Back to the future: Raul Alcala returns, Alexander Vinokourov hopeful

October 6, 8:53 PMCycling ExaminerJames Raia

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Cycling Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Lance Armstrong’s pending return to the pro peloton has attracted the most interest. But at least two more cycling stars, one from the not-so-distant past and another from the “wayback machine” are respectively hopeful of making a comeback and have already returned to racing.

To the surprise of almost everyone in the sport (with the exception of close friends), Raul Alcala, 44, is racing competitively for the first time in 14 years this week in the Vuelta a Chichuahua in Mexico.

Alcala, the first Mexican to compete in the Tour de France, won two stages of the cycling’s grand event and three times finished in the top-10 overall. He was a former teammate of Armstrong and competed often in the United States, including winning the 1993 Tour DuPont.

Alcala finished 52nd in the main field in the opening stage of the seven-stage Vuelta a Chichuahua.

“I know I will be one of the older guys but my body feels like new now,” Alcalá told VeloNews.com. “I have never stopped riding the bike. I’ve been training hard, but done no real races for 14 years. So I have the power but not the rhythm. I hope it can be like it was before, but first I need to see what happens in this race. After that we see if I am the captain or the domestique.”

Hopeful to make a comeback in 2009 is Kazakhstan rider Alexander Vinokourov.

Vinokourov, 35, told the Belgian TV show Sportweekend he wants to return to seek a world road title and to compete in the Tour of Italy.

Vinokourov announced his retirement last December after receiving a one-year suspension for doping offenses in the 2007 Tour de France.

"I want to return because I don't want it to end this way," Vinokourov said. "I built my image and career bit by bit and I don't want it to stop this way."

Vinokourov said he wants to ride with his former team, Astana. It's owned by businessmen from his home country.

Pat McQuaid, president of UCI said the rider’s won’t be easy. "There is no way he comes back until he agrees on the two-year suspension," McQuaid told Reuters. "The UCI had a case pending with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which we only withdrew because he announced he was retiring."