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

[Carols]

Bala hits #1 in WT ranking on Sunday

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Bala hits #1 in WT ranking on Sunday

And stays there..

 

[burning]

Re: Re:

Can you elaborate?

The most Spanish of the Spanish riders is obviously Rojas.

Franco?!

Yeah, he's a proud Francoist, I wonder how he could ride with guys like Benat or Izaguirre brothers.

Who´s a proud francoist?

Rojas is, as you can see in the url from previous quoted post.

 

[nobilis]

Valverde has 92 more CQ points now than last year at the same time of the season, which was his best in terms of CQ Ranking points.

 

[SeriousSam]

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.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

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

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.

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

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

 

[Fernandez]

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

 

[Jspear]

Re:

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.

 

[Dedelou]

Re: Re:

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

 

[DBotero]

Re:

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.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

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....

 

[SeriousSam]

Happiest I've been about a result in cycling in a long time.

 

[DBotero]

Great win today,no screw up,amazing season so far.I hope he'll carry this form to TDF,there are some stages which needs his attention

 

[Miburo]

Best rider at the moment. Would have catalunya too without bad luck.

 

[Red Rick]

I think I've hated a lot on him, but what a champion. In the Tour just lacking that bit of climbing prowess, and that bit of luck at the worlds, but what a career and consistency

 

[Carols]

Wow the Ardennes; Bala wins 2 and places 2nd in the other. Yesterday was his birthday, nice present to yourself! He takes over as WT number 1 . 116 career wins, what a champ.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

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.

 

[SeriousSam]

lol

 

[Netserk]

Wow the Ardennes; Bala wins 2 and places 2nd in the other. Yesterday was his birthday, nice present to yourself! He takes over as WT number 1 . 116 career wins, what a champ.

He has less than 100 career wins.

 

[johnymax]

Re:

Best rider at the moment. Would have catalunya too without bad luck.

It's him vs Kristoff at the moment IMO.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

He really is El Imbatido. Big respect for this talented man. He really is the best Spanish of the last fifteen years. Winning monuments and a GC guy.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

He really is the best Spanish of the last fifteen years.

Watch out, he might read this. If his ego gets any bigger, his head might explode.

 

[damian13ster]

Re: Re:

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

 

[DBotero]

Re: Re:

He really is the best Spanish of the last fifteen years.

Watch out, he might read this. If his ego gets any bigger, his head might explode.

Come on,you should know by now there can't be two best Spanish riders,Valverde>Contador