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

[Valv.Piti]

It saddens me a bit to see Valverde in this state, this was a great stage for the old Valverde, but he played no role whatsoever. Hope he has some plans for tomorrow...

 

[Koronin]

Re: 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.

He keeps saying he wants to drop time so he can go stage hunting.

What the heck he's doing, who knows. I hope he has a plan for something in this race. I'm beginning to think he has some ideas in his head but he can't bring himself to fully commit to anything at the moment.

 

[tobydawq]

I think Valverde is the rider in the world with the worst ability to lose time on purpose. Not even today did he manage to do it

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

I think Valverde is the rider in the world with the worst ability to lose time on purpose. Not even today did he manage to do it

He's better placed than Birdsong, Bardet, Richie and Landa.

 

[Amazinmets87]

I'm expecting him and Landa to be sent up the road relatively early in an upcoming mountain stage. Ineos will burn doms chasing while Quintana sucks wheels and hopefully can capitalize.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I'm expecting him and Landa to be sent up the road relatively early in an upcoming mountain stage. Ineos will burn doms chasing while Quintana sucks wheels and hopefully can capitalize.

Quintana doesnt seem to be able to capitalize jackshit. Remember, its the Tour, the race where Quintana is even more a shell of his former self.

 

[Amazinmets87]

Re: Re:

I'm expecting him and Landa to be sent up the road relatively early in an upcoming mountain stage. Ineos will burn doms chasing while Quintana sucks wheels and hopefully can capitalize.

Quintana doesnt seem to be able to capitalize jackshit. Remember, its the Tour, the race where Quintana is even more a shell of his former self.

I agree that Quintana has been a complete joker and underachiever for years. But, they've gotta try...

 

[Moviefan1203]

Re:

I'm expecting him and Landa to be sent up the road relatively early in an upcoming mountain stage. Ineos will burn doms chasing while Quintana sucks wheels and hopefully can capitalize.

I would hope Movistar is smart enough to try a new tactic this year.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

I'm expecting him and Landa to be sent up the road relatively early in an upcoming mountain stage. Ineos will burn doms chasing while Quintana sucks wheels and hopefully can capitalize.

I would hope Movistar is smart enough to try a new tactic this year.

And what would you propose with the time deficit they have and upcoming TT? To sit and wait?

 

[Moviefan1203]

Re: Re:

I'm expecting him and Landa to be sent up the road relatively early in an upcoming mountain stage. Ineos will burn doms chasing while Quintana sucks wheels and hopefully can capitalize.

I would hope Movistar is smart enough to try a new tactic this year.

And what would you propose with the time deficit they have
and upcoming TT? To sit and wait?

Put Valverde on the front on the first climb of the day. Have him go full gas to shed the Ineos train. On the second climb have either Landa or Quintana swing for the fences.

 

[HelloDolly]

IF Movistar pay 3 million for Mas they are insane

We see so many GC riders on big pay while others in the same team on pittance
But few of these big money earners deliver the big results ..

Teams pay for potential not for delivery and yet we see today that the domestiques can win you or lose you a Tour

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

I'm expecting him and Landa to be sent up the road relatively early in an upcoming mountain stage. Ineos will burn doms chasing while Quintana sucks wheels and hopefully can capitalize.

I would hope Movistar is smart enough to try a new tactic this year.

And what would you propose with the time deficit they have
and upcoming TT? To sit and wait?

Put Valverde on the front on the first climb of the day. Have him go full gas to shed the Ineos train. On the second climb have either Landa or Quintana swing for the fences.

Fair enough. But Quintana won't go on the attack while being close to Thomas/Bernal. He'll only attack if he bleeds more time.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

I'm expecting him and Landa to be sent up the road relatively early in an upcoming mountain stage. Ineos will burn doms chasing while Quintana sucks wheels and hopefully can capitalize.

I would hope Movistar is smart enough to try a new tactic this year.

And what would you propose with the time deficit they have
and upcoming TT? To sit and wait?

Put Valverde on the front on the first climb of the day. Have him go full gas to shed the Ineos train. On the second climb have either Landa or Quintana swing for the fences.

Fair enough. But Quintana won't go on the attack while being close to Thomas/Bernal. He'll only attack if he bleeds more time.

He'll be 3 minutes down when they'll hit the first mountain, enough to do something? But anyway Valverde can't shed the Ineos train.

 

[Moviefan1203]

Re: Re:

I'm expecting him and Landa to be sent up the road relatively early in an upcoming mountain stage. Ineos will burn doms chasing while Quintana sucks wheels and hopefully can capitalize.

I would hope Movistar is smart enough to try a new tactic this year.

And what would you propose with the time deficit they have
and upcoming TT? To sit and wait?

Put Valverde on the front on the first climb of the day. Have him go full gas to shed the Ineos train. On the second climb have either Landa or Quintana swing for the fences.

Fair enough. But Quintana won't go on the attack while being close to Thomas/Bernal. He'll only attack if he bleeds more time.

He has finished on the podium three times. Make a bold play for the win.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

I think Valverde is the rider in the world with the worst ability to lose time on purpose. Not even today did he manage to do it

This. He keeps saying he wants to lose time and he keeps proving he just can't bring himself to do it. His mentality just won't allow for it. Apparently we've finally found something he's actually bad at. :lol: He managed to get himself right in the middle of the GC battle that he says he isn't there for.

 

[Joomla10]

Nice effort for great Alejandro today.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Nice effort for great Alejandro today.

It was a decent ride, but it's a bit weird as well. What's he trying to do exactly? Finish somewhere around 15th?

He's not saving himself enough to be an effective domestique or to stage hunt; but he's also not really challenging high in GC either.

Maybe just trying to get quality efforts in his legs ahead of the Vuelta I suppose.

 

[Amazinmets87]

Re: Re:

Nice effort for great Alejandro today.

It was a decent ride, but it's a bit weird as well. What's he trying to do exactly? Finish somewhere around 15th?

He's not saving himself enough to be an effective domestique or to stage hunt; but he's also not really challenging high in GC either.

Maybe just trying to get quality efforts in his legs ahead of the Vuelta I suppose.

He's currently in 9th place and the 15th place rider is roughly 4 minutes in arrears.

Dom for whom? He's the best placed rider on his team. Admittedly the remaining parcours favors Landa (forget Nairo) but Valverde has seniority and cache.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Nice effort for great Alejandro today.

It was a decent ride, but it's a bit weird as well. What's he trying to do exactly? Finish somewhere around 15th?

He's not saving himself enough to be an effective domestique or to stage hunt; but he's also not really challenging high in GC either.

Maybe just trying to get quality efforts in his legs ahead of the Vuelta I suppose.

He's currently in 9th place and the 15th place rider is roughly 4 minutes in arrears.

Dom for whom? He's the best placed rider on his team. Admittedly the remaining parcours favors Landa (forget Nairo) but Valverde has seniority and cache.

Not sure of your point tbh. Valverde has said he's not riding for GC, he's already worked as a domestique in the race, but he's also not really saving energy or going for stage wins.

He's not Jan Hirt or Mollema. Fighting hard to lose a minute or so every mountain stage, while trying to cling on to the highest GC possible, doesn't seem like the best use of his abilities at this stage of his career.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Persoanlly I was very pleased with his effort. It was the first time in a long time I have seen him this good on a high mountain stage. I don't care that much about this race, but rather the Vuelta and he has shown he is not completely done yet. I believe in him for La Vuelta.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Persoanlly I was very pleased with his effort. It was the first time in a long time I have seen him this good on a high mountain stage. I don't care that much about this race, but rather the Vuelta and he has shown he is not completely done yet. I believe in him for La Vuelta.

I agree. He's looking good for another bid at la Vuelta. The rest of the Tour favors Landa, however, the way he's climbing he very likely can finish top 10 in GC again. He showed today he still can climb in the high mountains at close his best levels. He's always struggled some in this type of climbs. I do think with what happened today, the team is going to request of him to do his best for GC along with helping Landa where he can.

 

[hrotha]

What is he doing at the Tour really? Not riding for the GC, but also not letting go and losing time, not trying to win stages, not really working for his teammates. Is he, the current world champion, riding primarily for the team classification?

 

[Koronin]

Re:

What is he doing at the Tour really? Not riding for the GC, but also not letting go and losing time, not trying to win stages, not really working for his teammates. Is he, the current world champion, riding primarily for the team classification?

At this point, I'm beginning to wonder if that is exactly what he's doing. They did afterall get the lead in that category by around 11 minutes after today's stage and only lost a small amount of time to Jumbo Visma and had the same time as Ineos.

 

[Blanco]

Well, I think it is time for Alejandro to move. Mur de Peguere seems to be the right place for that.

 

[Red Rick]

Breakaway is better than Mur de Peguere. Pace will be super high there