Former Amstel Gold victor Sergei Ivanov has voiced his dissatisfaction with former Katusha general manager Andrei Tchmil, saying that he effectively ended his career before the rider intended to hang up his wheels.
“I did not retire. It is Andrei Tchmil who has caused this departure,” he told Sporza. “Of him it is said that he has only two friends; Euro and dollar. He retired as general manager of Katusha and told his successor – without consulting me – that I would stop as a rider.”
The 36 year old multiple Russian champion had a strong career, with victories including that Amstel success, the 2008 Tour de Wallonie plus two stage wins in the Tour de France, and wanted to leave the sport on his own terms.
He had two quiet seasons in 2010 and 2011, lacking any victories, and said that he was determined to try to come back. “I wanted revenge for an average 2011, but then I realised that there was no longer any place for me at Katusha and that there were no slots elsewhere. And I am no longer the youngest rider.”
The six time Russian champion will be best remembered for his win in the Amstel Gold Race, when he outsprinted Karsten Kroon, and also for the Tour stage he picked up three months later. The latter triumph was on the stage to Besançon, where he jumped clear out of a big breakaway group and reached the line sixteen seconds ahead of Nicolas Roche.
George Hincapie supporters will remember the stage as being the one where the rider missed out on the Maillot Jaune by just five seconds.
Tchmil’s position at the head of the Katusha team has been taken over by former Gerolsteiner manger Hans Michael Holczer. The squad is headlined by triple Grand Tour winner Denis Menchov, three-time world road race champion Oscar Freire and former UCI ProTour winner Joaquim Rodriguez.
Ivanov was a professional for sixteen seasons, beginning with the small Lada-Samara squad, then going on to race for TVM-Farm Frites, Fassa Bortolo, T-Mobile and Astana. He began competing for Katusha in 2009.