2004
Vinokourov missed the break on the second stage of the 2004 Paris–Nice that gained five minutes. but he won three stages. He attacked towards the end of a small climb on the fifth stage with 8 km to go. He built ten seconds and won by four seconds. He dedicated the win to Kivilev. Vinokourov attacked the lead group on the flat windy coastal road in the finale of stage 7,with 5 km to go. He caught and passed Samuel Sánchez with 2 km to go and won the stage. Vinokourov won the final stage in a breakaway sprint against Denis Menchov .
Vinokourov came third in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, behind Davide Rebellin and Michael Boogerd. Boogerd and Vinokourov had been matching each other while Rebellin waited for the sprint and won. Vinokourov crashed on the second stage of the Tour de Suisse, tearing ligaments in his shoulder. That stopped his riding the 2004 Tour de France.
He returned for the Regio Tour at the start of August. In the second stage, he won the time trial. In the following stage, he won the bunch sprint and took the leader’s jersey to win. He then rode the Vuelta a España but due to food poisoning lost time during the first week. Vinokourov recovered and finished fourth in the time trial. He rode the world championship and took the bronze medal in the time trial.
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