Pavel Tonkov

Pavel Tonkov

Pavel Sergeyevich Tonkov (Russian: Павел Сергеевич Тонков; born February 9, 1969 in Izhevsk) is a former professional road racing cyclist 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. His biggest success was the overall win in the 1996 edition of the Giro d'Italia. He also placed 2nd in the following two editions of the Italian race.
In 1995 he won the Tour de Suisse and in 1997 he won the Tour de Romandie. In 2000 he placed 3rd overall in the Vuelta a España. Throughout much of his career he was a client of the controversial Dr Michele Ferrari.
He retired in 2005.

He is married to a Spanish woman and they have two sons and a daughter. He currently lives in Córdoba, Spain where he manages a hotel.