Russian out of retirement and racing with his brother
The Efimkin brothers come to Utah as a powerful duo in the mountains. (Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Team Type 1-Sanofi's twin brothers Alexandre and Vladimir Efimkin are competing at the Tour of Utah, their first stage race together since the latter came out of retirement and joined the team this summer. The UCI Professional Continental team is hoping the pair of climbers will perform well in the mountainous terrain during both the Tour of Utah and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge from August 22-28 in Colorado.
"I will be at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge next," Vladimir Efimkin said. "Tour of Utah was my first race back since retiring last year. I have been training hard and it is going very well. But mileage in training is different from race mileage. The first race here was very hard. Some days went well and some days I did not. I would like to win a stage at either race, if possible. It is fun to race with my brother again."
Vladimir Efimkin's contract with Team Type 1-Sanofi started on August 1 and the Tour of Utah was his first competition of the season. His overall performance left something to be desired, however, he was using the mountainous stage race as an opener for the following USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
"My body gave me some surprises, some days I went very well and others I didn't," Efimkin said. "It was the first race. This race told me how I am doing, my legs my body told me how I was going. Maybe I will be stronger in Colorado and it depends on how the other riders are going. It will be another hard stage race."
Efimkin retired from bike racing at the end of 2010 to spend more time with his family and build a real estate and home renovation business in Sacramento, California. He decided to make a return to the professional peloton after watching his brother compete for Team Type 1-Sanofi during the 2011 season.
Efimkin said. "My family needed me and they are my first priority so I left racing. Everything is okay with my family now and I can race again. I have had good results in the past and that is the reason why I am here racing with this team today. I spoke with Vassili Davidenko at the Tour of California and I told him that I wanted to return to racing."
Efimkin is a former Grand Tour contender who competed for teams Ag2r- La Mondiale, Caisse d'Epargne and Barloworld. His results include stage wins and top 10 stage finishes at the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana along with Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Volta a Catalunya, Criterium du Dauphine Libere and the Tour Down Under.
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Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
