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

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

This performance was more crazy than Lo Port. He attacked with 8km to go. That's rare in modern cycling.

I don't think it was, but it was very, very good. The way he closed the gap to López was extremely scary, I was afraid he had compromised himself earlier on the climb, altho he almost never does that. Then he just jumped up to him as easy as anything.

 

[Netserk]

Does someone have a picture of his first pull after bridging up to Formolo?

(I probably missed it, but it looked to me like he was ice-cold and only hit the wind again when he bridged to Lopez)

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Does someone have a picture of his first pull after bridging up to Formolo?

(I probably missed it, but it looked to me like he was ice-cold and only hit the wind again when he bridged to Lopez)

Pretty sure he didn't hit the front again, lol. Pretty much only in his attacks, López also did the majority of the work (as he should, riding for podium, Valverde had the victory sealed). Smart racing today by Valv

Obviously still 1000x better than Majka

 

[Velolover2]

A shame he isn't riding Strade Bianche when he is in this kind of shape.

He could have a nice battle with Kwai there. The two riders who seem to be in the greatest shape right now.

 

[Netserk]

Most times I'd give him flak for that, but today it looked to be totally down to his (justified) confidence in himself. I just hope we'll actually see a battle for Liège, and not have everyone roll over and accept defeat.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Well he's called the Unbeatable one for a reason. Today was again very impressive.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

A shame he isn't riding Strade Bianche when he is in this kind of shape.

He could have a nice battle with Kwai there. The two riders who seem to be in the greatest shape right now.

Do we know he won't ride that race? I think the only confirmed race on his calendar before Ardennes is Catalunya but I have a hope that he will ride Strade and Flanders (the latter seems realistic - when it was announced that Landa would ride Dwars, they said that all three captains would ride on the cobbles some time).

 

[Velolover2]

My dream schedule for Bala:
Strade
Sanremo
Catalunya
Flanders
Ardennes
Suisse (because recently, he has always been bad in Dauphine)
Tour (stage hunting, helping Quintana/Landa)
San Sebastian
Vuelta (GC leader)
World Championships
Lombardia

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

My dream schedule for Bala:
Strade
Sanremo
Catalunya
Flanders
Ardennes
Suisse (because recently, he has always been bad in Dauphine)
Tour (stage hunting, helping Quintana/Landa)
San Sebastian
Vuelta (GC leader)
World Championships
Lombardia

Pretty much agree, I don't know about San Remo though.

 

[tobydawq]

¿Mis próximas carreras? En principio lo más seguro es que vaya directamente a la Volta a Catalunya, aunque quizás añadamos alguna prueba por medio como Strade Bianche. Debemos verlo en los próximos días”.

My next races? In principle, the most certain thing is to go directly to the Volta a Catalunya, although we will maybe add a race in between, like Strade Bianche. We will see to that on the next days.

Good. I assume they will land at the conclusion that it will do no damage to do Strade and that he has a good opportunity to win it.

 

[portugal11]

for the first time, I think valverde has a chance of winning the tour (10%) IF quintana and landa don't go bananas in the high mountains. How many minutes can valverde gain in the first week?
I think he has a chance because his team will be strong and froome/dumoulin won't be there in top shape

 

[Koronin]

He's said Flanders is tentatively on his calendar, but that doesn't mean he'll race it. Sound the same for Strade Bianche. I hope he does race it with the form he's got right now, he'd be in the mix to win it. Plus we all know he's good at making changes to his calendar last minute.

He was impressive today. He knows himself well enough at this point to know when he can push and when he needs to back off or wait. He rarely goes too soon for what he's able to do.

Yet another race he has now added to his palmares that he had not yet won.

 

[Blanco]

Enorme Valverde! One more stage race to his palmares. 113th win, and 21st GC win. Only Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, Anquetil, Kelly and Contador are in front of him.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Enorme Valverde! One more stage race to his palmares. 113th win, and 21st GC win. Only Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, Anquetil, Kelly and Contador are in front of him.

Contador has less than 100 pro wins. Indurain also has less than 100 pro wins.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Enorme Valverde! One more stage race to his palmares. 113th win, and 21st GC win. Only Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, Anquetil, Kelly and Contador are in front of him.

Contador has less than 100 pro wins. Indurain also has less than 100 pro wins.

Overall GC wins.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Enorme Valverde! One more stage race to his palmares. 113th win, and 21st GC win. Only Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, Anquetil, Kelly and Contador are in front of him.

Contador has less than 100 pro wins. Indurain also has less than 100 pro wins.

Overall GC wins.

Ok, misunderstood what you saying.

 

[yaco]

Many are underestimating the importance of the 35km TTT at the TDF - Some good riders could lose 2+ minutes - And Movistar with their 3 GC riders and a paucity of TT'ers in the squad could be one of those teams.

 

[Koronin]

It sounds like rather he goes to Strade Bianche or not is going to be dependent on the weather. If it's supposed to be bad weather it's unlikely he'll go. That seems the reason for the uncertainly. Can't really blame him.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

It sounds like rather he goes to Strade Bianche or not is going to be dependent on the weather. If it's supposed to be bad weather it's unlikely he'll go. That seems the reason for the uncertainly. Can't really blame him.

Not really true.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Many are underestimating the importance of the 35km TTT at the TDF - Some good riders could lose 2+ minutes - And Movistar with their 3 GC riders and a paucity of TT'ers in the squad could be one of those teams.

I think Movistar will be fine. Not 2015-fine, but not that bad either.

The last time trial is perfect for Valverde, he won't lose that much time to Froome in top shape and will beat 80% of the others. Overall it looks like a decent route for Valverde, altho not close to the atrocity that was the 2017-route which seemed tailormade for Valv to win.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

It sounds like rather he goes to Strade Bianche or not is going to be dependent on the weather. If it's supposed to be bad weather it's unlikely he'll go. That seems the reason for the uncertainly. Can't really blame him.

Not really true.

Well, he definitely performs worse in bad weather, so I understand it. And I don't think he likes to race in that kind of weather, like, at all. But while I respect that decision, its pretty disappointing not seeing him turning up to such a great race like Strade Bianche. He has done super well there and animated the race before, please do it again!

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

It sounds like rather he goes to Strade Bianche or not is going to be dependent on the weather. If it's supposed to be bad weather it's unlikely he'll go. That seems the reason for the uncertainly. Can't really blame him.

Not really true.

Well, he definitely performs worse in bad weather, so I understand it. And I don't think he likes to race in that kind of weather, like, at all. But while I respect that decision, its pretty disappointing not seeing him turning up to such a great race like Strade Bianche. He has done super well there and animated the race before, please do it again!

Yeah, I don't like that a participation in such a race depends on whether the weather is good or not. That seems a little spoiled. And I just really want him to go because he has a great chance to win.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

It sounds like rather he goes to Strade Bianche or not is going to be dependent on the weather. If it's supposed to be bad weather it's unlikely he'll go. That seems the reason for the uncertainly. Can't really blame him.

Not really true.

Well, he definitely performs worse in bad weather, so I understand it. And I don't think he likes to race in that kind of weather, like, at all. But while I respect that decision, its pretty disappointing not seeing him turning up to such a great race like Strade Bianche. He has done super well there and animated the race before, please do it again!

Yeah, I don't like that a participation in such a race depends on whether the weather is good or not. That seems a little spoiled. And I just really want him to go because he has a great chance to win.

Somehow I have a feeling if it was up to him all races would be held with temps of 25 degrees C or higher and sunny.

I do wish he'd go regardless of weather, but I do get it. He doesn't race as well in bad weather, he never has. Who knows it very well could be partly a product of where he grew up and still lives. Is it spoiled? Maybe, but he's also 37, almost 38, and past the age most riders have already retired, so if anything at this point doesn't he get to be a little spoiled?

 

[Valv.Piti]

I still remember having immense expectations for him in 2014 after Contador and Froome crashed out, but it was pretty obvious the bad weather in that race had drained him. He was very good at Courchevel, but below par pretty much in the entire race. A normal Valverde would EASILY have held on to 2nd, obviously still without threatening the mythic Vincenzo Nibali 2014 Tour.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

I still remember having immense expectations for him in 2014 after Contador and Froome crashed out, but it was pretty obvious the bad weather in that race had drained him. He was very good at Courchevel, but below par pretty much in the entire race. A normal Valverde would EASILY have held on to 2nd, obviously still without threatening the mythic Vincenzo Nibali 2014 Tour.

That's not it. He says he had family problems that summer and couldn't care less about cycling