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

[Velolover2]

Landa is targeting Paris Nice//Pais Vasco and I hope that Quintana is going for Tirreno-Adriatico/Romandie. It gives Valverde a lot of room.

He could ride Strade, Sanremo, Catalunya, Dwars, Ronde, Amstel, Fleche and Liege.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Regarding the victory count, he is also just 11 victories shy of Boonen's tally.

Does anybody know how many wins Bettini accumulated?

Valverde is way ahead of him, I counted around 65 wins.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

And he's the most winning rider of the season.

111 victories in total according to official records. 116 victories obtained on the road.

And compare that to fellow climbers and GC specialists. Froome has around 40 wins, Nibali around 50, others much less.
Compare it to fellow hilly classics fast finishers. Gilbert has approx. 70 wins, Grandpa Rebellin around 60, Cunego 45, Gerrans 35, Kwiatkowski less than 20.

In fact the only guys you could compare him with are sprinters, and only two of them have more wins than him, Greipel and Cavendish, although Sagan is closing on him (he's 9 wins shy).

The guy is simply amazing!

I'll add two more GC type riders who are retired. Contador had around 75 career wins and Indurain had 99 when he retired. Valverde only needs around 10 more wins to have more wins for Movistar than Indurain did and all of Indurain's wins were with Movistar.

Actually of all GC riders, only Merckx and Hinault have more victories than him :surprised: And we could add Moser, Kelly and Saronni to that list, although they are much more one-day specialists.

 

[Koronin]

Here's the big thing the team has got to do if he really wants a shot at winning the worlds. The team has got to find a way to keep him under 85 race days by the end of la Vuelta and that is not easy to do with him. The team it's self has even admitted they have a very hard time telling him no.

 

[tobydawq]

Based on his start of this season, he could very well enter top 5 on this list by the end of this season, and to finish in the top 3 is even looking like a possibility.

https://www.cyclingranking.com/

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Im pretty sure I caught Valverde saying that he was going to Murcia, Almeria and Abu Dhabi. Thats a little disappointing, but the competition will be bigger in Abu Dhabi and its WT, so its not all bad.

Quite understandably if he'd wanna do Murcia. It's his local race, and he did pretty well last year.

 

[KyoGrey]

He is certainly slimmer in his legs and a little bit gross on the upper body.

Given the results, everything seems okey after the big injury...but it looks like he can improve his form

 

[lartiste]

Bala rules .

 

[Serpentin]

2nd place today @ vuelta Murcia. Gonna be interesting to hear the interview, he looked a little tired in the end when LuLU attacked. But another good placing.

 

[Red Rick]

Looks like a gifted win to me. Classy.

Seems like there's nothing to worry about for Valverde after a horrific end to last year's season. Could also be that he'll only show weakness in the GTs.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

Looks like a gifted win to me. Classy.

Seems like there's nothing to worry about for Valverde after a horrific end to last year's season. Could also be that he'll only show weakness in the GTs.

How dare you? He would never gift the most important race of the season

 

[Arredondo]

Re:

Looks like a gifted win to me. Classy.

Seems like there's nothing to worry about for Valverde after a horrific end to last year's season. Could also be that he'll only show weakness in the GTs.

He picks up where he left off. He will be the big favorite for FW and LBL for sure.

 

[Koronin]

Sanchez looks to be on great form right now and there's no way Valverde is that close to peak at the moment. He's definitely back and when we get to the Ardennes he'll be the huge favorite at Fleche Wallone and Liege. He's also now raced enough to know what he's still missing at this point as I'm sure he doesn't have all the muscle mass back into the injured leg yet and that may be very simply what the issue was today. That'll take more time to get back.

This is in Spanish, but he says that he was caught by surprise when Sanchez attacked and that he did not let him win.
https://demarrajeweb.com/2018/02/10/valverde-sobre-luisleme-sorprendio/

 

[joe_papp]

Re:

...

This is in Spanish, but he says that he was caught by surprise when Sanchez attacked and that he did not let him win.
https://demarrajeweb.com/2018/02/10/valverde-sobre-luisleme-sorprendio/

I agree that it is silly to even suggest that Valverde would've let LLS win. He is our Spanish Cannibal. Speaking of Spanish, though, did anyone actually watch the race, or even the last 15-20km that was available as a clip via steephill? I thought the Spanish commentators were insufferable - terrible! They didn't try to build emotion or excitement...just a bunch of chatty kathys blabbering on. Very disappointed. They should've had some Colombians commentating - that would've been epic.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

...

This is in Spanish, but he says that he was caught by surprise when Sanchez attacked and that he did not let him win.
https://demarrajeweb.com/2018/02/10/valverde-sobre-luisleme-sorprendio/

I agree that it is silly to even suggest that Valverde would've let LLS win. He is our Spanish Cannibal. Speaking of Spanish, though, did anyone actually watch the race, or even the last 15-20km that was available as a clip via steephill? I thought the Spanish commentators were insufferable - terrible! They didn't try to build emotion or excitement...just a bunch of chatty kathys blabbering on. Very disappointed. They should've had some Colombians commentating - that would've been epic.

Well it was local TV only, so local announcers, not the normal announcers. Otherwise, the only video I've seen is video that was taken on the side of the road by fans, along with the finish line clips. Only around the last 10 or KMs was even broadcast locally so not much of the race is even aired. Most of people I know who live in Murcia were out on the side of the road watching and cheering.

As for my opinion on did Valverde let LL Sanchez win, well last I checked Valverde is still pretty good at making some strange mistakes during races, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if the attack caught him off guard. He's managed to do that many times of the years and it's cost him a bunch of wins over the years.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Sanchez looks to be on great form right now and there's no way Valverde is that close to peak at the moment. He's definitely back and when we get to the Ardennes he'll be the huge favorite at Fleche Wallone and Liege. He's also now raced enough to know what he's still missing at this point as I'm sure he doesn't have all the muscle mass back into the injured leg yet and that may be very simply what the issue was today. That'll take more time to get back.

This is in Spanish, but he says that he was caught by surprise when Sanchez attacked and that he did not let him win.
https://demarrajeweb.com/2018/02/10/valverde-sobre-luisleme-sorprendio/

Of course he would say something like that, but I think it was a gift for his grand amigo.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Sanchez looks to be on great form right now and there's no way Valverde is that close to peak at the moment. He's definitely back and when we get to the Ardennes he'll be the huge favorite at Fleche Wallone and Liege. He's also now raced enough to know what he's still missing at this point as I'm sure he doesn't have all the muscle mass back into the injured leg yet and that may be very simply what the issue was today. That'll take more time to get back.

This is in Spanish, but he says that he was caught by surprise when Sanchez attacked and that he did not let him win.
https://demarrajeweb.com/2018/02/10/valverde-sobre-luisleme-sorprendio/

Of course he would say something like that, but I think it was a gift for his grand amigo.

Yeah, the only thing that tarnishes the gesture of gifting a win, is telling the world that you gifted a win. He's been gifting wins for years to his mates - including bigger races than this like the Spanish nationals.

 

[Aguirre]

I saw on TV. Valverde let him go, It's clear, he did'nt dispute Luisle. Facts are: Valverde has won this race 4 o 5 times. Last year after a solo show. Luisleón has never won.
Vuelta a Valencia showed another sprint ant that time after a fair dispute Valverde won.
Both are from Murcia, both are good friends (look Luisle smile in stage 2 Valencia).

Once the two had the opportunity to win today, Valverde should have wait for the sprint. But instead, Valverde attacks Luisle with 3 km to go. Then Luisle counter attacks and Valverde doesnt go. It was smart from Valverde this tactic of simmulation rather than let him win a sprint (nobody could have believe Luisle beats Bala in a sprint). Then today's no dispute from Bala makes him even bigger.

Pd: the woman in brown that saludates Luisleon in the finale (300 metes to the finish) is his mother. A truly Murcia race today

 

[jaylew]

I watched it. I'm a huge Bala fan but it didn't look like the win was gifted to me.

 

[Asero831]

It was a gift.
Lulu and Rojas are the two guys that he owe for his comeback after the 2 year ban.
They are with him during training and motivated him to go on.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

It was a gift.
Lulu and Rojas are the two guys that he owe for his comeback after the 2 year ban.
They are with him during training and motivated him to go on.

None of that necessarily means it was a gift.

 

[Red Rick]

Sometimes I wonder a little bit if Valverde even legitimately peaks or not, cause his form trajectory looks incredibly flat throughout a season

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Sometimes I wonder a little bit if Valverde even legitimately peaks or not, cause his form trajectory looks incredibly flat throughout a season

Technically yes, in reality compared to other riders no. The team has said they can't tell the different in 75% of people or peak with him like they can anyone else. Remember he won Fleche Wallone in 2016 right before the Giro when he wasn't at peak as he was delaying his peak to try to hit that in the middle of the Giro. The team explained it once that his peak isn't nearly as high as other top riders which is why he can hold his form much longer and why it's hard to tell when he's near or at peak. They also said that the very small difference between 75% and peak for him leads to his amazing consistency and that is his unique gift.

 

[joe_papp]

Re: Re:

...

This is in Spanish, but he says that he was caught by surprise when Sanchez attacked and that he did not let him win.
https://demarrajeweb.com/2018/02/10/valverde-sobre-luisleme-sorprendio/

I agree that it is silly to even suggest that Valverde would've let LLS win. He is our Spanish Cannibal. Speaking of Spanish, though, did anyone actually watch the race, or even the last 15-20km that was available as a clip via steephill? I thought the Spanish commentators were insufferable - terrible! They didn't try to build emotion or excitement...just a bunch of chatty kathys blabbering on. Very disappointed. They should've had some Colombians commentating - that would've been epic.

Well it was local TV only, so local announcers, not the normal announcers. Otherwise, the only video I've seen is video that was taken on the side of the road by fans, along with the finish line clips. Only around the last 10 or KMs was even broadcast locally so not much of the race is even aired. Most of people I know who live in Murcia were out on the side of the road watching and cheering...

Ahh ok. Didn't realize this about the coverage. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

...

This is in Spanish, but he says that he was caught by surprise when Sanchez attacked and that he did not let him win.
https://demarrajeweb.com/2018/02/10/valverde-sobre-luisleme-sorprendio/

I agree that it is silly to even suggest that Valverde would've let LLS win. He is our Spanish Cannibal. Speaking of Spanish, though, did anyone actually watch the race, or even the last 15-20km that was available as a clip via steephill? I thought the Spanish commentators were insufferable - terrible! They didn't try to build emotion or excitement...just a bunch of chatty kathys blabbering on. Very disappointed. They should've had some Colombians commentating - that would've been epic.

Well it was local TV only, so local announcers, not the normal announcers. Otherwise, the only video I've seen is video that was taken on the side of the road by fans, along with the finish line clips. Only around the last 10 or KMs was even broadcast locally so not much of the race is even aired. Most of people I know who live in Murcia were out on the side of the road watching and cheering...

Ahh ok. Didn't realize this about the coverage. Thanks for the insight.

You're welcome.