Ilnur is currently holding the best results among Russians in Grand Tours and multi-day races in his generation.He is the second Russian cyclist that stood on the winners podium in general classification of the Grand Tour in the 21st century. Eleven Grand Tours, eight professional victories at the highest level.
The only current cyclist in Russia (until 2021) in the top 3 of the Grand Tour general classification - in 2017, Zakarin was third in the Vuelta.
Winner of the stages of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia. "Paris - Nice". Zakarin also won general classification of the “Tour of Romandie” (2015), “Tour of Azerbaijan” (2014). Two-time champion of Russia in the individual race (2013, 2017).
He started his career in professional cycling with the ITERA Katyusha team, performed in the World Tour for Katyusha (2015-2019), Polish CCC (2020), and at the pro-continental level - for Rusvelo (2013-2014). Before 2021, he signed a contract with Gazprom-Rusvelo,where he intends to end his career in 2022.