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

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

  • Nuclear Holocoust

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Feb 14, 2017
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I've been a huge fan since 2005, what an amazing rider! Hopefully some quality wins this year, skipping the Giro will be a good thing but I glad he podiumed did it last year.
 
Just doing it easy today. Great class as always, haters gonna hate (especially Netserk). ;)

The only one in the entire world who could drop Valverde at that climb is his own teammate. Contador was actually better than I expected, but Bala had that little extra. Its great watching those two duelling, you can feel the intensity, its personal. Valverde sprinting away from Contador reminded me of Mende the year he finished on the podium, probably his best year, 2015. This year so far looks juicy, I hope he can close the race with another stage tomorrow.
 
Valv.Piti said:
Just doing it easy today. Great class as always, haters gonna hate (especially Netserk). ;)

The only one in the entire world who could drop Valverde at that climb is his own teammate. Contador was actually better than I expected, but Bala had that little extra. Its great watching those two duelling, you can feel the intensity, its personal. Valverde sprinting away from Contador reminded me of Mende the year he finished on the podium, probably his best year, 2015. This year so far looks juicy, I hope he can close the race with another stage tomorrow.

So far.. :p
 
Re: Re:

portugal11 said:
Mr.White said:
portugal11 said:
If he had colaborated with contador yesterday he could be in contend for gc...

He still is, don't you worry ;)
No he isn't... he isn't a good time trialist
Erm.. he has won the TT/Prologue in this very race twice before. Last time in 2014 where he put time into Dumoulin, Izagirre, Kiryienka, Thomas, Wiggins and Porte. Not bad for someone who isn't a good time trialist.

In a short 10km TT like this - in Spain, on a reasonably technical course - he's certainly not out of contention. The efforts in his victories in the last week may have taken their toll though, we'll see tomorrow.
 
Very impressive ride today; he's certainly one of the best in the world at these short TTs. Especially in Spain when he might get the odd favour from the motos every now and again. ;)

Really encouraging start to the season so far. Will be interesting to see if he can resist the temptation to go to Strade Bianche and to do loads of racing. His planned schedule looks relatively light this spring compared to previous years, so perhaps he's looking longer term to a real shot at the Vuelta or perhaps to have a big second peak for Lombardia.
 
Valverde can't possibly be better in Strade Bianche than he was in 2014 when he really animated the race (or 2015, can't quite remember), but yet still got comfortably beat uphill by Stybar and GVA. When you have Paris-Nice the day after and when the duel between you and Contador has gotten personal, you go all out at Paris-Nice.

Couillolle is a long, classic Alpine climb. Its not shallow, but not really steep either. Last time I saw a really good Alberto at at long climb was Mortirolo, almost 2 years ago. And when the gradient isn't steeper than it is, I see very good chances of Valverde holding Contador's wheel and hunt for bonus seconds the rest of the race. The TT also suits Valverde really well.

And then you have Porte. Possible the favourite for P-N when its all said and done anyways.
 
Re:

Red Rick said:
I rather think Valverde rides PN to win a race he's never won before than to beat Contador. If Contador is in similar shape to last year he'll be very hard to beat.
Valverde rides to win P-N and therefore needs to beat Contador, the main rival along with Porte. But you can tell how Valverde always wants to prove himself better than Contador in every race they enter together. Cant you?

What makes you think that? He was super impressive on the stage to Nice and would probably have won the race if not for the cancellations, but was very mediocre in both the ITT and on the MTF.
 
Re: Re:

Valv.Piti said:
Velolover2 said:
Valv.Piti said:
Velolover2 said:
Valverde: Specialist in everything.
Nah, he was beaten by a non-specialist and therefore can't be a specialist.
??

Victor Campenaerts is a specialist in a shorter, lumpy TT like this.
I was being ironic. Very ironic. ;)

Ah, ok. :p

Is he going to Flanders this year? A top 10 is possible, I think. Could be a strong line-up with Erviti and Bennati.
 
Re:

Valv.Piti said:
Valverde can't possibly be better in Strade Bianche than he was in 2014 when he really animated the race (or 2015, can't quite remember), but yet still got comfortably beat uphill by Stybar and GVA. When you have Paris-Nice the day after and when the duel between you and Contador has gotten personal, you go all out at Paris-Nice.

Couillolle is a long, classic Alpine climb. Its not shallow, but not really steep either. Last time I saw a really good Alberto at at long climb was Mortirolo, almost 2 years ago. And when the gradient isn't steeper than it is, I see very good chances of Valverde holding Contador's wheel and hunt for bonus seconds the rest of the race. The TT also suits Valverde really well.

And then you have Porte. Possible the favourite for P-N when its all said and done anyways.
Yeah, I hope he sticks with just P-N, then Basque or Catalunya and hit the Ardennes hard. Getting three solid stage races in, while being fresh and able to put out decent power for all of them, should set him up really well for later in the season especially.

I think he definitely has a chance against Contador and Porte at P-N as well (don't forget Bardet who is possibly the favourite for me). Do you know if there are bonus seconds available there?
 
Yes, there are bonus seconds which is why Valverde will be extremely dangerous on this course unless either Porte or Contador puts in a monster performance on Couillole. I also do expect Porte to be a little stronger than last year.

Bardet? Dangerous, but nothing more. I can't see him beat all these guys at once.
 
Re: Re:

Valv.Piti said:
Red Rick said:
I rather think Valverde rides PN to win a race he's never won before than to beat Contador. If Contador is in similar shape to last year he'll be very hard to beat.
Valverde rides to win P-N and therefore needs to beat Contador, the main rival along with Porte. But you can tell how Valverde always wants to prove himself better than Contador in every race they enter together. Cant you?

What makes you think that? He was super impressive on the stage to Nice and would probably have won the race if not for the cancellations, but was very mediocre in both the ITT and on the MTF.
Contador showed enough in the stage to Nice to make me think he was the best climber in the race. I think last year's hilly tt's and MTT's are perhaps better indications of how he'll ride the TT in PN than last year's prologue. Porte hasn't done that much in ITTs outside of pure MTT's in the last few years, though the ITT isn't bad for Valverde either.

I think the length of the climb suits none of Contador, Porte or Valverde particularly well. That stage will probably depend a lot on who's in the lead right then, but I still think Contador is a better pure climber than Porte and Valverde.
 
Contador definitely was the best climber last year, but I think this year's field is stronger. Porte was all Nutella at this point last year in Oman or wherever he raced and Thomas was nothing special at all. I think Porte will be better and then there's Valverde.

Will be interesting no matter what.
 

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