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

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

I still remember having immense expectations for him in 2014 after Contador and Froome crashed out, but it was pretty obvious the bad weather in that race had drained him. He was very good at Courchevel, but below par pretty much in the entire race. A normal Valverde would EASILY have held on to 2nd, obviously still without threatening the mythic Vincenzo Nibali 2014 Tour.

That's not it. He says he had family problems that summer and couldn't care less about cycling

I know that, but you think thats the whole reason? Looked like he cared.

 

[Cordi333]

Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

I'm afraid the first time was in 2006.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

I still remember having immense expectations for him in 2014 after Contador and Froome crashed out, but it was pretty obvious the bad weather in that race had drained him. He was very good at Courchevel, but below par pretty much in the entire race. A normal Valverde would EASILY have held on to 2nd, obviously still without threatening the mythic Vincenzo Nibali 2014 Tour.

That's not it. He says he had family problems that summer and couldn't care less about cycling

I know that, but you think thats the whole reason? Looked like he cared.

He cared. He also said that he was sure that was his last shot at a Tour podium. Now it very well could have easily been a combination of a bunch of things, which wouldn't be shocking at all, but bad weather has always been an issue for him.

 

[Koronin]

Of course there was more to his comment about the weather and Strade Bianche that wasn't in the English language translation. Here is that part of the story in Spanish:
Valverde está en la lista provisional para el Strade Bianche del próximo sábado, pero su participación no está asegurada. Mucho podría depender del sombrío pronóstico del tiempo para la Toscana el próximo fin de semana.

“Todavía no he decidido si iré a Strade Bianche o esperaré hasta la Volta a Catalunya”, dijo Valverde. “Lo evaluaremos durante la semana y veremos cómo mi cuerpo responde al cambio de hora y al cambio de temperatura”.

(This is google translates translation: Valverde is on the provisional list for the Strade Bianche next Saturday, but his participation is not assured. A lot could depend on the bleak weather forecast for Tuscany next weekend.

"I still have not decided if I'll go to Strade Bianche or wait until the Volta to Catalunya," said Valverde. "We will evaluate it during the week and we will see how my body responds to the change in time and the change in temperature.")

 

[tobydawq]

I think he'll survive the three hour difference six days from now.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

Where can valverde gain minutes in the first week?

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re: Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

Where can valverde gain minutes in the first week?

Follow the Andy Schleck 2010 template. Have your teammate crash a rival, attack when the rival is down, gain minutes, then cry bloody murder when your chain slips and the rival dares do to you what you already did to him.

Works every time 50% of the time.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Re: Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

Where can valverde gain minutes in the first week?

Follow the Andy Schleck 2010 template. Have your teammate crash a rival, attack when the rival is down, gain minutes, then cry bloody murder when your chain slips and the rival dares do to you what you already did to him.

Works every time 50% of the time.

More like he is going to attack during the neutral zone on the first stage, finish, and start stage 2 before everyone else finishes stage 1.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

Where can valverde gain minutes in the first week?

Follow the Andy Schleck 2010 template. Have your teammate crash a rival, attack when the rival is down, gain minutes, then cry bloody murder when your chain slips and the rival dares do to you what you already did to him.

Works every time 50% of the time.

More like he is going to attack during the neutral zone on the first stage, finish, and start stage 2 before everyone else finishes stage 1.

That would get him disqualified.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Re: Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

Where can valverde gain minutes in the first week?

Follow the Andy Schleck 2010 template. Have your teammate crash a rival, attack when the rival is down, gain minutes, then cry bloody murder when your chain slips and the rival dares do to you what you already did to him.

Works every time 50% of the time.

More like he is going to attack during the neutral zone on the first stage, finish, and start stage 2 before everyone else finishes stage 1.

That would get him disqualified.

He would be going to fasr to get disqualified.

 

[Koronin]

Just for interesting info. He's saying that he's definitely racing at least 1 more contract because his current contract ends after the 2019 season and he said he's going to the 2020 Olympics so he's definitely getting one more contract. Of course he's also saying that as long as he's winning and having fun why should he even think about retiring and has half joked about racing til he's 50. Now I do think the racing til he's 50 is a stretch. However I do think he can race into his 40's as long as he's having fun and wants to. Heck the team has made comments including when he was in the hospital last summer that he can race for them as long as he wants. He will always have a contract with them.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

I think he'll survive the three hour difference six days from now.

LOL, yeah, I thought that one was pretty funny. It's not like he was flying from Abu Dhabi to California to race some race next weekend. Now flying from the east coast of the US to Europe is a 6 hour time difference. That may take a little time, but I'd think a day or two should be enough. UGH....I need to get our debt paid down more so we can figure out how that works so we can get to Europe to actually see some races.

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

Where can valverde gain minutes in the first week?

cobbles

 

[WheelofGear]

Re: Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

Where can valverde gain minutes in the first week?

cobbles

We don't know yet. He has never proved anything on the cobbles. In the Tour stage where Froome crashed out, wasn't there something wrong with his bike? I think it was too small or something.

At 5'10, he is taller than most of the climbers. But his weight is the same the smaller climbers, so I don't think he has an advantage. You need a bit more muscle on the cobbles.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

Where can valverde gain minutes in the first week?

cobbles

What has valverde ever done on cobbles that makes you think he could gain minutes?

 

[Sartorius]

Re: Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

Where can valverde gain minutes in the first week?

cobbles

What has valverde ever done on cobbles that makes you think he could gain minutes?

Because he has crazy raw power which he transfers into climbing, TTing, sprinting and possibly into riding on cobbles. He is not as good as cobble specialists, but he should be better than those high cadency climbers.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

Where can valverde gain minutes in the first week?

cobbles

What has valverde ever done on cobbles that makes you think he could gain minutes?

You could argue that he only needs to gain several minutes on Quintana (and possibly Landa) to massively increase his chances of winning the race. And that is certainly a possibility if the race becomes chaotic.

 

[Koronin]

As we were talking about Bala and Strade Bianche it seems unlikely he's going for two reasons. Reason one being that according to a tweet by one of the members of the Movistar management Valverde has never been on their list of riders to go to Strade Bianche in the first place. He said the entire team is aware of his desire to go. They said a decision will be made tomorrow. Reason two is that he along with apparently a large number of the peloton ended up ill after the race in Abu Dhabi apparently due to differences in the food there vs in Europe.

 

[Serpentin]

Re:

As we were talking about Bala and Strade Bianche it seems unlikely he's going for two reasons. Reason one being that according to a tweet by one of the members of the Movistar management Valverde has never been on their list of riders to go to Strade Bianche in the first place. He said the entire team is aware of his desire to go. They said a decision will be made tomorrow. Reason two is that he along with apparently a large number of the peloton ended up ill after the race in Abu Dhabi apparently due to differences in the food there vs in Europe.

You should come to europe. Watching a race Live is great. You don´t get to see anything compared to the TV but the atmosphere is great if you are a fan :razz:

Maybe it`s a good thing that he is ill now. I want him fresh for the coming stage races and Flèche and Liege.

Think he has a shot at the Tour. With Froome (maybe) gone the race is open. And some favorites will be gone after the opening week. He need to keep his head cool the first week and don`t do a stupid thing like in last years TT. Landa Valverde podium would be dream scenario. Quintana should really go to the giro instead.

 

[Blanco]

If he's ill he should pass this. It's going to be tough race with bad weather.
If not, bring it on! One more true racer is more than welcome. It could be epic race with Bala, Kwiat, Stybar, GVA, Gilbert... My guess is that Valverde will blow the peloton apart on Monte Sante Marie, and after that only the best will survive.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

As we were talking about Bala and Strade Bianche it seems unlikely he's going for two reasons. Reason one being that according to a tweet by one of the members of the Movistar management Valverde has never been on their list of riders to go to Strade Bianche in the first place. He said the entire team is aware of his desire to go. They said a decision will be made tomorrow. Reason two is that he along with apparently a large number of the peloton ended up ill after the race in Abu Dhabi apparently due to differences in the food there vs in Europe.

You should come to europe. Watching a race Live is great. You don´t get to see anything compared to the TV but the atmosphere is great if you are a fan :razz:

Maybe it`s a good thing that he is ill now. I want him fresh for the coming stage races and Flèche and Liege.

Think he has a shot at the Tour. With Froome (maybe) gone the race is open. And some favorites will be gone after the opening week. He need to keep his head cool the first week and don`t do a stupid thing like in last years TT. Landa Valverde podium would be dream scenario. Quintana should really go to the giro instead.

I'm going to eventually get there. The only race we've (we is myself and my husband) have been to was the 2015 Worlds in Richmond. Valv.Piti posted some of the photos my husband took several pages back on this thread. Unfortunately right now we need to get some debt paid down/off before we can afford to fly to Europe to watch some races (and go sight seeing while we're there). Plus we need passports. (Yeah in that since typical American who doesn't own a passport.)

If he's going to get sick, I agree I'd rather it be now and he's fully recovered by the Ardennes where he's already beat most of the peloton on the start line.

The Tour is going to be interesting with how it plays out with Movistar regardless of anyone else who is in the race. That situation could end up in a total disaster. I won't be shocked if the cobbles play a much bigger role than people are thinking, esp within this team. Quintana is going to struggle. Landa is racing a couple of the semi classics because he's not raced cobbles. Valverde can handle himself on them as he's proven when he's raced some of the semi classics on cobbles before. Still hoping he may race Flanders this year esp since Movistar has said they are sending all three of their riders to cobbled races just to the cobbles before the Tour. Flanders makes the most sense to send Alejandro to esp since he keeps claiming he's going to race it.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

As we were talking about Bala and Strade Bianche it seems unlikely he's going for two reasons. Reason one being that according to a tweet by one of the members of the Movistar management Valverde has never been on their list of riders to go to Strade Bianche in the first place. He said the entire team is aware of his desire to go. They said a decision will be made tomorrow. Reason two is that he along with apparently a large number of the peloton ended up ill after the race in Abu Dhabi apparently due to differences in the food there vs in Europe.

You should come to europe. Watching a race Live is great. You don´t get to see anything compared to the TV but the atmosphere is great if you are a fan :razz:

Maybe it`s a good thing that he is ill now. I want him fresh for the coming stage races and Flèche and Liege.

Think he has a shot at the Tour. With Froome (maybe) gone the race is open. And some favorites will be gone after the opening week. He need to keep his head cool the first week and don`t do a stupid thing like in last years TT. Landa Valverde podium would be dream scenario. Quintana should really go to the giro instead.

I'm going to eventually get there. The only race we've (we is myself and my husband) have been to was the 2015 Worlds in Richmond. Valv.Piti posted some of the photos my husband took several pages back on this thread. Unfortunately right now we need to get some debt paid down/off before we can afford to fly to Europe to watch some races (and go sight seeing while we're there). Plus we need passports. (Yeah in that since typical American who doesn't own a passport.)

If he's going to get sick, I agree I'd rather it be now and he's fully recovered by the Ardennes where he's already beat most of the peloton on the start line.

The Tour is going to be interesting with how it plays out with Movistar regardless of anyone else who is in the race. That situation could end up in a total disaster. I won't be shocked if the cobbles play a much bigger role than people are thinking, esp within this team. Quintana is going to struggle. Landa is racing a couple of the semi classics because he's not raced cobbles. Valverde can handle himself on them as he's proven when he's raced some of the semi classics on cobbles before. Still hoping he may race Flanders this year esp since Movistar has said they are sending all three of their riders to cobbled races just to the cobbles before the Tour. Flanders makes the most sense to send Alejandro to esp since he keeps claiming he's going to race it.

Plus all the other races are concurrent with Catalunya (except for Roubaix, which he definitely isn't going to do).

 

[Valv.Piti]

I won't hold my breath for Strade, especially now that he apparently got a little sick. Im perfectly fine with him not going to race it.

Flanders, I don't know. While it obviously would be amazing to see him in the greatest bike race on earth (yes, Tour of Flanders is just that), I fear crashes. And I think he does as well.... would be a little too nerve wrecking for me with the Ardennes coming up, haha. But I think he could do very well, he has become a better rouleur with age (and better climber lmao).

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

I won't hold my breath for Strade, especially now that he apparently got a little sick. Im perfectly fine with him not going to race it.

Flanders, I don't know. While it obviously would be amazing to see him in the greatest bike race on earth (yes, Ronde van Vlaanderen is just that), I fear crashes. And I think he does as well.... would be a little too nerve wrecking for me with the Ardennes coming up, haha. But I think he could do very well, he has become a better rouleur with age (and better climber lmao).

I think he will participate in Strade. Otherwise, I don't see why Movistar haven't announced their team yet.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

I won't hold my breath for Strade, especially now that he apparently got a little sick. Im perfectly fine with him not going to race it.

Flanders, I don't know. While it obviously would be amazing to see him in the greatest bike race on earth (yes, Ronde van Vlaanderen is just that), I fear crashes. And I think he does as well.... would be a little too nerve wrecking for me with the Ardennes coming up, haha. But I think he could do very well, he has become a better rouleur with age (and better climber lmao).

I think he will participate in Strade. Otherwise, I don't see why Movistar haven't announced their team yet.

Certainly hope that you are right!