his performances began to fade, leading the press to question his abilities and focus on his personal life, which included him and his wife Stella separating. Berzin returned for the 1996 Giro d'Italia, where he won the time trial on stage 19, putting him into provisional third place overall, just 14 seconds behind leader Pavel Tonkov. He would however lose significant time the next day, and eventually finished in 10th place overall. At the Tour de Suisse, he won the prologue, two seconds ahead of Bjarne Riis. He won the time trial on stage 8 as well, this time ahead of Gianni Faresin and Armstrong. In the overall classification, he was eventually fourth. At the 1996 Tour de France, he took the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification on stage 7 to Les Arcs, the day that saw Induráin falter at the Tour for the first time in six years. He was the first Russian rider to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour. Berzin then won the time trial to Val-d'Isère the next day. Stage 9 to Sestriere was shortened due to snow. Riis attacked almost from the beginning of the now -long stage. Riis would win the stage and take the yellow jersey from Berzin en route to eventual overall victory. Berzin finished in Paris in 20th place. Later career For 1997, Berzin followed Bombini, who set up a new team, Batik–Del Monte, which included many riders from the former Gewiss squad. At the 1997 Giro d'Italia, Berzin placed second to Tonkov at the difficult stage-three time trial to San Marino. He faded later in the race and finished 20th overall, 49 minutes behind the winner, Ivan Gotti. He rode the Tour de France again, finishing third in the prologue time trial in Rouen, but he later abandoned the race, due to a broken clavicle. His contract with the Batik–Del Monte team stipulated that Berzin had to try to break the hour record in 1997. The plan to attempt the effort right after the Tour de France was foiled by his injuries sustained during the race. He eventually attempted to beat the record set by Chris Boardman in Bordeaux on 19 October. Prevented from using the same aerodynamic handlebars Boardman had used due to a change in regulations and further hindered by riding at sea level, Berzin abandoned his run after just 17 minutes, with an