Alex Zülle
Personal information | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Alex Zülle | ||||||||||||||
Nickname | Perro Loco "Rompetechos" | ||||||||||||||
Born | Wil, Switzerland | 5 July 1968||||||||||||||
Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||
Weight | 72 kg (159 lb; 11 st 5 lb) | ||||||||||||||
Team information | |||||||||||||||
Discipline | Road | ||||||||||||||
Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||
Rider type | All-rounder | ||||||||||||||
Amateur team | |||||||||||||||
1988-1991 | Helvetia, Isotonic, Churrasco, Mavick | ||||||||||||||
Professional teams | |||||||||||||||
1991–1997 | ONCE | ||||||||||||||
1998 | Festina | ||||||||||||||
1999–2000 | Banesto | ||||||||||||||
2001–2002 | Team Coast | ||||||||||||||
2003–2004 | Phonak | ||||||||||||||
Major wins | |||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
| |||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Alex Zülle (born 5 July 1968) is a Swiss former professional road bicycle racer. During the 1990s he was one of the best cyclists in the world, winning back-to-back in the 1996 and 1997 Vuelta a España, taking second place in the 1995 and the 1999 Tour de France. He was world time-trial champion in Lugano in 1996.
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 the Netherlands 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-times Tour de France winner. Zülle was second in the Tour in 1999. He also won the Vuelta a España and Tour de Suisse, and stages in the Giro d'Italia. Following financial problems for his employer, Team Coast, Zülle transferred to You have called {{Contentious topics}}
. You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
Alerting users
- {{alert/first}} ({{Contentious topics/alert/first}}) is used, on a user's talk page, to "alert", or draw a user's attention, to the contentious topics system if they have never received such an alert before. In this case, this template must be used for the notification.
- {{alert}} ({{Contentious topics/alert}}) is used, on a user's talk page, to "alert", or draw a user's attention, to the fact that a specific topic is a contentious topic. It may only be used if the user has previously received any contentious topic alert, and it can be replaced by a custom message that conveys the contentious topic designation.
- {{alert/DS}} ({{Contentious topics/alert/DS}}) is used to inform editors that the old "discretionary sanctions" system has been replaced by the contentious topics system, and that a specific topic is a contentious topic.
- {{Contentious topics/aware}} is used to register oneself as already aware that a specific topic is a contentious topic.
Editnotices
- {{Contentious topics/editnotice}} is used to inform editors that a page is covered by the contentious topics system using an editnotice. Use the one below if the page has restrictions placed on the page.
- {{Contentious topics/page restriction editnotice}} is used to inform editors that the page they are editing is subject to contentious topics restrictions using an editnotice. Use the above if there are no restrictions placed on the page.
Talk page notices
- {{Contentious topics/talk notice}} is used to provide additional communication, using a talk page messagebox (tmbox), to editors that they are editing a page that is covered by the contentious topics system. The template standardises the format and wording of such notices. Use the below if there are restrictions placed on the page.
- {{Contentious topics/page restriction talk notice}} is used to inform editors that page restrictions are active on the page using a talk page messagebox (tmbox). Use the above if there are no restrictions placed on the page.
- If a user who has been alerted goes on to disruptively edit the affected topic area, they can be reported to the arbitration enforcement (AE) noticeboard, where an administrator will investigate their conduct and issue a sanction if appropriate. {{AE sanction}} is used by administrators to inform a user that they have been sanctioned.
Miscellaneous
- {{Contentious topics/list}} and {{Contentious topics/table}} show which topics are currently designated as contentious topics. They are used by a number of templates and pages on Wikipedia. on 27 March 2003 in a rare mid-season switch.[7]
Zülle retired in 2004, and held a party for his fans in Wil in October that year.[8]
Career achievements
Major results
- 1992
- 1st Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
- 1st Overall Vuelta a Asturias
- 1st Overall Vuelta a Burgos
- 1st Escalada a Montjuïc
- 1993
- 1st Chur-Arosa
- 1st Josef Voegeli Memorial
- Paris–Nice
- 1st Stage 1 & 8
- 2nd Overall Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 1, 6 & 21
- 3rd Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 1994
- 4th Overall Vuelta a España
- 1995
- 1st Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 1st Stage 3 & Stage 5b
- 1st Overall Vuelta a Valencia
- 1st Stage 2b
- 1st Challenge Mallorca
- 1st Stage 16 Vuelta a España
- 2nd Overall Tour de Suisse
- 2nd Overall Tour de France
- 1st Stage 9
- 2nd Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
- 1st Stage 5b
- 2nd Overall Euskal Bizikleta
- 1st Stage 4b
- 3rd Overall Paris–Nice
- 1996
- 1st Time trial, UCI Road World Championships
- 1st Overall Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 15
- 1st Overall Volta a Catalunya
- 1st Prologue, Stages 3 & 6
- 1st Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
- 1st Stage 3 & 5b
- 1st GP Miguel Indurain
- 1st Prologue Tour de France
- 2nd Overall Euskal Bizikleta
- 1st Stage 4b
- 1997
- 1st Overall Vuelta a España
- 1st Stage 21
- 1st Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 1st Stage 5b
- 2nd Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
- 2nd Milano–Torino
- 3rd La Flèche Wallonne
- 1998
- Giro d'Italia
- 1st Prologue, Stages 6 & 15
- 1st Stage 21 Vuelta a España
- 2nd Overall Tour de Romandie
- 1st Stage 4b
- 3rd Overall Tour of the Basque Country
- 3rd Overall Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme
- 1999
- 1st Stage 13 Vuelta a España
- 2nd Overall Tour de France
- 2000
- 1st Overall Volta ao Algarve
- 1st Stage 1 Vuelta a España
- 2001
- 1st Stage 4 Paris–Nice
- 2002
- 1st Overall Tour de Suisse
- 1st Stage 1
- 2nd Overall Tour de Romandie
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Grand Tour | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vuelta a España | DNF | 2 | 4 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 37 | 49 | 109 | — | DNF |
Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | — | — | — | 14 | DNF | — | — | — | — |
Tour de France | DNF | 41 | 8 | 2 | 26 | DNF | DNF | 2 | DNF | — | — | — |
— | Did not compete |
---|---|
DNF | Did not finish |
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. Archived from the original on 2012-02-20.
- ^ "Interview with Alex Zulle". cyclingnews.com. 1998-01-01.
- ^ "portrait : startschwierigkeiten" (in German). alex-zuelle.com. Archived from the original on 2007-12-12.
- ^ "portrait : ein schweizer in spanien" (in German). alex-zuelle.com. Archived from the original on 2007-12-12.
- ^ "Tour de France". Sports Betting. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06.
- ^ "Drugs scandal update". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
- ^ "Alex Zülle ab sofort bei Phonak". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). 27 March 2003. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
- ^ "Zulle parties out". cyclingnews.com. 2004-10-21.
External links
- Official website (in German), some content available in English
- Alex Zülle collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Template:Worldcat id
- Swiss male cyclists
- 1968 births
- Living people
- Vuelta a España winners
- Olympic cyclists of Switzerland
- Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- UCI Road World Champions (elite men)
- Tour de France prologue winners
- Swiss Giro d'Italia stage winners
- Doping cases in cycling
- Swiss Vuelta a España stage winners
- Swiss sportspeople in doping cases
- People from Wil
- Tour de Suisse stage winners
- Vuelta a España cyclists
- Tour de France cyclists
- Giro d'Italia cyclists