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

[CheckMyPecs]

Lets go!

Let's do this. What avatar changes do you suggest?

Ehm, the Avatar i would least want is probably Mollema or Ten Dam covered in spit. You?

Tough question. Anything with Lefevere in it is pretty disgusting!

Bumping this to make it easier to find.

 

[Valv.Piti]

What was the bet exactly?

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

What was the bet exactly?

If Valverde wins the Giro, I wear an avatar with Lefevere of your choice for 7 weeks.

If Valverde doesn't win the Giro, you wear an avatar with Mollema or Ten Dam covered in spit for 1 week.

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

Valverde don't like very cold weather and heavy rain, and he is not at his best in these conditions. Anything else, he's fine

Yeah - Never been cold weather or rain at the Ardennes Classics.

Yeah they were in Liege this year, and you saw how Valverde did in that race. He said numerous times that he's not at his best at really cold weather

The temperature struggles to get above 10 to 12c in the Ardennes - That is cold weather.

Oh my God, You're hopeless..

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

What was the bet exactly?

If Valverde wins the Giro, I wear an avatar with Lefevere of your choice for 7 weeks.

If Valverde doesn't win the Giro, you wear an avatar with Mollema or Ten Dam covered in spit for 1 week.

Hahaha.

 

[joe_papp]

Will Zakarin crush Valverde in the TT tomorrow? That pesky Russian wasn't shown on TV once taking even a single turn in the group after Valv. launched his first attack on the dirt climb.

 

[Rollthedice]

Will Zakarin crush Valverde in the TT tomorrow? That pesky Russian wasn't shown on TV once taking even a single turn in the group after Valv. launched his first attack on the dirt climb.

No way.

 

[DBotero]

Good day for Valverde.I was expecting him to lose more time to Nibali.Still there in contention for a podium place.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Ugh.

I don't think it was good today. He didn't gain time on Landa, I thought he would've gained 2 today. I really can't see him distancing Landa uphill, but its good that many stages finish downhill and have some spicy hills in the end.

 

[DBotero]

Re:

Ugh.

I don't think it was good today. He didn't gain time on Landa, I thought he would've gained 2 today. I really can't see him distancing Landa uphill, but its good that many stages finish downhill and have some spicy hills in the end.

It was a good day.Landa was the surprise.That's it.He's still up there and if Nibali or Landa will not deliver he will be ready to strike.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Ugh.

I don't think it was good today. He didn't gain time on Landa, I thought he would've gained 2 today. I really can't see him distancing Landa uphill, but its good that many stages finish downhill and have some spicy hills in the end.

It was a good day.Landa was the surprise.That's it.He's still up there and if Nibali or Landa will not deliver he will be ready to strike.

I say average then.

I may be super biased, but I had Valverde as my favourite to overtake the jersey today and thrash Landa. Guess I'll have to lower my expectations

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Ugh.

I don't think it was good today. He didn't gain time on Landa, I thought he would've gained 2 today. I really can't see him distancing Landa uphill, but its good that many stages finish downhill and have some spicy hills in the end.

It was a good day.Landa was the surprise.That's it.He's still up there and if Nibali or Landa will not deliver he will be ready to strike.

I say average then.

I may be super biased, but I had Valverde as my favourite to overtake the jersey today and thrash Landa. Guess I'll have to lower my expectations

You are even more biased then me concerning Purito

 

[Movitrain]

Re: Re:

Ugh.

I don't think it was good today. He didn't gain time on Landa, I thought he would've gained 2 today. I really can't see him distancing Landa uphill, but its good that many stages finish downhill and have some spicy hills in the end.

It was a good day.Landa was the surprise.That's it.He's still up there and if Nibali or Landa will not deliver he will be ready to strike.

I say average then.

I may be super biased, but I had Valverde as my favourite to overtake the jersey today and thrash Landa. Guess I'll have to lower my expectations

That is correct. Landa did surprisingly well, but losing only little time to Nibali is the story. And actually gaining time on a lot of others, especially Zakarin, who once again proves even Michael Rasmussen can handle his bike better in ITTs.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Ugh.

I don't think it was good today. He didn't gain time on Landa, I thought he would've gained 2 today. I really can't see him distancing Landa uphill, but its good that many stages finish downhill and have some spicy hills in the end.

It was a good day.Landa was the surprise.That's it.He's still up there and if Nibali or Landa will not deliver he will be ready to strike.

I say average then.

I may be super biased, but I had Valverde as my favourite to overtake the jersey today and thrash Landa. Guess I'll have to lower my expectations

You are even more biased then me concerning Purito

Hmm. Considering Quintana is crawling closer and closer in terms of my favourite riders, I still think your Purito-bias is at least on my levels.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

Ugh.

I don't think it was good today. He didn't gain time on Landa, I thought he would've gained 2 today. I really can't see him distancing Landa uphill, but its good that many stages finish downhill and have some spicy hills in the end.

It was a good day.Landa was the surprise.That's it.He's still up there and if Nibali or Landa will not deliver he will be ready to strike.

I say average then.

I may be super biased, but I had Valverde as my favourite to overtake the jersey today and thrash Landa. Guess I'll have to lower my expectations

You are even more biased then me concerning Purito

You wish

 

[Valv.Piti]

Favourite for tomorrow, but as I've stated many times, Movistar is a conservative team and probably won't chase. They should send Visco and Betancur up the road for stage honours/help later because this is a super intriguing stage for Valverde, one that really suits him really well. Classic-esque terrain with a hard 1-2 punch in the finale, perfect for him.

These are the ambush stages he needs. He tried very hard on stage 8, without too much luck, but he needs go gain time on Landa!

 

[Arredondo]

He needs to go full *** on friday.

Nibali is breakable at the moment.

 

[Taxus4a]

Acording what he said, he must be upset with Visconti.

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Acording what he said, he must be upset with Visconti.

Or with the team car. Maybe they pulled Visconti too late...

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

He needs to go full *** on friday.

Nibali is breakable at the moment.

I think MTT will be crucial. Gaps will be made there, and there's no hiding, strongest climber will emerge

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

He needs to go full *** on friday.

Nibali is breakable at the moment.

I think MTT will be crucial. Gaps will be made there, and there's no hiding, strongest climber will emerge

Nope, I don't expect big gaps, only if someone cracks on stage 14, otherwise the gaps between the best should be pretty small.

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

He needs to go full *** on friday.

Nibali is breakable at the moment.

I think MTT will be crucial. Gaps will be made there, and there's no hiding, strongest climber will emerge

Nope, I don't expect big gaps, only if someone cracks on stage 14, otherwise the gaps between the best should be pretty small.

Nibali put almost 1' on Samu in 2013 over 19kms. Contador put around 45" on Nibali in 2011 over 12kms. If there is a dominant climber, he might put half a minute on the second best.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Acording what he said, he must be upset with Visconti.

What did he say?

Really fricking gutted for Landa, but nothing bad rarely happens without any positives I guess! Valverde has real chances of winning the Giro now. I would be hugely disappointed by anything less than a podium now.

 

[Fernandez]

Re: Re:

Acording what he said, he must be upset with Visconti.

What did he say?

Really fricking gutted for Landa, but nothing bad rarely happens without any positives I guess! Valverde has real chances of winning the Giro now. I would be hugely disappointed by anything less than a podium now.

He said the strategy of the team yesterday could have been better but he didnt explain more, he said these are team internal things.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Ok, thanks.

I really hope Movistar would have taken control of at least one stage so far, but they really haven't and since Moreno DNF'ed, they are down on numbers and may be waiting for the last week!