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

Page 212 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

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

  • Nuclear Holocoust

    Votes: 27 100.0%

  • Total voters
    27
Re: Re:

tobydawq said:
Amazinmets87 said:
What are the expectations for stages 5 and 6? Can he grab yellow if Moviestar performs well in in TTT?

I don't think so. I think Thomas will get in yellow tomorrow and defend it a very long time.

But Valverde could play for the stage on stage 6 (I think stage 5 is too easy, but he might surprise).

I agree with this. Don't think Movistar can do well enough in the TTT to give him a shot at yellow on those two stages. However a stage win could be in cards.

My guess is either Tejay or Thomas are in yellow after tomorrow. Possible Gaviria could get yellow back if Quickstep can put in a really good TTT.
 
Re:

Moviestar said:
The devil inside Valverde will be pleased so far: Quintana already down a minute, and he will get rid of Landa probably in the cobbles stage.
If (when....) Valverde is beasting Mur de Bretagne and the pavé, the pure climbers Landa and Quintana will be forced to attack not only to gain time on Froome, Dumoulin etc.....
 
It's a ways away, but it seems stage 14 offers an opportunity for Bala to steal time off Froome and other less explosive GC men. Furthermore I can see him splitting the field with a masterclass descent on stage 15. Not to mention the classic-style stage 4 & 5 and the cobbles... Assuming he can get Landa and Nairo on board as doms I think he can podium
 
Re:

Amazinmets87 said:
It's a ways away, but it seems stage 14 offers an opportunity for Bala to steal time off Froome and other less explosive GC men. Furthermore I can see him splitting the field with a masterclass descent on stage 15. Not to mention the classic-style stage 4 & 5 and the cobbles... Assuming he can get Landa and Nairo on board as doms I think he can podium

Stage 15 could be a masterclass by both him and Nibali. That could be fun.
Stage 4 should be a full field sprint. 5 however, I could see definite time gaps with top puncheurs and maybe Sagan up there for the stage win.
 
Re: Re:

Koronin said:
Amazinmets87 said:
It's a ways away, but it seems stage 14 offers an opportunity for Bala to steal time off Froome and other less explosive GC men. Furthermore I can see him splitting the field with a masterclass descent on stage 15. Not to mention the classic-style stage 4 & 5 and the cobbles... Assuming he can get Landa and Nairo on board as doms I think he can podium

Stage 15 could be a masterclass by both him and Nibali. That could be fun.
Stage 4 should be a full field sprint. 5 however, I could see definite time gaps with top puncheurs and maybe Sagan up there for the stage win.
Nibali will definitely put on a show if he needs time...

As for stage 5 it's virtually all hills and descents with no respite for 150km. The final difficulty is certainly not steep enough for significant gaps, but I believe an attack on the penultimate climb (or even further) could be forthcoming.
 
Re:

Amazinmets87 said:
It's a ways away, but it seems stage 14 offers an opportunity for Bala to steal time off Froome and other less explosive GC men. Furthermore I can see him splitting the field with a masterclass descent on stage 15. Not to mention the classic-style stage 4 & 5 and the cobbles... Assuming he can get Landa and Nairo on board as doms I think he can podium

Since his crash Valverde seems a bit more cautious in the descents than before. The Spanish national roadrace was a good example of it.
 
Re: Re:

Moviestar said:
Amazinmets87 said:
It's a ways away, but it seems stage 14 offers an opportunity for Bala to steal time off Froome and other less explosive GC men. Furthermore I can see him splitting the field with a masterclass descent on stage 15. Not to mention the classic-style stage 4 & 5 and the cobbles... Assuming he can get Landa and Nairo on board as doms I think he can podium

Since his crash Valverde seems a bit more cautious in the descents than before. The Spanish national roadrace was a good example of it.

I think there was more at the National Championships as he's also just in race shape and said something about the fact that the Izagirre brothers were on a lot better form than he was at the National Championships.
 
Re:

Son of Amsterhammer said:
I think he’ll do something tomorrow. There is time to be taken from some other GC guys.
Unfortunately I think its too easy. All the hills in the finals are under 1 km, I would be very surprised if he can beat Sagan. Ofc Sagan has a little question mark after the TTT, but I think it was only a bad day - but I hope not, then he has a chance to win, even on a finish like this. :p
 
This was Bala having a bit of fun and being a "fan" before the race. He managed to find one of the Tour mascot's to get his picture taken with.
36913579_10204582456757397_8460231982729658368_n.jpg
 
Slightly OT (but still on subject of Valverde)... So I just read the story about Luke Rowe of Team SKY accosting a fan and stealing his banner and destroying it, then lying about the incident when confronted, claiming it never happened.

Even though Valverde lied about any involvement in Puerto, I can't imagine him ever reacting to a fan off of the race course like Rowe did, then lying about actually having done something scrappy like that in the first place. Is that weird?
 
A little help from his friends from Movistar wouldn't mind today. He was left on his own yesterday, and could've grabbed 4 sec bonus with some help with positioning before the final ramp, but I guess they were afraid of Nairo and Landa losing time hence they needed to babysit them. They knew Alejandro will handle himself quite well even without any help. But today, some help would be more than welcome, possibly on both Mur passages, to tire legs of Sagan, GVA, Gilbert.., then 1 on 1 with Ala, and may the best man win :D
 
Re: Re:

trucido said:
Valv.Piti said:
The spanish riders like Valverde, Rodriguez, Contador etc. are some of the nicest persons you probably ever will encounter. They are all top class!

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/vuelta-a-espana/punch-ups-vuelta-espana-one-didnt-see-135299

Such a nice guy that Rodriguez.

I have no idea what Rodriguez is like, or whether he really did that, I won't opine.
What I have learned over the years is that anything Deignan says is to be discarded. Zero credibility.

Now, did anyone else see this punch? If they did, I'll fully believe it.
 
The Tour really has been perfect for Valverde so far, he has been in zero problems along the way, but his team has not been able to drop him off for various reasons on stage 5 and 6. Its fine. The weather is great and he is feeling great, the more heat the better. Of course it sucks he couldn't win today, but I don't think he is sweating it over that.

Onto Roubaix now, he should be among the best there. He most likely can go into the Alps with a defensive approach and profit from the attacks of Landa and Quintana, this could be a great Tour for Valverde.
 
Re: Re:

trucido said:
Valv.Piti said:
The spanish riders like Valverde, Rodriguez, Contador etc. are some of the nicest persons you probably ever will encounter. They are all top class!

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/vuelta-a-espana/punch-ups-vuelta-espana-one-didnt-see-135299

Such a nice guy that Rodriguez.

The cycling news report of the incident wasn't quite so one sided and explained Rodriguez's side of the story http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/deignan-says-he-was-punched-full-in-the-face-by-rodriguez/

Personally I would believe Rodriguez every time over Deignan
 

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