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

[Valv.Piti]

Tomorrow is the big day. I believe.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Tomorrow is the big day. I believe.

I agree with you.

 

[Koronin]

Wheel change, then bike change. Hopefully this is the bad luck out of the way.

 

[Nirvana]

It's really sad to see him used like a domestique, this year looks even worse than in 2015 and 2016 in which he had to wait and look for Quintana here and there but still had a degree of freedom and the fact that he works for nothing because Quintana can only suck wheels and Landa without his second fiddle superpowers doesn't go anywhere make even sadder. In pretty sure in stage 3 he could have at least sprinted but was prevented.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

It looks as though he would rather be somewhere else other than the Tour.
I thought this stage was gonna be for him to have a go at, plus the one Ala won to gain the yellow jersey. I'm not having this playing the domestique role for one minute.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Just wait for the weekend, hopefully Valv will hit a breakaway and provide us with some entertaining at least, maybe a stage win or some time in the GC. But yeah, I dont know what to say really. Landa looks good, but Im done with Valverde looking after the useless Quintana.

 

[Red Rick]

If he's gonna be a dom it's sad it's for 2019 Quintana anyway.

Now that the yellow jersey is NID, I just want the old men Nibs and Bala to go absolute ham for the ugliest jersey in cycling.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

If he's gonna be a dom it's sad it's for 2019 Quintana anyway.

Now that the yellow jersey is NID, I just want the old men Nibs and Bala to go absolute ham for the ugliest jersey in cycling.

He looked pretty good earlier in the year, but Im just done with Quintana in the Tour. Not since 2015 has he done anything to warrant Valverde doing anything for him. He just isn't better.

Massif Central will need to be great, I think its the only chance of throwing the GC a curveball with riders alá Barguil, Aru, Nibali, Bardet, Valverde, Alaphilippe etc. getting some random time. Otherwise I fear a super boring Tour.

 

[Red Rick]

I am way past thinking medium mountains in the Tour are gonna do anything.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I am way past thinking medium mountains in the Tour are gonna do anything.

After what I have seen in the Vosges, I share your negativity..... but It will need to. Otherwise it will be a procession, Thomas in Pau and done.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

I am way past thinking road stages in the Tour are gonna do anything.

Fixed that for you. Same *** every year. It is like wrestling. And it is not even entertaining

 

[Koronin]

Re:

It looks as though he would rather be somewhere else other than the Tour.
I thought this stage was gonna be for him to have a go at, plus the one Ala won to gain the yellow jersey. I'm not having this playing the domestique role for one minute.

I very much agree with this. He looks like he doesn't want to be there and would rather be anywhere else. I think the fact he's now had to do the Tour two years in a row in which he wanted no part of it is not helping. For him the best thing is for Quintana to not be part of this team anymore. You can tell he's not happy about being there. We've already seen that in the fact he's not been anywhere near the front of stages he would have been near the front of in the past. It's obvious he's not happy about the situation.

 

[Sestriere]

Lmao, you guys are really something.. Everything that you don't like with Valverde is Quintana's fault. Odd attitude, to put it nicely.

 

[Nirvana]

Re: Re:

It looks as though he would rather be somewhere else other than the Tour.
I thought this stage was gonna be for him to have a go at, plus the one Ala won to gain the yellow jersey. I'm not having this playing the domestique role for one minute.

I very much agree with this. He looks like he doesn't want to be there and would rather be anywhere else. I think the fact he's now had to do the Tour two years in a row in which he wanted no part of it is not helping. For him the best thing is for Quintana to not be part of this team anymore. You can tell he's not happy about being there. We've already seen that in the fact he's not been anywhere near the front of stages he would have been near the front of in the past. It's obvious he's not happy about the situation.

I think it's a given that Quintana will be somewhere else, from the rumors looks like there will be only one GC rider (Mas or Landa) at Movistar so hopefully Valverde will have the freedom to do whatever he wants at the Giro and the Vuelta whereas the GC rider will go to the Tour with someone else as support.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

It looks as though he would rather be somewhere else other than the Tour.
I thought this stage was gonna be for him to have a go at, plus the one Ala won to gain the yellow jersey. I'm not having this playing the domestique role for one minute.

I very much agree with this. He looks like he doesn't want to be there and would rather be anywhere else. I think the fact he's now had to do the Tour two years in a row in which he wanted no part of it is not helping. For him the best thing is for Quintana to not be part of this team anymore. You can tell he's not happy about being there. We've already seen that in the fact he's not been anywhere near the front of stages he would have been near the front of in the past. It's obvious he's not happy about the situation.

I think it's a given that Quintana will be somewhere else, from the rumors looks like there will be only one GC rider (Mas or Landa) at Movistar so hopefully Valverde will have the freedom to do whatever he wants at the Giro and the Vuelta whereas the GC rider will go to the Tour with someone else as support.

That would be best. Likely Mas as it's likely Landa is leaving as well. Rumors are Fulgsang may go to Movistar.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Valverde has as tendency of riding this race on the backfoot, but I really, really hope he uses one of the two stages in the Massif Central to go on the attack. If nothing else just for a stage win. See how Ineos respond to that, these stages might be very hard to control.

 

[Nirvana]

Re: Re:

It looks as though he would rather be somewhere else other than the Tour.
I thought this stage was gonna be for him to have a go at, plus the one Ala won to gain the yellow jersey. I'm not having this playing the domestique role for one minute.

I very much agree with this. He looks like he doesn't want to be there and would rather be anywhere else. I think the fact he's now had to do the Tour two years in a row in which he wanted no part of it is not helping. For him the best thing is for Quintana to not be part of this team anymore. You can tell he's not happy about being there. We've already seen that in the fact he's not been anywhere near the front of stages he would have been near the front of in the past. It's obvious he's not happy about the situation.

I think it's a given that Quintana will be somewhere else, from the rumors looks like there will be only one GC rider (Mas or Landa) at Movistar so hopefully Valverde will have the freedom to do whatever he wants at the Giro and the Vuelta whereas the GC rider will go to the Tour with someone else as support.

That would be best. Likely Mas as it's likely Landa is leaving as well. Rumors are Fulgsang may go to Movistar.

In the past months the rumors about Mas were stronger but now looks like they didn't want to pay the 3M he asks so they'll try to keep Landa as sole leader.

 

[Blanco]

3M for Mas!? I wouldn't pay it either.

 

[Nirvana]

Lately looks like a lot of riders are asking big money but IMHO the problem comes from teams that are willing to offer so much, if Arkea offers 3,5M to Quintana or Trek 4M to Nibali is obvious that every podium contender will ask for a paycheck that only a couple of years ago would have been out of the world.
Anyway if Mas will fail at the Tour his contracting strenght will fall sharply with only a Vuelta podium on his curriculum and after a season during which instead of improvement he showed regression so far.

 

[Red Rick]

Meanwhile I read that Dumoulin is on 1.5M

Somebody get that guy a new agent.

 

[scapewalker]

Re: Re:

It looks as though he would rather be somewhere else other than the Tour.
I thought this stage was gonna be for him to have a go at, plus the one Ala won to gain the yellow jersey. I'm not having this playing the domestique role for one minute.

I very much agree with this. He looks like he doesn't want to be there and would rather be anywhere else. I think the fact he's now had to do the Tour two years in a row in which he wanted no part of it is not helping. For him the best thing is for Quintana to not be part of this team anymore. You can tell he's not happy about being there. We've already seen that in the fact he's not been anywhere near the front of stages he would have been near the front of in the past. It's obvious he's not happy about the situation.

I think it's a given that Quintana will be somewhere else, from the rumors looks like there will be only one GC rider (Mas or Landa) at Movistar so hopefully Valverde will have the freedom to do whatever he wants at the Giro and the Vuelta whereas the GC rider will go to the Tour with someone else as support.

That would be best. Likely Mas as it's likely Landa is leaving as well. Rumors are Fulgsang may go to Movistar.

Isn't he at a point in his career where he shouldn't at all be doing races if he doesn't want to?

I also don't get why they'd sacrifice their most prolific rider for the past 15 yesrs to support 2 riders leaving for other teams next year both with a longong shot to win.

 

[Koronin]

3M for Mas? I wouldn't pay it either. If Landa is willing to continue with what he's currently making, it might be best to just keep Landa and let Quintana and Carapaz go as it may be that he wants more than they are willing to pay as well. If that is accurate the likely keeping Landa and bring in Fuglsang might be in their best interest.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

It looks as though he would rather be somewhere else other than the Tour.
I thought this stage was gonna be for him to have a go at, plus the one Ala won to gain the yellow jersey. I'm not having this playing the domestique role for one minute.

I very much agree with this. He looks like he doesn't want to be there and would rather be anywhere else. I think the fact he's now had to do the Tour two years in a row in which he wanted no part of it is not helping. For him the best thing is for Quintana to not be part of this team anymore. You can tell he's not happy about being there. We've already seen that in the fact he's not been anywhere near the front of stages he would have been near the front of in the past. It's obvious he's not happy about the situation.

I think it's a given that Quintana will be somewhere else, from the rumors looks like there will be only one GC rider (Mas or Landa) at Movistar so hopefully Valverde will have the freedom to do whatever he wants at the Giro and the Vuelta whereas the GC rider will go to the Tour with someone else as support.

That would be best. Likely Mas as it's likely Landa is leaving as well. Rumors are Fulgsang may go to Movistar.

Isn't he at a point in his career where he shouldn't at all be doing races if he doesn't want to?

I also don't get why they'd sacrifice their most prolific rider for the past 15 yesrs to support 2 riders leaving for other teams next year both with a longong shot to win.

The only reason he's doing the Tour is due to not being able to do the Giro due to injury. I think in this case the problems comes with him still wanting to do two GTs. I actually think he could have happier doing a couple of the smaller races in July to get ready for la Vuelta. Now if he actually get around to losing enough time that other teams are willing to let him in a break and he doesn't go stage hunting, then we have even bigger problems because him going stage hunting is really the only thing that makes any sense for having him at the Tour, esp with two leaders who are leaving and, you're right are not exactly favorites to win or even podium.

 

[Blanco]

I would really like to know what the hell is Valverde doing?!
He's not dropping time.
He's not going for the stage win.
He's not chasing for his "so called" leaders.

 

[Moviestar]

Re:

I would really like to know what the hell is Valverde doing?!
He's not dropping time.
He's not going for the stage win.
He's not chasing for his "so called" leaders.

He struggled a lot at the final part of the stage. But why would he drop time? In theory he could still cause some pressure at the rivals. Also don't forget the team classification is always important to them, and with Valverde as crucial third rider i don't think he will drop much time.