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

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

Even though I am neutral against him, I am amazed at his dedication and love for cycling.

I figured most either love or hate this rider (strong word, lets say dislike) due to clinic stuff and sometimes conservative tactics in the biggest races. Not many neutrals...Altho i think a lot of people who disliked him in the past has come to respect him recently. Same with Contador.

And how can you not, this is next level stuff.

I like his racing everywhere to get good result mentality (he races from February to October _O_) and when he attacks (e.g. Andalo stage in '16 Giro, Vuelta a Murcia, Pais Vasco '14 etc.)
I dislike him when he wheelsucks/rides for 2nd-3rd (e.g. Pra-Loup '15, LBL '14 etc.) or when he does horrible tactics (e.g. Firenze '13, Pra-Loup '15, Lombardia '14 etc.)
So, I am neutral.

 

[Netserk]

Dedication?! He's a lazy bum! Otherwise he wouldn't have let his team down, and he would be racing the Vuelta now! Contador set the standard three years ago.

_O_

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Dedication?! He's a lazy bum! Otherwise he wouldn't have let his team down, and he would be racing the Vuelta now! Contador set the standard three years ago.

_O_

Yes, who could forget Alberto ´The Black Knight´ Contador?

 

[portugal11]

Re:

For me Valverde is hard to love and easy to respect.

Funnily enough I used to be a fan of Valverde back when I started watching other races than the Tour.

Spot on. For a guy of his talent (a beast) the way he rides in the big races is pretty meh... if I didn't watch (for example) la doyenne and someone told me that the winner was valverde, I already knew that liege was boring as f$$$. And I think that the way he is always wheelsucking alberto's wheel doesn't help either (contador is the most likeable guy since armstrong).

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Article in El Periodico says Valverde given all clear to get back on his bike on the road. He wants to take part in the Tour of Guanxi in October!


http://www.elperiodico.com/es/ciclismo/20170819/valverde-vuelve-a-subir-a-la-bici-y-ya-quiere-competir-este-ano-6232772

CN article says this is against doctor's advice, and that they want him to wait 8 months before returning. Also that the team are concerned about him rushing back too fast.

Ordinarily, with a younger rider, I'd think this kind of super fast return very unwise and on the team's part irresponsible, risking a career for a few months. But in the specific case of Valverde who is at the tail end of a great career, he might reasonably think that those 8 months represent a key part of the rest of his career anyway and so it's worth risking it to be in shape next spring.

 

[Asero831]

He's back on the road
credit: coyotemaldito

 

[Valv.Piti]

Valverde just doesnt give one single ***

 

[yaco]

Find it interesting that Valverde doesn't wait until the TDU in January - This gives him 6 months which is closer to the doctor's suggestion of 8 months.

 

[Pennino]

Fantastic. What a king he is.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Find it interesting that Valverde doesn't wait until the TDU in January - This gives him 6 months which is closer to the doctor's suggestion of 8 months.

Because if he doesn't start training properly soon, he wouldn't be in shape for the Ardennes next year. And there is no way he's going to miss out on his favourite races like Andalucia, Murcia and Mallorca for some Micky Mouse race in Australia.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Find it interesting that Valverde doesn't wait until the TDU in January - This gives him 6 months which is closer to the doctor's suggestion of 8 months.

Because if he doesn't start training properly soon, he wouldn't be in shape for the Ardennes next year. And there is no way he's going to miss out on his favourite races like Andalucia, Murcia and Mallorca for some Micky Mouse race in Australia.

Well said. Starting racing in January would probably lead to a 2012-spring and while he still was able to outsprint Gerro on several occasions in the mickey mouse race that is Down Under, who really cares? Valverde need miles, it makes him stronger.

 

[Forever The Best]

Also am I the only one who thinks Valverde could have won this years Tour without the crash?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Also am I the only one who thinks Valverde could have won this years Tour without the crash?

Nope, I began to speculate in late March and early April already and it pretty much got increasingly likely up until that stupid corner.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

Also am I the only one who thinks Valverde could have won this years Tour without the crash?

Yes (if not, there are a lot of crazy men in this forum)... he would have lost at least 1 minute on mont du chat. He isn't a pure climber.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Valverde pretty much gets better the more he races unless you go to the extremes like 2016. If he feels ready, then go!

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

Also am I the only one who thinks Valverde could have won this years Tour without the crash?

Yes (if not, there are a lot of crazy men in this forum)... he would have lost at least 1 minute on mont du chat. He isn't a pure climber.

D.Martin was on the leading group in Mont du Chat. But then again, perhaps Froome would have tried harder to drop Valverde.

[quote="Forever The Best":1ho4fyl5]Also am I the only one who thinks Valverde could have won this years Tour without the crash?

Nope, I began to speculate in late March and early April already and it pretty much got increasingly likely up until that stupid corner.[/quote]Yeah, I feel sorry for making a few insensitive comments that day when he crashed.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Also am I the only one who thinks Valverde could have won this years Tour without the crash?

Yes (if not, there are a lot of crazy men in this forum)... he would have lost at least 1 minute on mont du chat. He isn't a pure climber.

He's no less climber than Uran, Bardet and Martin, that's sure.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Find it interesting that Valverde doesn't wait until the TDU in January - This gives him 6 months which is closer to the doctor's suggestion of 8 months.

Because if he doesn't start training properly soon, he wouldn't be in shape for the Ardennes next year. And there is no way he's going to miss out on his favourite races like Andalucia, Murcia and Mallorca for some Micky Mouse race in Australia.

Well said. Starting racing in January would probably lead to a 2012-spring and while he still was able to outsprint Gerro on several occasions in the mickey mouse race that is Down Under, who really cares? Valverde need miles, it makes him stronger.

Definitely, he's not one of these riders who can disappear for months and reach top form, he's better when he can just ride as much as possible. And racing is the best form of training for him; he doesn't have to try to win this race in China, just get a bit of sharpness and also see exactly where he is at before starting proper 2018 pre-season.

 

[Asero831]

Knowing Bala, at the back of his mind, he is eyeing Lombardia

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

Also am I the only one who thinks Valverde could have won this years Tour without the crash?

Yes (if not, there are a lot of crazy men in this forum)... he would have lost at least 1 minute on mont du chat. He isn't a pure climber.

He's no less climber than Uran, Bardet and Martin, that's sure.

But he always finds a way in losing time in the high mountains.

 

[PPAR-delta]

I was reading Michele Ferrari's forum and noticed someone recently asked him about Valverde's longevity.

Ferrari responded "Valverde a mio parere è il più grande talento ciclistico degli ultimi 12 anni . Non ha mai esasperato i carichi di allenamento e per questo ha allungato la sua carriera."

According to google translate it means "Valverde is in my opinion the greatest cycling talent in the last 12 years. He has never exasperated the workloads and for this he has stretched his career."

Of course 12 years ago was 2005, the last TDF win by Ferrari's most infamous client. Regardless of what you think of Ferrari, it seems like pretty high praise to me. I really wish Valverde hadn't crashed out in this years tour, certainly would have made it much more interesting. Most likely would have made this years Vuelta more interesting as well.

 

[skippo12]

Re: Re:

Also am I the only one who thinks Valverde could have won this years Tour without the crash?

Yes (if not, there are a lot of crazy men in this forum)... he would have lost at least 1 minute on mont du chat. He isn't a pure climber.

He's no less climber than Uran, Bardet and Martin, that's sure.

But he always finds a way in losing time in the high mountains.

Climbing never was his problem but he allways struggled when the passes were 2000m+ high. Climbing from sea level to a mountain finish at 1000m and he will be among the best but when they reach Galibier or Stelvio he will struggle.

This years Tour included Galibier and Izoard. I think he would have lost minutes on both passes.

 

[Valv.Piti]

There were 3 high altitude stage in the Giro. He lost 3 minutes on the big Dolomite stage, was good on the Agnello-Risoul stage and was the 2nd best rider on the stage most affected by high altitude, going over Vars, Bonette and Lombarde, only a tad worse than a flying Nibali.

 

[Red Rick]

Valverde breaking is never a given. He can be inconsistent however

 

[DFA123]

Re:

There were 3 high altitude stage in the Giro. He lost 3 minutes on the big Dolomite stage, was good on the Agnello-Risoul stage and was the 2nd best rider on the stage most affected by high altitude, going over Vars, Bonette and Lombarde, only a tad worse than a flying Nibali.

I think the altitude thing is a bit of a red herring. And it's more that he tends to struggle on the very hardest multi-mountain stages, regardless of whether they are very high altitude or not. Of course, these often happen to be high altitude, so there is some correlation, but not always. For example, struggled badly on the Vuelta stage last year to Aubisque which didn't go particularly close to 2,000m - but which was a really tough ride. Just like the Dolomites stage was the hardest of last years Giro.

In which case he would probably have been fine on the Izoard and Galibier stages, because they really weren't very hard.