Pavel Sergeyevich Tonkov (russian: Павел Сергеевич Тонков; born 9 February 1969 in

Izhevsk Izhevsk (russian: Иже́вск, p=ɪˈʐɛfsk; udm, Ижкар, ''Ižkar'', or , ''Iž'') is the capital city of Udmurtia, Russia. It is situated along the Izh River, west of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. It is the 21st-largest city i ...

) is a former professional

road racing cyclist Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

from Russia. His talents were first showcased when winning the world junior title as part of the Soviet Union team in 1987. This alerted the world to his talents, and he turned pro in 1992 with the RUSS-Baïkal team.

Professional career

His biggest success was the overall win in the 1996 Giro d'Italia. He went on to place 2nd in the following two editions of the Italian race and all total he placed in the top 5 of the Giro on seven occasions. He also had two top 5 performances in the Vuelta and while he entered the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

on three occasions he never completed one.
He won the

1995 Tour de Suisse The 1995 Tour de Suisse was the 59th edition of the Tour de Suisse cycle race and was held from 13 June to 22 June 1995. The race started in Bellinzona and finished in Zürich. The race was won by Pavel Tonkov of the Lampre team. General classif ...

and the

1997 Tour de Romandie The 1997 Tour de Romandie was the 51st edition of the Tour de Romandie cycle race and was held from 6 May to 11 May 1997. The race started in Kriegstetten and finished in Geneva. The race was won by Pavel Tonkov of the Mapei team. General classif ...

. He placed 3rd overall in the

2000 Vuelta a España The 55th edition of the ''Vuelta a España'' (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 26 August to 17 September 2000. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of , and was won by Robe ...

. Throughout much of his career, he was a client of the controversial

Michele Ferrari Michele Ferrari (born 26 March 1953) is an Italian physician, cycling coach and author, who is mostly known for his role in supplying bicycle racers with performance-enhancing drugs, notably EPO. His most famous client was Lance Armstrong. Biog ...

.
He retired in 2005.

Personal life

He lives in

Córdoba, Spain Córdoba (; ),, Arabic: قُرطبة DIN 31635, DIN: . or Cordova () in English, is a city in Andalusia, Spain, and the capital of the Province of Córdoba (Spain), province of Córdoba. It is the third most populated Municipalities in Spain, mun ...

, where he manages a hotel.

Career achievements

Major results

;1987 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Road race, UCI Junior Road World Championships ;1989 : 1st Jersey white

Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes et de la Vienne ::1st Stage 2 ( ITT) : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

Okolo Slovenska Okolo Slovenska ( en, Tour of Slovakia; french: Tour de Slovaquie) is an annual road cycling stage race in Slovakia. Founded in 1954, since 2017 it has been rated as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is a stage race that usually includes f ...

::1st Stage 7 ;1990 : 1st Stage 7a

Peace Race The Peace Race (german: Friedensfahrt, cs, Závod míru, sk, Preteky mieru, russian: Велогонка Мира (), pl, Wyścig Pokoju , french: Course de la Paix, it, Corsa della Pace, ro, Cursa Păcii) was an annual multiple stage bicycl ...

;1992 : 7th Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Jersey white

Young rider classification Young rider classification (french: classement général des jeunes) is a cycling jersey competition in multi-day stage race events, such as the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and many others, which awards the current leader by overall time for rid ...

: 10th

Giro dell'Emilia The Giro dell'Emilia is a late season road bicycle race held annually in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour, and since 2020 it's part of the UCI ProSeries calendar. The ...

;1993 : 5th Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Jersey white

: 5th Overall

Tour de Suisse The Tour de Suisse ( en, Tour of Switzerland) is an annual road cycling stage race. Raced over eight days, the event covers two weekends in June, and along with the Critérium du Dauphiné, it is considered a proving ground for the Tour de France ...

::1st Stage 4 : 9th Overall

Tour de Romandie The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs through the Romandie region, or French-speaking part of Switzerland. The competition began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling. I ...

;1994 : 2nd Overall Grand Prix du Midi Libre ::1st Stage 1 : 4th Overall Giro d'Italia : 8th Overall

: 9th Overall

Vuelta a Murcia The Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia ( en, Tour of Murcia) is a road bicycle race held in and around Murcia, Spain. The first four editions were reserved to amateurs. Originally the race was held in early March and consisted of five stages. However, d ...

: 10th

Trofeo Pantalica The Trofeo Pantalica was a professional road bicycle race held annually in Province of Syracuse, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the ...

;1995 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st

Combination classification ::1st Stage 7 : 4th Overall

Giro del Trentino The Tour of the Alps is an annual professional cycling stage race in Italy and Austria. First held in 1962, it was named Giro del Trentino ( en, Tour of Trentino) until 2016, and run over four stages in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region o ...

: 6th Overall Giro d'Italia : 6th

Chrono des Nations Chrono des Nations – Les Herbiers Vendée is a single-day individual time trial road bicycle race held annually in October in Les Herbiers, Vendée, France. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It was orig ...

: 9th Overall

;1996 : 1st Jersey pink

Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Stage 13 : 1st Stage 1

: 2nd

Giro dell'Appennino The Giro dell'Appennino is a semi classic European bicycle race held in the Apennine Mountains, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. Famous riders like Fausto Coppi, Francesco Moser, Felice ...

: 9th Overall

Escalada a Montjuïc The Escalada a Montjuïc (in Catalan, English: ''Scaling of Montjuïc'', Spanish: ''Escalada a Montjuïc'') was a one-day, two-stage road bicycle racing race held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain since 1965. It was held in the middle of October, as ...

;1997 : 1st Jersey green

Overall

::1st Stage 4 : 1st

Vuelta a Espana Vuelta, Spanish for "lap" or "roundtrip", is used in the name of a number of cycling races in Spanish speaking countries, as well as a few other contexts: Cycling races * Vuelta a Andalucía * Vuelta a Aragón, Spain * Vuelta a Asturias, Spain * V ...

::1st Stages 13 & 15 : 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Stages 3 ( ITT), 5 & 21 : 2nd Overall

: 5th Overall

Volta a Catalunya The Volta a Catalunya (; en, Tour of Catalonia, es, Vuelta a Cataluña, link=no) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of th ...

: 7th

Trofeo dello Scalatore The Trofeo dello Scalatore was a single-day road bicycle race held annually in Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the centr ...

: 8th Overall

Tour of Galicia Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

;1998 : 1st

: 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Stage 18 : 9th Overall

;1999 : 1st Luk-Cup Bühl : 2nd

: 4th Overall

: 9th

Tre Valli Varesine The Tre Valli Varesine is a semi classic European bicycle race held in Varese, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is usually the first and most important race of Trittico Lombardo, which con ...

: 10th Overall

;2000 : 2nd Road race, National Road Championships : 3rd Overall

: 5th Overall Giro d'Italia : 6th Luk-Cup Bühl : 9th Overall

: 10th Overall

;2001 : 1st Jersey white dots on red

Mountains classification

Tour of the Basque Country The Tour of the Basque Country (Officially: ''Itzulia Basque Country'', es, Vuelta al País Vasco, links=no, eu, Euskal Herriko Itzulia) is an annual road cycling stage race held in the Spanish Basque Country in April. It is one of the races ...

: 2nd Overall

Critérium du Dauphiné The Critérium du Dauphiné, before 2010 known as the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, is an annual cycling road race in the Dauphiné region in the southeast of France. The race is run over eight days during the first half of June. It is part ...

::1st

Combination classification : 3rd

Classique des Alpes Classique des Alpes was a classic taking place as a mountainous single-day cycling race. It took place in Chartreuse Mountains, beginning in Chambéry and finishing in Aix-les-Bains. It was held between 1991 and 2004, a day before the start of the ...

: 5th Overall

Euskal Bizikleta Euskal Bizikleta (Spanish: ''Bicicleta Vasca'', English: ''Basque Bicycle'') was an annual road cycling stage race held in the Basque Country in June. From 2005 to 2008, the race was organized as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 2009, it ...

: 7th Road race, National Road Championships ;2002 : 5th Overall Giro d'Italia ::1st Stage 17 : 6th Overall

;2003 : 3rd

;2004 : 1st Stage 17 Giro d'Italia : 5th Overall

: 8th

;2005 : 1st Jersey red

Overall Clasica Alcobendas ::1st Jersey green

Mountains classification ::1st Stage 1 : 8th

Subida al Naranco Subida al Naranco is a professional cycle road race held in Spain in early June each year. The event was first run in 1941 but was not held consistently until 1981. Between 2005 and 2010, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Euro ...

: 9th

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonkov, Pavel 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Izhevsk Russian male cyclists Giro d'Italia winners Russian Giro d'Italia stage winners Russian Vuelta a España stage winners Olympic cyclists of Russia Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Tour de Suisse stage winners