Николаевич Меньшов, pronounced as Menshov), born 25 January 1978 in Oryol, is a professional Russian road bicycle racer for Team Katusha.[2] He is a general classification rider and a climber. In 2005 he won the Vuelta a España, which he won for a second time in 2007. Menchov also won the centenary Giro d'Italia in 2009, and finished third in the Tour de France in 2010.
Contents |
[edit] Professional career
[edit] Banesto (2000–2004)
Menchov started his professional career in 2000 with the Banesto team of José Miguel Echevarri. 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 and the King of the Mountains in the Dauphiné Liberé. In 2003, Menchov had his breakthrough when he finished 11th in the Tour de France, and won the youth competition (maillot blanc). 2004 was his last year at Banesto and his most successful. He won Vuelta al País Vasco, a stage in Vuelta a Aragón, a stage in Paris–Nice and stage five in the 2004 Vuelta a España, from Zaragoza to Morella.
[edit] 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.[3] 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 golden 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,[4] and Menchov received the official win of the 2005 Vuelta. He also captured the event's Combined Classification.[5]
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.
Menchov abandoned the 2007 Tour de France on stage 17, the day after his teammate Michael Rasmussen was fired from Rabobank.[6] 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.[7] He ended fourth in the Tour. Third-placed Bernhard Kohl was disqualified for doping, however riders have not been elevated to fill Kohl's place. 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 21s, winning by 41 seconds over Italy's Danilo Di Luca.[8][9]
In the 2010 Tour de France, Menchov came in third.
[edit] Geox-TMC (2011)
Later in 2010 Menchov transferred to Geox-TMC, as joint leader of the team with Carlos Sastre. Menchov was replaced as leader of Rabobank by Robert Gesink. With Geox, Menchov finished 8th in the 2011 Giro. The team were not invited to the Tour de France. Menchov finished fifth overall at the Vuelta a España, having helped teammate Juan José Cobo to overall victory.
[edit] Katusha (2012–)
At the end of 2011, Menchov moved to Russian team Team Katusha for the 2012 season.[2]
[edit] Palmares
- 1997
- 1st Volta a Lleida
- 2001
- 1st Overall Classification Tour de l'Avenir
- 2002
- 1st Stage 2 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
- 2003
- 1st Clásica a los Puertos de Guadarrama
- 11th Overall Tour de France
- 1st
Youth Classification
- 1st
- 2004
- 1st Overall Classification Vuelta al País Vasco
- 1st Stage 4
- 1st Stage 5 Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 6 Paris–Nice
- 1st Stage 1 Vuelta a Aragón
- 2005
- 1st Overall Classification
Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st Stage 9
- 1st Combination Classification
- 2006
- 5th Overall Tour de France
- 1st Stage 11
- 6th Overall Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
- 1st Stage 4
- 2007
- 1st Overall Classification Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 10
- 1st
Mountains Classification - 1st Combination Classification
- 2nd Overall Volta a Catalunya
- 1st Points classification
- 1st Stage 5
- 2008
- 4th 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 Overall Classification
Giro d'Italia
- 1st Points Classification [10]
- 1st Stage 5
- 1st Stage 12
- 1st
- 1st Overall Classification Vuelta a Murcia
- 2010
- 2nd Overall Vuelta a Murcia
- 2nd Overall Tour de Romandie
- 3rd Overall Tour de France
- 2011
- 3rd Overall Vuelta a Murcia
- 5th Overall Vuelta a Espana
- 5th Overall Tour of Austria
- 8th Overall Giro d'Italia
[edit] Grand Tours overall classification results timeline
| Grand Tour | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | 1 | - | 8 |
| Tour | 47 | 93 | 11 | WD | 85 | 5 | WD | 4 | 51 | 3 | - |
| Vuelta | - | - | - | WD | 1 | WD | 1 | - | - | 41 | 5 |
WD=Withdrew
[edit] References
- ^ "Giro d'Italia feature". cyclingnews.com. May 19, 2009. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2009/giro09/?id=/features/2009/giro09_menchov_sastre. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
- ^ a b "Russian Menchov joins Katusha". Yahoo! Eurosport. Reuters (TF1 Group). 12 December 2011. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/12122011/58/russian-menchov-joins-katusha.html. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ "2005 Tour de France final overall standings". cyclingnews.com. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/?id=results/tour0521#gc.
- ^ Hernan Alvarez (February 9, 2006). "Heras banned for two years". www.cyclingnews.com. http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/feb06/feb09news2. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
- ^ "La Vuelta a España 2005 Overall Allround". www.lavuelta.com. February 9, 2006. http://www.lavuelta.com/05/ingles/resultados/gencom21.asp?e=21.
- ^ "Tour de France – Menchov quits as Rasmussen hits back". Eurosport. July 26, 2007. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/26072007/58/tour-de-france-menchov-quits-rasmussen-hits.html. Retrieved 2008-03-26.[dead link]
- ^ Simon Baskett (February 19, 2008). "Menchov targets Tour rather than Vuelta defense". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSL1990754120080219. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
- ^ REUTERS May 31, 2009. Russian Clinches Italian Bike Race. New York, NY: New York Times
- ^ Gallagher, Brendan (2009-05-31). "Denis Menchov wins Giro d'Italia". The Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/5417780/Denis-Menchov-wins-Giro-dItalia.html. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
- ^ Awarded after the disqualification of apparent winner Danilo Di Luca
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Denis Menchov |
- Denis Menchov at Trap-Friis.dk
- Official website
- Best unofficial website
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