Alexandre Vinokourov Jr, the son of the famous Kazakh cyclist, obtained his sports director diploma, a few weeks after stopping his cycling career.
Kazakh cycling legend, Alexandre Vinokourov became the father of twins in 2002, while wearing the Deutsche Telekom jersey. Both children have become professional runners, and while Nicolas is under contract with the XDS-Astana team until the end of 2027, his brother Alexandre Jr decided to stop his career last month due to injuries suffered after being hit in training by a motorist. He was racing for the XDS-Astana development team.
Since then, the 23-year-old has completed UCI training and obtained his sports director diploma. From 2026, he will therefore be a trainee sports director at XDS-Astana, of which his father has been the general manager since 2013.
A World Tour and Continental Tour internship
“In recent seasons, Alex has suffered several injuries, the last of which turned out to be very serious,” recalls Alexandr Shefer, sports director of the XDS Astana team. He certainly showed great character and managed to come back, participating in several races with the continental team, but his decision to end his career is completely understandable. At the same time, it’s great that Alex has decided to stay in cycling, completing his studies, passing his exams and is now looking forward optimistically to a new role. His internship with both teams, WorldTour and Continental, will allow him to gain the necessary experience and confidence, and to understand how professional cycling works on the other side. The transition from cycling to driving a car is never easy, any sporting director will tell you that, and so I hope that with the necessary rigor and determination, Alex will succeed. »
We will therefore undoubtedly see him in the coming months giving advice to his brother at the wheel of the turquoise blue car of XDS Astana, a team which scored 32 victories this year, compared to 12 the previous season.
