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

[Moviestar]

Valverde finally wins the Velo d'Or. Somewhere a bit crazy he didn't win it earlier..

https://as.com/ciclismo/2018/10/25/mas_ciclismo/1540487778_880012.html

 

[mariposa]

Re:

Valverde finally wins the Velo d'Or. Somewhere a bit crazy he didn't win it earlier..

https://as.com/ciclismo/2018/10/25/mas_ciclismo/1540487778_880012.html

Not before time! Well deserved.

 

[Red Rick]

Didnt expect that to be honest. Not sure I really think he had the best 2018, but he's up there and he definitely deserves it.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Valverde finally wins the Velo d'Or. Somewhere a bit crazy he didn't win it earlier..

https://as.com/ciclismo/2018/10/25/mas_ciclismo/1540487778_880012.html

Justice is served

Maybe Yates had a better season, but he's young, he'll have plenty of time...

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Didnt expect that to be honest. Not sure I really think he had the best 2018, but he's up there and he definitely deserves it.

This award is over due for him. He may not have had the best year, however, I have a feeling his near career ending injury last year with the year he did have plays in to his getting the award this year.

 

[Breh]

A new season, a new rumour Valverde is participating in the RvV

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

A new season, a new rumour Valverde is participating in the RvV

Not just a rumor. Confirmed by Valverde himself:

http://www.ciclismointernacional.com/valverde-correra-el-tour-de-flandes-2019/

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

A new season, a new rumour Valverde is participating in the RvV

Not just a rumor. Confirmed by Valverde himself:

http://www.ciclismointernacional.com/valverde-correra-el-tour-de-flandes-2019/

Yep, confirmed... in conditional tense. It sounds like he's just saying what people wants to hear and avoiding any commitment at the same time.

 

[Velolover2]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/valverde-i-may-race-beyond-2020/

Here is a detailed article about his 2019 calender. He seems to be most hyped on RVV, but he will have to race some preparation races then. Sanremo is also on the table, but it seems like he doesn't like that race at all.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

Valverde finally wins the Velo d'Or. Somewhere a bit crazy he didn't win it earlier..

https://as.com/ciclismo/2018/10/25/mas_ciclismo/1540487778_880012.html

Not too many strong candidates for it this year but he definitely deserved it.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

Sanremo is also on the table, but it seems like he doesn't like that race at all.

It's no stage of the Vuelta a Murcia, that's for sure

 

[Koronin]

He also finally said he does want to race past 2020. Although it sounds like it's going to be a year to year thing once we get to 2020. With comments he made, in his heart he doesn't want to retire, he wants to race as long as possible.

As for Flanders, I'll believe he's actually racing it when he's on the star line.

I agree with Velolover, that I also get the impression that he doesn't like Milan-San Remo very much.

 

[WheelofGear]

If he wants to race all the classics AND the Giro, he should cut out some of the one-week races out of the calender.

Start with the Spanish opening classics and Valenciana. Skip UAE and ride Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as a Ronde recon training instead. Then go to Italy and ride Strade Bianche, rest and come back for Milano-Sanremo. He could even use M-S as prep race for Catalunya.

After Catalunya, he can ride Dwars (without going too deep) followed by De Ronde. And then take a break until Amstel Gold Race.

 

[LiquidCrystalDynamic]

Not to get too imaginative but I think people may be underrating his chances at RVV (or at least overrating Nibali's cobbled ability for comparison). For the Don to win it would not even need to be the most perfect of conditions, though he does have less ways to win that race that many competitors. And of course he is not experienced on the course or cobbles in general, but to be honest the lack of experience does not seem to bother him. I don't want to rest so much on a single 11th place but his performance in this years DDV was so impressive. He was up there trading punches with some of the best specialists in the peloton. Given better weather or preparation, well...

And as for the Velo d'Or, I don't think anyone can be unhappy with him as a winner unless you already dislike him as a rider. Valverde was consistently good from beginning to end, he had big wins, he had a lot of wins, he was always on. He had 80 race days, 14 wins, 40 top tens, and never finished outside the top 50. He present was always felt (even over the cobbles). He won the WCRR. The only caveat is that it almost feels like a lifetime achievement award, capped by the WCRR, but I think any other rider with this season would be a finalist.

 

[Koronin]

Not to get too imaginative but I think people may be underrating his chances at RVV (or at least overrating Nibali's cobbled ability for comparison). For the Don to win it would not even need to be the most perfect of conditions, though he does have less ways to win that race that many competitors. And of course he is not experienced on the course or cobbles in general, but to be honest the lack of experience does not seem to bother him. I don't want to rest so much on a single 11th place but his performance in this years DDV was so impressive. He was up there trading punches with some of the best specialists in the peloton. Given better weather or preparation, well...

And as for the Velo d'Or, I don't think anyone can be unhappy with him as a winner unless you already dislike him as a rider. Valverde was consistently good from beginning to end, he had big wins, he had a lot of wins, he was always on. He had 80 race days, 14 wins, 40 top tens, and never finished outside the top 50. He present was always felt (even over the cobbles). He won the WCRR. The only caveat is that it almost feels like a lifetime achievement award, capped by the WCRR, but I think any other rider with this season would be a finalist.

For some of us who are big fans of his with RVV it's more of a we aren't going to believe he's actually racing it until he shows up on the start line. Can he win there, yes. Will he, who knows. Heck, Sagan said in an Spanish interview near the time of the Vuelta that he believes Valverde can win RVV if he'd ever show up and race it.

If he wants to race all the classics AND the Giro, he should cut out some of the one-week races out of the calender.

Start with the Spanish opening classics and Valenciana. Skip UAE and ride Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as a Ronde recon training instead. Then go to Italy and ride Strade Bianche, rest and come back for Milano-Sanremo. He could even use M-S as prep race for Catalunya.

After Catalunya, he can ride Dwars (without going too deep) followed by De Ronde. And then take a break until Amstel Gold Race.

Race a schedule similar to what he did for his winter/spring 2016 season when he did race the Giro. He had a classics heavy schedule that year with 2 stage races. He did Andalucia and T-A. It's highly unlikely he'll race T-A again as he wasn't happy and made a comment about he was never going to race it again as it was a waste of his time. Remember that is the year they cancelled the only climbing stage and Nibali spent a bunch of time complaining about that.

 

[tobydawq]

Sagan said that Valverde could be a contender to win Flanders on the condition that he had ridden it the past few years, because he thinks it's important to know the route intimately to be able to fight for the win in that race. Mads Pedersen's second place proved that wrong, however.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Sanremo is also on the table, but it seems like he doesn't like that race at all.

It's no stage of the Vuelta a Murcia, that's for sure

Lmao

Might as well just race it. I mean, why not? He has an outside shot.

 

[Koronin]

However, it still requires him to actually show up and race it.

 

[Bardamu]

He probably won't race it, he always answers politely to the Flemish press saying he "would like to race it once in his life", but he doesn't really care.

 

[Velolover2]

He probably won't race it, he always answers politely to the Flemish press saying he "would like to race it once in his life", but he doesn't really care.

I doubt he would travel all the way to race DDV in horrible conditions just right after having won Catalunya if he didn't care about the cobbled classics.

But it's kinda frustrating that he was skipping De Ronde in favor of Gran Premio Miguel Indurain when he was in beastmode-shape. :lol:

 

[Red Rick]

He probably won't race it, he always answers politely to the Flemish press saying he "would like to race it once in his life", but he doesn't really care.

I doubt he would travel all the way to race DDV in horrible conditions just right after having won Catalunya if he didn't care about the cobbled classics.

But it's kinda frustrating that he was skipping De Ronde in favor of Gran Premio Miguel Indurain when he was in beastmode-shape. :lol:

I think the 2nd one is more telling than the 1st one. Quite a few riders were in DDV for 'cobbles' last year.

 

[tobydawq]

He probably won't race it, he always answers politely to the Flemish press saying he "would like to race it once in his life", but he doesn't really care.

I don't necessarily think this is true as he does rule out ever riding Paris-Roubaix. Why not just do the same with Flanders if that's what he really thinks?

 

[Koronin]

He probably won't race it, he always answers politely to the Flemish press saying he "would like to race it once in his life", but he doesn't really care.

I doubt he would travel all the way to race DDV in horrible conditions just right after having won Catalunya if he didn't care about the cobbled classics.

But it's kinda frustrating that he was skipping De Ronde in favor of Gran Premio Miguel Indurain when he was in beastmode-shape. :lol:

Many of the GC riders raced a cobbled race last year due to the Tour having a cobbled stage. I think the bigger reason he didn't stay for RVV was because he said a few time that it took him forever to warm back up after DDV and that because of how cold it was he couldn't eat during the race and was starving after. As for going to GP Miguel Indurain his comment was he wanted to try Flanders but that there was something with some sort of award or presentation or some special anniversary or something that he needed to be at GPMI for.

I think he actually would like a shot at Flanders, but I'm not sure the team wants to let him race it. If he didn't want to, I think he'd say so as he's maintained he won't race Paris-Roubiax.

 

[Red Rick]

There's also a bit of a difference in interest in terms of what fans and experts believe he can do in the race. Valverde at Roubaix would be a curiosity, but nobody would expect too much from him, whereas in De Ronde, people are much more likely to expect him to be a legit contender to make the very pointy end of the race.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

There's also a bit of a difference in interest in terms of what fans and experts believe he can do in the race. Valverde at Roubaix would be a curiosity, but nobody would expect too much from him, whereas in De Ronde, people are much more likely to expect him to be a legit contender to make the very pointy end of the race.

True, and I'm not saying he would be able to contend in Roubaix, but he looked like a fish in the water on the Roubaix stage of the Tour. And even though all the GC contenders survived, no-one (bar perhaps Thomas) looked as much at ease as Valverde.