• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

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

Page 51 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

What will Valverde's impact be the cycling world in 2012

  • Nuclear Holocoust

    Votes: 27 100.0%

  • Total voters
    27
Aug 31, 2012
7,550
3
0
Visit site
Liege should be his. Improving from last year at the Tour will be pretty much impossible though, the Big 4 surely have 1-4 locked down.

btw, was anything said about Valverde's role in the Tour this year? Hope he gets a free role, but attempting to do well in GC probably coincides with being a superdomestique for Quintana anyway.
 
Re:

SeriousSam said:
Liege should be his. Improving from last year at the Tour will be pretty much impossible though, the Big 4 surely have 1-4 locked down.

btw, was anything said about Valverde's role in the Tour this year? Hope he gets a free role, but attempting to do well in GC probably coincides with being a superdomestique for Quintana anyway.

I think he'll go really well at the Tour, and certainly wouldn't bet against him to make the podium. Surely he'll get a free role for the first 10 days at least; he must be the favourite for the stages on Mur de Huy and Mur de Bretagne. I'd also expect him to go better than most of the favourites over the cobbles. With the time bonuses, there's a chance he could even in be in yellow heading into the mountains :eek:

Most of the mountain stages should suit him as well; the hardest stages are quite short, or have only one tough climb. The one he'll lose the most time on I guess is Plateau de Beille, but the others he could do well on.

The big problem is whether how well he can recuperate after the Ardennes and build to another peak. He seemed to get it wrong last year and faded badly in the third week, but hopefully he will have it worked out better now.
 
Mar 13, 2015
2,637
0
0
Visit site
Re:

SeriousSam said:
Liege should be his. Improving from last year at the Tour will be pretty much impossible though, the Big 4 surely have 1-4 locked down.

btw, was anything said about Valverde's role in the Tour this year? Hope he gets a free role, but attempting to do well in GC probably coincides with being a superdomestique for Quintana anyway.

I wouldn't bet on big 4 to finish 1-4, there will be surprises for sure, crashes, bad days, etc. As for Valverde he should target couple of stages in first 10 days, maybe even yellow jersey, and after that a lot depends on Quintana. I expect similar tactics like last year's Vuelta, with Quintana the main man and Valverde trying to hang on as high as possible in the GC, so they could use that in key stages
 
Re:

Fernandez said:
Valverde will do a Valverde´s Tour. That means a top ten and fighting for stages. Quintana will be the boss there.

This is my thought exactly.

IMO there is a very high chance that he won't top 5. I mean he couldn't even podium last year...But that's okay; it's not his job to podium here.

If he peaks correctly I actually think he could be a favorite for the Vuelta this year.
 
Re: Re:

Jspear said:
Fernandez said:
Valverde will do a Valverde´s Tour. That means a top ten and fighting for stages. Quintana will be the boss there.

This is my thought exactly.

IMO there is a very high chance that he won't top 5. I mean he couldn't even podium last year...But that's okay; it's not his job to podium here.

If he peaks correctly I actually think he could be a favorite for the Vuelta this year.

a favorite to help Quintana make up for loosing at the tour de france might be a better scenario
 
Re:

Fernandez said:
Valverde will do a Valverde´s Tour. That means a top ten and fighting for stages. Quintana will be the boss there.

Maybe last chance for him in TDF,with a route very favorable for him,i think he'll try his best to finish as high as possible in GC .Free role will be the way this TDF,i don't think he needs to be wasted working for Quintana.
 
Re: Re:

Dedelou said:
Jspear said:
Fernandez said:
Valverde will do a Valverde´s Tour. That means a top ten and fighting for stages. Quintana will be the boss there.

This is my thought exactly.

IMO there is a very high chance that he won't top 5. I mean he couldn't even podium last year...But that's okay; it's not his job to podium here.

If he peaks correctly I actually think he could be a favorite for the Vuelta this year.

a favorite to help Quintana make up for loosing at the tour de france might be a better scenario

Ya perhaps. We know valverde can do 2 gt's well back to back. I have no clue how Quintana would do....
 
Re: Re:

LaFlorecita said:
Miburo said:
Best rider at the moment. Would have catalunya too without bad luck.
Wouldn't say best rider. Just a strong climber with a strong sprint. Good combo for wins.

Best rider of his generation. Strong climber, very good sprint, great endurance, insane peak for almost entire year. Tons of wins, always there at the business end of the race. Its not even close.
And dont care how big his ego gets. This is deserved
 

TRENDING THREADS