Teams & Riders He's coming home!!!! Alejandro Valverde comeback thread.

[Valv.Piti]

One thing is for sure and that is it is getting harder and harder to be a Valverde hater. That obviously doesn't stop some on this forum, but a top-5 seems very likely at this point.

 

[Jspear]

Re:

One thing is for sure and that is it is getting harder and harder to be a Valverde hater. That obviously doesn't stop some on this forum, but a top-5 seems very likely at this point.

From the get go let me just say I'm not a Valverde hater.
What do you mean by this? Isn't this the sort of performance that would make them despise him even more?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

 

[Cookster15]

Re: Re:

One thing is for sure and that is it is getting harder and harder to be a Valverde hater. That obviously doesn't stop some on this forum, but a top-5 seems very likely at this point.

From the get go let me just say I'm not a Valverde hater.
What do you mean by this? Isn't this the sort of performance that would make them despise him even more?

The guy turned pro 14 years ago and is still competitive on GC, so far this Vuelta the 3rd GT of the season after a podium in the Giro and a strong Tour (theoretically) riding in support of Quintana. You could probably say I was a "hater" (strong word). But through his persistently strong and versatile performances over a long career and so far this Vuelta Valverde has definitely earned my respect.

 

[Thepirateisgood]

Amazing bike rider, innuendo or not.

Many things to be said about him, but surely he is loving the racing, if anything he's like riders in the 60/70/80's.

Hope he goes to the track next year, throw in a few CX/MB rides just to be even cooler.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

I doubt anyone would say he isn't a strong rider. The reason people dislike him is his riding style and that doesn't have anything to do with his gt results.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

I doubt anyone would say he isn't a strong rider. The reason people dislike him is his riding style and that doesn't have anything to do with his gt results.

Defo not true. Many points towards him not being a great due to lacking results, just see the conversation about him, Cance, Boonen and Contador.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

I doubt anyone would say he isn't a strong rider. The reason people dislike him is his riding style and that doesn't have anything to do with his gt results.

Defo not true. Many points towards him not being a great due to lacking results, just see the conversation about him, Cance, Boonen and Contador.

Lacking big wins, rather than results, I think is the criticism.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

I doubt anyone would say he isn't a strong rider. The reason people dislike him is his riding style and that doesn't have anything to do with his gt results.

Defo not true. Many points towards him not being a great due to lacking results, just see the conversation about him, Cance, Boonen and Contador.

Lacking big wins, rather than results, I think is the criticism.

But a feat such as this would still have to be taken into consideration. He obviously needs to do it first tho.

He has bad experiences with today. Attacked too early, went into the red and lost 30 seconds last time. He won't do that again and will play it more conservative, he is usually very good at managing his efforts. He can win, but Froome and Chaves will be my favourites for today.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

I doubt anyone would say he isn't a strong rider. The reason people dislike him is his riding style and that doesn't have anything to do with his gt results.

Defo not true. Many points towards him not being a great due to lacking results, just see the conversation about him, Cance, Boonen and Contador.

Lacking big wins, rather than results, I think is the criticism.

But a feat such as this would still have to be taken into consideration. He obviously needs to do it first tho.

He has bad experiences with today. Attacked too early, went into the red and lost 30 seconds last time. He won't do that again and will play it more conservative, he is usually very good at managing his efforts. He can win, but Froome and Chaves will be my favourites for today.

Do you think Valverde might have been able to stay with Froome had he not attacked earlier?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Lacking big wins, rather than results, I think is the criticism.

Exactly. Very few people remember who finished 3rd or 4th in a race. Wins is what people remember, especially when the race was won in grand style.

 

[Arredondo]

Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

You can still dislike him for the way he is as a rider or the choices he makes during his career and in particulair races.

Trust me, nobody on this forum denies Valverde is a beast on a bike. Great rider. But not a true winner.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Lacking big wins, rather than results, I think is the criticism.

Exactly. Very few people remember who finished 3rd or 4th in a race. Wins is what people remember, especially when the race was won in grand style.

Unless he completes the GT top-10 treble.

silvergrenade: Definitely not, but he would have been a lot closer. He was pretty good that Vuelta without being a monster.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

Lacking big wins, rather than results, I think is the criticism.

Exactly. Very few people remember who finished 3rd or 4th in a race. Wins is what people remember, especially when the race was won in grand style.

Unless he completes the GT top-10 treble.

silvergrenade: Definitely not, but he would have been a lot closer. He was pretty good that Vuelta without being a monster.

I won't necessarily remember all his top 10's in the vuelta or tour, but you're right, I'll definitely remember the top 10 gc treble.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

Lacking big wins, rather than results, I think is the criticism.

Exactly. Very few people remember who finished 3rd or 4th in a race. Wins is what people remember, especially when the race was won in grand style.

Unless he completes the GT top-10 treble.

silvergrenade: Definitely not, but he would have been a lot closer. He was pretty good that Vuelta without being a monster.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[toolittle]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

You can still dislike him for the way he is as a rider or the choices he makes during his career and in particulair races.

Trust me, nobody on this forum denies Valverde is a beast on a bike. Great rider. But not a true winner.

Valverde is a winner. Negative discussions due to someone tried to convince people that lbl is more important than WC or Olympic gold. Veulta is more important than the tour.

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

You can still dislike him for the way he is as a rider or the choices he makes during his career and in particulair races.

Trust me, nobody on this forum denies Valverde is a beast on a bike. Great rider. But not a true winner.

It's really hard to tell something like that for a guy who won 100 professional road races in his career But ok, if that's your opinion...

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

You can still dislike him for the way he is as a rider or the choices he makes during his career and in particulair races.

Trust me, nobody on this forum denies Valverde is a beast on a bike. Great rider. But not a true winner.

It's really hard to tell something like that for a guy who won 100 professional road races in his career But ok, if that's your opinion...

Look at Kwiatkowski. That guy is a winner. Always puts everything on the line for a win if there's a chance, and has seriously overachieved as a result. Valverde otoh has poor palmares compared to what he should have. How the hell has he not won Lombardia or WC

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

You can still dislike him for the way he is as a rider or the choices he makes during his career and in particulair races.

Trust me, nobody on this forum denies Valverde is a beast on a bike. Great rider. But not a true winner.

It's really hard to tell something like that for a guy who won 100 professional road races in his career But ok, if that's your opinion...

He's too happy with a podium. You know that too. His reaction after, for example, Firenze and Lombardia 2014 shows that.

Nothing wrong with that. He still wins tons of races thanks to his abilities. But he doesn't have the mindset of someone like Contador or Gilbert.

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

You can still dislike him for the way he is as a rider or the choices he makes during his career and in particulair races.

Trust me, nobody on this forum denies Valverde is a beast on a bike. Great rider. But not a true winner.

It's really hard to tell something like that for a guy who won 100 professional road races in his career But ok, if that's your opinion...

Look at Kwiatkowski. That guy is a winner. Always puts everything on the line for a win if there's a chance, and has seriously overachieved as a result. Valverde otoh has poor palmares compared to what he should have. How the hell has he not won Lombardia or WC

Don't agree on Kwiatkowski. The guy is really talented, he got his couple of big wins, but apart from that he's nowhere to be seen during the season. I don't think he overachieved anything...

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

You can still dislike him for the way he is as a rider or the choices he makes during his career and in particulair races.

Trust me, nobody on this forum denies Valverde is a beast on a bike. Great rider. But not a true winner.

It's really hard to tell something like that for a guy who won 100 professional road races in his career But ok, if that's your opinion...

He's too happy with a podium. You know that too. His reaction after, for example, Firenze and Lombardia 2014 shows that.

Nothing wrong with that. He still wins tons of races thanks to his abilities. But he doesn't have the mindset of someone like Contador or Gilbert.

But did you see him when he wins? He's overjoyed, despite the fact that he wins so often. I wouldn't put much to his reactions...

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Say, if he top-5 and thereby top-10 in all GT's with 6th being the worst, its very hard still to criticise from a sporting perspective since its an amazing feat.

You can still dislike him for the way he is as a rider or the choices he makes during his career and in particulair races.

Trust me, nobody on this forum denies Valverde is a beast on a bike. Great rider. But not a true winner.

It's really hard to tell something like that for a guy who won 100 professional road races in his career But ok, if that's your opinion...

He's too happy with a podium. You know that too. His reaction after, for example, Firenze and Lombardia 2014 shows that.

Nothing wrong with that. He still wins tons of races thanks to his abilities. But he doesn't have the mindset of someone like Contador or Gilbert.

But did you see him when he wins? He's overjoyed, despite the fact that he wins so often. I wouldn't put much to his reactions...

I'm not saying he doesn't like winning. But he likes 'losing' too much too

 

[Arredondo]

Decent stage. As always he struggles on the really steep gradients, but he's the master of limiting the damage.

I think he will finish 4th behind Contador, Quintana and Froome or Chaves.

 

[Mr.White]

He's still up there. We'll see his true level at Lagos. If he's among the best there, he could finish very high in Madrid

 

[Arredondo]

Re:

He's still up there. We'll see his true level at Lagos. If he's among the best there, he could finish very high in Madrid

Lagos is a climb where the gaps could be quite small though. In 2014, there were 10 riders who finished between 1 minute of each other.

I think the Aubisque stage says it all.