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

[Bardamu]

Would have been great had he won the race, cool to see him in the front group though. He'll be strong the coming weeks. Hope he'll win Amstel.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Theres that extra spark missing once again. Father time is undefeated, but I also do not think he is at 100% yet. Still very sucessfull in picking up bonuses, but it wont matter if Bernal ends him tomorrow. If he survives, its a 3-peat. Fingers crossed.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Theres that extra spark missing once again. Father time is undefeated, but I also do not think he is at 100% yet. Still very sucessfull in picking up bonuses, but it wont matter if Bernal ends him tomorrow. If he survives, its a 3-peat. Fingers crossed.

He has ace in the pocket, Nairo Quintana. Bernal isn't going anywhere without Nairo in his wheel, and there he can sit comfortably until Bala arrives

 

[Velolover2]

The sprint wasn't hard enough for him to beat Matthews.

He can beat lesser climber-sprinters like Impey, Gibbons or McCarthy but not the best one.

 

[Koronin]

Matthews is a faster sprinter than Alejandro is so this isn't really a surprise. Matthews beat him in a sprint at the 2015 Worlds in Richmond. However, Alejandro looks better and his comments are a more normal again as well.
Although one issue of note: When Froome crashed with a Bora rider, the Bora rider's bike his Alejandro's left hand. He said he has a minor cut and it hurt badly. He also said it shouldn't affect his racing.

An other interesting note is that the city of Murcia is renaming a school after Alejandro.

One more interesting not: Before the final stage of Catalunya is a Junior category race. Valverde's team is one of the Junior teams that will be competing in that race. They just officially announced their participation in the race over the weekend.

 

[Red Rick]

Pretty terrible today.

Part of the plan with Giro coming up?

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Pretty terrible today.

Part of the plan with Giro coming up?

Probably not. I don't think he has been chasing bonuses for fun.

Apparently he hurt his hand yesterday when McCarthy crashed into it. I don't think that can explain today, though.

 

[gunara]

This is not terrible, being in 2nd group is terrible, this one is plain wrong.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

This is not terrible, being in 2nd group is terrible, this one is plain wrong.

Seems like the kind of performance a rider has just before they come down with an illness. I mean, he probably is in decline as a stage racer, but not that steep a decline yet.

 

[Koronin]

I don't think the hand injury explains today either. Also don't think this is related to a decline, because you don't go from what he did last year to this.

DFA may be right about an illness, which could very easily end up with him pulling out of Flanders yet again.

However, I still say there is something really off about him this year overall. There's just something that isn't right and I have no idea what it is.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Probably a mix of decline, a little injury and most of all his sickness beforehand. Its too early to say something really, but honestly, I didn't expect him to follow the likes of Bernal today on such a hard climb with favorable wind conditions. Hopefully he can grab the Barcelona-stage.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

All this talk of getting old
It's getting me down my love
Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown
This time I'm comin' down

 

[Valv.Piti]

But no matter what, this version of Valverde is, unfortunately, a far cry from the absolutely unstoppable 2017-Valverde who could do everything better than he could ever do. And then he crashed out of the Tour which was the easiest since 2009 and lowest level since 2008. K.

 

[Salvarani]

Whether today was sickness or because he hurt himself... age catches up to everyone. We will probably see some dips during the year, but hopefully some highs too!

He should focus on one-day races and go for stages in other races imo.

 

[Koronin]

Apparently Quintana said that Valverde told the team fairly early in the race that he was going to take it easy on the climb today and he would not be anywhere near the leaders in the final.

 

[Red Rick]

Was he sick before or after Sanremo?

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Was he sick before or after Sanremo?

He had a slight fever the night before finishing 6th on the MTF in Abu Dhabi. Then he probably used it as an excuse to get out of riding Strade that could have compromised his spring campaign (I'm exaggerating of course but it is a tough race).

 

[DNP-Old]

I wouldn't be worried yet. Last year he was untouchable in stage races building up to the classics, but there was an APB out for him in said classics. This time around, it's not just the classics coming up, but also the Giro. Finishing 1st or 753rd in a race like Catalunya won't do nor change anything for him.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

I wouldn't be worried yet. Last year he was untouchable in stage races building up to the classics, but there was an APB out for him in said classics. This time around, it's not just the classics coming up, but also the Giro. Finishing 1st or 753rd in a race like Catalunya won't do nor change anything for him.

Except that he said he's not racing the Giro for GC unless the team requires it of him. His plan is to go to it as a support rider for Landa. He said at the end of last year that although he wants another shot at the Vuelta his best days of trying to win a Grand Tour are over.

 

[Koronin]

Interesting that he did not speak to any media or fans after the race today. This leads me to believe that Salvarani may very likely be correct. This behavior on his part is almost always due to being sick. Even when he´s had a bad day for other reasons he´s still very likely to speak at the very least sign autographs and pose for photos. Today he went directly to the team bus and didnt come back out to talk to anyone.

 

[gunara]

Whether today was sickness or because he hurt himself... age catches up to everyone. We will probably see some dips during the year, but hopefully some highs too!

He should focus on one-day races and go for stages in other races imo.

He not winning reduced sprints, losing FW domination, not being the first name come to mind when thinking about the current best hilly classic rider, fading from GT contention are enough indication of age catching up to him (at least not every example has anything to do with the emergence of a certain French guy). Still, fading completely from 1st Catalunya MTF is a bit too much.

 

[Koronin]

Here's an interview and he flat out says that he's lost a lot of his desire for victory after winning the Worlds. This isn't age, this is finally getting the one race he wanted.
Here's the link. Unfortunately to read the whole thing you have to subscribe.
https://www.ciclismoafondo.es/competicion/entrevistas-ciclismo/articulo/entrevista-alejandro-valverde-arcoiris-movistar-team

 

[tobydawq]

Pretty convenient to link to an article hidden behind a pay wall so it's impossible for the rest of us to assess whether it actually supports your propaganda or if a translation to English exaggerates its points (you have previously stated that you don't read Spanish).

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Pretty convenient to link to an article hidden behind a pay wall so it's impossible for the rest of us to assess whether it actually supports your propaganda or if a translation to English exaggerates its points (you have previously stated that you don't read Spanish).

Part of it isn't behind a paywall and I don't have access to what is as I don't have a subscription to it, hence the reason I know part is behind a paywall. As I said half of it is not.

El entrenamiento lo he hecho prácticamente igual, pero en lo que quizá sí me he relajado un poco es en el ansia de victoria. Eso sí que es verdad.

Google translate's translation: The training I did practically the same, but in what perhaps I have relaxed a bit is in the desire for victory. That is true.

El año pasado venía con muchísima ansia después de la caída. Quería ver si era el mismo Alejandro. Y esta temporada es diferente. Estoy ahí, delante y atento, aunque no con esa obsesión de ganar como sea. Claro que quiero ganar, ¡por supuesto! Pero el chip me ha cambiado un poco en ese sentido.

Google translate: Last year I came with a lot of anxiety after the fall. I wanted to see if it was Alejandro himself. And this season is different. I am there, in front and attentive, although not with that obsession to win anything. Of course I want to win, of course! But the chip has changed me a bit in that sense.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Pretty convenient to link to an article hidden behind a pay wall so it's impossible for the rest of us to assess whether it actually supports your propaganda or if a translation to English exaggerates its points (you have previously stated that you don't read Spanish).

Part of it isn't behind a paywall and I don't have access to what is as I don't have a subscription to it, hence the reason I know part is behind a paywall. As I said half of it is not.

El entrenamiento lo he hecho prácticamente igual, pero en lo que quizá sí me he relajado un poco es en el ansia de victoria. Eso sí que es verdad.

Google translate's translation: The training I did practically the same, but in what perhaps I have relaxed a bit is in the desire for victory. That is true.

El año pasado venía con muchísima ansia después de la caída. Quería ver si era el mismo Alejandro. Y esta temporada es diferente. Estoy ahí, delante y atento, aunque no con esa obsesión de ganar como sea. Claro que quiero ganar, ¡por supuesto! Pero el chip me ha cambiado un poco en ese sentido.

Google translate: Last year I came with a lot of anxiety after the fall. I wanted to see if it was Alejandro himself. And this season is different. I am there, in front and attentive, although not with that obsession to win anything. Of course I want to win, of course! But the chip has changed me a bit in that sense.

Sorry, I didn't read the last section which was fading into white, I just assumed what you referred to was further below.

His performance on Jebel Hafeet still tells me that he can have a good season. And I definitely don't think he will skip Flanders.