He's coming home!!!! Alejandro Valverde comeback thread.

[Valv.Piti]

Anybody remember this club banger?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrY39ooSKBY

Haha, what a deeply necessary post

Who do you think the other fellas she is singing about are? Gaviria? And who could Roberto be?

Highly relevant. No clue, but I love it.

 

[May0maniac]

Anybody remember this club banger?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrY39ooSKBY

Haha, what a deeply necessary post

Who do you think the other fellas she is singing about are? Gaviria? And who could Roberto be?

Highly relevant. No clue, but I love it.

Maybe Roberto Ferrari?

 

[tobydawq]

Anybody remember this club banger?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrY39ooSKBY

Haha, what a deeply necessary post

Who do you think the other fellas she is singing about are? Gaviria? And who could Roberto be?

Highly relevant. No clue, but I love it.

Maybe Roberto Ferrari?

Definitely!
And unless the honorary miss Gaga is prophetic, I'm gonna change my guess on the Fernando dude to Escartín.

 

[KyoGrey]

Fernannndo...

Robeeeeerrrto...

ALEJANDRO!!!

Wish so much that Kelme continued it's existence up to today...bring back that terrific guerrilla warfare on the mountains with breakaways containing 2-3-4 Kelme climbers from central/mediterranean Spain + random colombian...

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

Milan- San Remo thread: 34 pages of discussion
Ronde van Vlaanderen thread: 60 pages of discussion

TdF Ventoux stage last year more prestigious than LBL MSR and WC combined confirmed.

Congrats to Thomas de Gendt on winning the biggest race of the year

Well had the contestants attempted to alter the races and turn them into Duathlons the way Froome had maybe they'd have had more pages of dialogue!

But it highlights how ridiculous the logic of using number of posts on an internet forum to determine how important it is is

 

[jaylew]

Fernannndo...

Robeeeeerrrto...

ALEJANDRO!!!

Wish so much that Kelme continued it's existence up to today...bring back that terrific guerrilla warfare on the mountains with breakaways containing 2-3-4 Kelme climbers from central/mediterranean Spain + random colombian...

The only pro kit I've ever owned...

 

[Valv.Piti]

Indeed, epic team. Dimension Data

 

[Moviestar]

Fernannndo...

Robeeeeerrrto...

ALEJANDRO!!!

Wish so much that Kelme continued it's existence up to today...bring back that terrific guerrilla warfare on the mountains with breakaways containing 2-3-4 Kelme climbers from central/mediterranean Spain + random colombian...

Rumour has it that even Lady Gaga was a huge fan of the Kelme squad, with special attention for Valverde.

Don't call my name,
Don't call my name, Alejandro
I'm not your babe,
I'm not your babe, Fernando
Don't wanna kiss, don't wanna touch
Just smoke my cigarette and hush
Don't call my name,
Don't call my name,
Roberto

Alejandro
Alejandro
Ale-ale-jandro
Ale-ale-jandro

Alejandro
Alejandro
Ale-ale-jandro
Ale-ale-jandro

 

[DBotero]

Fernannndo...

Robeeeeerrrto...

ALEJANDRO!!!

Wish so much that Kelme continued it's existence up to today...bring back that terrific guerrilla warfare on the mountains with breakaways containing 2-3-4 Kelme climbers from central/mediterranean Spain + random colombian...

Best team ever.Too bad that Banesto survived and not them.
A not so random Colombian:

 

[DFA123]

Fernannndo...

Robeeeeerrrto...

ALEJANDRO!!!

Wish so much that Kelme continued it's existence up to today...bring back that terrific guerrilla warfare on the mountains with breakaways containing 2-3-4 Kelme climbers from central/mediterranean Spain + random colombian...

Rumour has it that even Lady Gaga was a huge fan of the Kelme squad, with special attention for Valverde.

Don't call my name,
Don't call my name, Alejandro
I'm not your babe,
I'm not your babe, Fernando
Don't wanna kiss, don't wanna touch
Just smoke my cigarette and hush
Don't call my name,
Don't call my name,
Roberto

Alejandro
Alejandro
Ale-ale-jandro
Ale-ale-jandro

Alejandro
Alejandro
Ale-ale-jandro
Ale-ale-jandro

I still remember her touching tribute as the team disbanded as well. It's almost like the words came from Belda's mouth himself. Couldn't bear seeing Alejandro dump him for Unzué.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iSd_wTuA3U

 

[capuldemetal]

well..i was a big fan of the Otxoa brothers.

 

[KyoGrey]

Pffffft...imagine those mid 2000's if they had let the Kelme dream to continue.

Yeah, super pure climber Roberto Heras extending his Tour adventures and not siding with US Postal/axis of evil.

Alejandro Valverde dominating the sport with a rocket-fuel program and brave directors behind in the car.

But also let's not forget...Oscar Sevilla aka The Kid causing havoc by continuing his daunting progression, Santiago Botero apparitions all over the place, Rubiera as ultra solid peloton reducer, Rubén Plaza who was a possible superstar in the making could've been something bigger also...

And some interesting young riders who were born and raised in the geographical area of influence of the team like murcians Luis León Sánchez or Rojas could've ended with the structure.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Unfortunately a tad too young to have been watching that squad, Kelme became Comunidad Valenciana and then vanished when Puerto stroke right? I remember Plaza and Quesada at a Vuelta, I think 2005, but at that point it already was on a much lower level than previously. Botero and Sevilla were really good, when when they left, especially Botero was a shadow of his former self. (clinic stuff....) Roberto was absolutely awesome, never saw Escartin.

 

[KyoGrey]

We had to content ourselves some years with overweight Ullrich, ill-fated Beloki, Vino, Basso, Mancebo etc facing Armstrong in the Tour when we could've added to the mix a combination of these people:

It's not as if wasn't economically feasable. We are talking of a time when the Comunitat Valenciana was the world paradise of corruption, speculation, big dodgy deals between public servants and privante enterprises, insane sponsorships and absurd megaproyects in the heat of the Spanish real state boom.

A top cycling team was little money for those politicians at the time if the appropiate calls had been made.

 

[DFA123]

The size of Armstrong and Valverde in that photo. :lol: Riders just don't balloon like that in the off season any more.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

The size of Armstrong and Valverde in that photo. :lol: Riders just don't balloon like that in the off season any more.

And when they do they become the meme of the forum.

 

[WheelofGear]

Valverde and Armstrong looks like sumo wrestlers in that picture compared to modern cyclists.

 

[Squire]

All the Kelme craziness in the 2000 Tour de France was basically what got me hooked on cycling.

 

[Mr.White]

He might be paying the price for his Catalunya/Pais Vasco combo (which is a no, if you're targeting Ardennes). I said this earlier, but I guess we'll know better after the Arrow

 

[WheelofGear]

I actually think he thought they would attack on Cauberg.

Gilbert and co. are just smarter in these races.

 

[tobydawq]

Well, if he could have gone with Kwiatkowski, he probably would have. That was quite the no-brainer.

He didn't look good and I think Wednesday's race is more open than I did before today. Henao and perhaps Kwiatkowski as well could be dangerous.

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

I actually think he thought they would attack on Cauberg.

Gilbert and co. are just smarter in these races.

It's not about the brains, he just didn't had the legs. He would go after Kwiat, or before him, on Keutenberg if he had them

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

I actually think he thought they would attack on Cauberg.

Gilbert and co. are just smarter in these races.

It's not about the brains, he just didn't had the legs. He would go after Kwiat, or before him, on Keutenberg if he had them

It is indeed about the brains. Kwiatkowski could only bridge because he had absolutely super legs. If Valverde had just gone with the Gilbert group when it attacked, he would have had a good chance of winning or podiuming. He looked like he considered it, but he was again too hesitant in a big race and didn't go.

Maybe he had decided that he would follow van Avermaet, but he was poorly positioned, which explains why he didn't join the Gilbert attack. That was not true for Valverde but he probably thought it would be fine just to put Rojas up there so he could help him later.

Then of course it turned out that Rojas couldn't really do anything but sitting on wheels and was to no help at all (otherwise, he could have dropped down to the GvA-Valverde group when it was at ten seconds and sacrificed himself - but in that case that would have been stupid, because he then would have had a chance of winning - so to sum up, Rojas' presence in the front group was never going to help Valverde in any case).

But I just don't know why he didn't go with Gilbert and co. There were so many fast guys left behind, so his presence would not have dampened the desire to work hard. It was quite sad to see him squander that very good opportunity.

 

[Arredondo]

He just came up to short on the Keutenberg. Which is a surprise because it's a climb which should suit him more then the Cauberg.

But normally he always misses that little spark in the Amstel, even in the years he dominated FW and LBL. But i think Henao will be a strong competitor next wednesday. He looked super strong in the Amstel, which is a race which does not suit him really. So maybe this is the year to beat Bala on the Mur.

Too bad Gilbert will not be there. I really think he could have ruined the chances of the puncheurs by attacking together with Kwiat, Izagirre, Bardet and those kind of guys. Now i fear everyone will just ride to the Mur en groupe

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

It's not a real surprise. I've seen Valverde collapse on the Keutenberg so many times now. It's hardly a surprise anymore. The AGR climbs just don't suit him very well.