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

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

It worked out well for Movistar in the end, whether intentional or not. They basically had a free ride for most of the day, when they normally would have been expected to be on the front for most of the tough parts. While Pinot, Yates and Sky all ended up putting in a pretty big effort for very little reward in the last 10km.

Quintana probably just wanted to put in a solid training effort - get in a decent interval, which he would have already pencilled into his schedule with the Vallter finish. But when it looked like the gap was getting too big because of the lack of response behind, he immediately stopped working, which seems fair enough.

Yeah, you put it up nicely, but it was not all that great. In fact it was not good at all, it was bad display of whole Movistar team. They were disorganized, without a clear plan, it seemed like it was every man for himself. I mean, why Soler attacked in the first place. What was to gain form that move? Is it a team order? If yes, what was the idea behind that? I can't see any positive aspect of that move. The other thing, about Quintana, he only stopped when heard yelling at the radio, that was clear after his post-race comments. He either has no brains or he just doesn't care, and I think it was the latter. He should've acted as a stopper from the beginning, this way that move wouldn't gain significant advantage. There was no benefit for the team from his riding. His riding would eliminate Valverde and gave the race to Yates. Something was really wrong with Movistar yesterday.

I think you're reading too much into it. There are only seven man teams now and Movistar have three guys who could be leader, or were designed to be useful in the tough mountains. That only leaves four riders to control the rest of the race and one of those (Pedrero) isn't very strong. There is a limit to how much you can control a race in those circumstances. Sending Quintana in a break, and establishing a small gap with it, forced the other teams to work and gave Movistar an easy ride.

If there was any mutiny in the team then Quintana wouldn't have stopped riding when the gap started to grow out a bit too much.

To me the clear sign that something was wrong is lack of statements from the team and Valverde himself. Quintana only said that DS stopped him from riding, and that Valverde is the leader, but he seemed quite unhappy about that.

I'm not sure why a statement is needed. Valverde may be leader, but surely Quintana's role in the race is to gain conditioning for himself with the Tour de France in mind. He's not really a useful domestique in these kind of stages, other than to perhaps offer some assistance on the toughest climbs (the hardest of which was cancelled anyway). I guess he is being allowed to ride his own race and build his form independently, but only when that started to threaten Valverde's GC, he was asked to just sit tight. Which he appeared to do immediately.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

It worked out well for Movistar in the end, whether intentional or not. They basically had a free ride for most of the day, when they normally would have been expected to be on the front for most of the tough parts. While Pinot, Yates and Sky all ended up putting in a pretty big effort for very little reward in the last 10km.

Quintana probably just wanted to put in a solid training effort - get in a decent interval, which he would have already pencilled into his schedule with the Vallter finish. But when it looked like the gap was getting too big because of the lack of response behind, he immediately stopped working, which seems fair enough.

Yeah, you put it up nicely, but it was not all that great. In fact it was not good at all, it was bad display of whole Movistar team. They were disorganized, without a clear plan, it seemed like it was every man for himself. I mean, why Soler attacked in the first place. What was to gain form that move? Is it a team order? If yes, what was the idea behind that? I can't see any positive aspect of that move. The other thing, about Quintana, he only stopped when heard yelling at the radio, that was clear after his post-race comments. He either has no brains or he just doesn't care, and I think it was the latter. He should've acted as a stopper from the beginning, this way that move wouldn't gain significant advantage. There was no benefit for the team from his riding. His riding would eliminate Valverde and gave the race to Yates. Something was really wrong with Movistar yesterday.

I think you're reading too much into it. There are only seven man teams now and Movistar have three guys who could be leader, or were designed to be useful in the tough mountains. That only leaves four riders to control the rest of the race and one of those (Pedrero) isn't very strong. There is a limit to how much you can control a race in those circumstances. Sending Quintana in a break, and establishing a small gap with it, forced the other teams to work and gave Movistar an easy ride.

If there was any mutiny in the team then Quintana wouldn't have stopped riding when the gap started to grow out a bit too much.

To me the clear sign that something was wrong is lack of statements from the team and Valverde himself. Quintana only said that DS stopped him from riding, and that Valverde is the leader, but he seemed quite unhappy about that.

Are you basing this on an article or from an actual video?

 

[Koronin]

I agree with Blanco. Valverde was not happy. It is very rare for him to not make any statements after a race/stage and he didn't make any yesterday.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Alberto Contador: “Ahora soy un fan más de Valverde’’

 

[WheelofGear]

I knew he was going to win when he attacked downhill on the penultimate climb.

 

[Koronin]

That is a comment of respect from Alberto.

Alejandro made it look too easy today. Again this spring he's living up to the name El Imbatido.

 

[WheelofGear]

Going for the win tomorrow?

Isn't this the same stage where he got 2nd behind Impey? Up for a rematch?

 

[Velolover2]

Hodeg is out. Valverde going for stage 6 as well?

Could be fun to see him win a full bunch sprint.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Alberto Contador: “Ahora soy un fan más de Valverde’’

Thats the ultimate respect, but I was actually pretty sure there already was a lot of common respect between the two. But I guess that doesn't necessarily make you a fan.

Gonna catch the stage tomorrow, very much looking forward to it. Looked like a super selective race given its on La Molina, interesting to see Bernal being THIS strong, but it really isn't unexpected. I must admit I am a big fan, this guy is just extremely talented. We are talking Sagan, Valverde and Contador-talent here.

 

[Red Rick]

Alberto Contador: “Ahora soy un fan más de Valverde’’

Thats the ultimate respect, but I was actually pretty sure there already was a lot of common respect between the two. But I guess that doesn't necessarily make you a fan.

Gonna catch the stage tomorrow, very much looking forward to it. Looked like a super selective race given its on La Molina, interesting to see Bernal being THIS strong, but it really isn't unexpected. I must admit I am a big fan, this guy is just extremely talented. We are talking Sagan, Valverde and Contador-talent here.

I'm onto their secret pact of always going after each other on the road and then praising each other endlessly once one of them retired.

The battles will be for their cycling teams now

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Hodeg is out. Valverde going for stage 6 as well?

Could be fun to see him win a full bunch sprint.

Well when he was young he did get involved in full field sprints. He hasn't done that in years now. With the sprint field we have at this race esp with Hodeg out, why not.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Just saw the stage. What teamwork today, that was nice to see, Soler and Quintana played their parts to perfection. Valverde closed a couple of gaps rather easily and just played it conservative on the last climb - he could probably have gained a bit more, but chose not to. He actually didn't look close to being at max. What authority, I just love how he races. Incredible, you really feel he is the one who pulls all the strings and just sits back, almost picking and choosing how he wants to win.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Just saw the stage. What teamwork today, that was nice to see, Soler and Quintana played their parts to perfection. Valverde closed a couple of gaps rather easily and just played it conservative on the last climb - he could probably have gained a bit more, but chose not to. He actually didn't look close to being at max. What authority, I just love how he races. Incredible, you really feel he is the one who pulls all the strings and just sits back, almost picking and choosing how he wants to win.

He is so amazing to watch race. Ever since he got his Tour podium, he's raced much freer than before. It will be a sad day when he chooses to retire eventually. Today it looked like he didn't even fully sprint.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Just saw the stage. What teamwork today, that was nice to see, Soler and Quintana played their parts to perfection. Valverde closed a couple of gaps rather easily and just played it conservative on the last climb - he could probably have gained a bit more, but chose not to. He actually didn't look close to being at max. What authority, I just love how he races. Incredible, you really feel he is the one who pulls all the strings and just sits back, almost picking and choosing how he wants to win.

He is so amazing to watch race. Ever since he got his Tour podium, he's raced much freer than before. It will be a sad day when he chooses to retire eventually. Today it looked like he didn't even fully sprint.

He didn't. He sprinted just to make sure he wins, but not close to his full sprint.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Just saw the stage. What teamwork today, that was nice to see, Soler and Quintana played their parts to perfection. Valverde closed a couple of gaps rather easily and just played it conservative on the last climb - he could probably have gained a bit more, but chose not to. He actually didn't look close to being at max. What authority, I just love how he races. Incredible, you really feel he is the one who pulls all the strings and just sits back, almost picking and choosing how he wants to win.

He is so amazing to watch race. Ever since he got his Tour podium, he's raced much freer than before. It will be a sad day when he chooses to retire eventually. Today it looked like he didn't even fully sprint.

He didn't. He sprinted just to make sure he wins, but not close to his full sprint.

It's all relative. Quintana had been dragging them uphill. Bernal had dropped Quitnana with a hard effort way over threshold, ofcourse it's gonna be less of a sprint than the last 200m of Fleche Wallone when there's still 30 dudes in the wheels when the final effort starts. In any case, Valverde is not gonna get beaten at FW if they don't try to put the hurt on earlier.

 

[Valv.Piti]

It will be interesting to see how he does in Dwaars door Vlaanderen and if he just treats it is a bit of training on the cobbles or he actually tries for a result, I hope the latter. If he considers racing de Ronde thats what he should do anyways.

 

[El Pistolero]

Dwars door Vlaanderen really isn't good preparation for the cobbled stage in the Tour. It barely qualifies as a cobbled (semi-)classic if you ask me.

 

[Jspear]

Re:

Dwars door Vlaanderen really isn't good preparation for the cobbled stage in the Tour. It barely qualifies as a cobbled (semi-)classic if you ask me.

I'm sure no one would. :lol:

 

[Velolover2]

Both Quintana and Valverde is riding Dwars.

I hope Valverde is also using is it as warm-up to the Ronde and not just a preparation race for the Tour. I mean, what is Carapaz doing there for crying out loud..

Show some bravery and join Kwiatkowski and Nibali.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Both Quintana and Valverde is riding Dwars.

I hope Valverde is also using is it as warm-up to the Ronde and not just a preparation race for the Tour. I mean, what is Carapaz doing there for crying out loud..

Show some bravery and join Kwiatkowski and Nibali.

I think he is too light to compete with the cobbles hardmen, he's about 4 kilos less than Nibali who will just test De Ronde for the first time with an unknown outcome. If he really wants to step out of the Ardennes only wins he should try to win Lombardia at some point in his career.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Both Quintana and Valverde is riding Dwars.

I hope Valverde is also using is it as warm-up to the Ronde and not just a preparation race for the Tour. I mean, what is Carapaz doing there for crying out loud..

Show some bravery and join Kwiatkowski and Nibali.

I think he is too light to compete with the cobbles hardmen, he's about 4 kilos less than Nibali who will just test De Ronde for the first time with an unknown outcome. If he really wants to step out of the Ardennes only wins he should try to win Lombardia at some point in his career.

He's been trying hard since 2013. And usually someone's always better on a hard route, and he really *** up in 2014.

Not to mention that in LBL every team has one rider for that last push to Ans, and the hills aren't enough to definitely shed domestiques, yadayadayada. It all adds up.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Both Quintana and Valverde is riding Dwars.

I hope Valverde is also using is it as warm-up to the Ronde and not just a preparation race for the Tour. I mean, what is Carapaz doing there for crying out loud..

Show some bravery and join Kwiatkowski and Nibali.

I think he is too light to compete with the cobbles hardmen, he's about 4 kilos less than Nibali who will just test De Ronde for the first time with an unknown outcome. If he really wants to step out of the Ardennes only wins he should try to win Lombardia at some point in his career.

He's been trying hard since 2013. And usually someone's always better on a hard route, and he really **** up in 2014.

Not to mention that in LBL every team has one rider for that last push to Ans, and the hills aren't enough to definitely shed domestiques, yadayadayada. It all adds up.

He really tried hard only in 2013-2014, and he did *** up in the latter. In 2015-2016 he was a "dead man riding"

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Both Quintana and Valverde is riding Dwars.

I hope Valverde is also using is it as warm-up to the Ronde and not just a preparation race for the Tour. I mean, what is Carapaz doing there for crying out loud..

Show some bravery and join Kwiatkowski and Nibali.

This is called Movistar has maybe 3 riders on their entire roster that could actually be cobbled riders then maybe you could throw in Amador and Valverde and you still don't have a full team for the cobbles.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Both Quintana and Valverde is riding Dwars.

I hope Valverde is also using is it as warm-up to the Ronde and not just a preparation race for the Tour. I mean, what is Carapaz doing there for crying out loud..

Show some bravery and join Kwiatkowski and Nibali.

I think he is too light to compete with the cobbles hardmen, he's about 4 kilos less than Nibali who will just test De Ronde for the first time with an unknown outcome. If he really wants to step out of the Ardennes only wins he should try to win Lombardia at some point in his career.

He's been trying hard since 2013. And usually someone's always better on a hard route, and he really **** up in 2014.

Not to mention that in LBL every team has one rider for that last push to Ans, and the hills aren't enough to definitely shed domestiques, yadayadayada. It all adds up.

He really tried hard only in 2013-2014, and he did **** up in the latter. In 2015-2016 he was a "dead man riding"

Agreed. He's really only tried twice. 2015-2016 he was over 90 race days by the time he showed up and was basically racing to ensure Movistar won the team title. In 2015 the team said he'd started to cramp right at the start of the race and on the final climb he specifically asked the team where he had to finish to ensure the team won the team points title. The team has even said they have to get him to the Worlds and Lombardia this year at closer to 85 race days than 90 race days to give him a real shot.

Now will he race Ronde this year or not, who knows. He has said it's tentatively on his calendar, but it has been for the past couple of years. The team wants him to go so he can just experience the race. He wants to go, but keeps pulling out for one reason or another.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re: Re:

Dwars door Vlaanderen really isn't good preparation for the cobbled stage in the Tour. It barely qualifies as a cobbled (semi-)classic if you ask me.

I'm sure no one would. :lol:

I'm afraid you are wrong.