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

Page 249 - 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:

GuyIncognito said:
No, too many races to do well at the Ardennes. Adding Flanders with its travelling and weather is what makes it overkill

Or so he said


Ok. He raced Dwars last year GP Miguel Indurain instead of Flanders, and still did well overall in the Ardennes. I just don't see this really being much different.

I really think this is more him, just being typical of himself in downplaying his chances that he has gotten so very good at doing.
 
Re:

GuyIncognito said:
2019 schedule, from the horse's mouth:

Trofeo Palma
Valenciana
Murcia
UAE
Strade Bianche
Catalunya
Dwars
Flanders
("It's too many races before the Ardennes, I don't expect to do well. Twice as much for the Giro". Actual quote.)
Amstel
Fleche
Liege
Giro
-Rest-
Possible June stage race, TBD
Nationals
Poland or Burgos+San Sebastian. Poland more likely.
Vuelta
Worlds
Pre-Lombardia races TBD
Lombardia


Interestingly enough I think Val.Piti and I both came up with something similar to this as what we thought his calendar would look like. We just both would prefer to swap UAE for Andalucia. (My guess is he's racing UAE because they are offering a huge bonus/entry fee for him to be there.)
 
Re: Re:

Koronin said:
GuyIncognito said:
2019 schedule, from the horse's mouth:

Trofeo Palma
Valenciana
Murcia
UAE
Strade Bianche
Catalunya
Dwars
Flanders
("It's too many races before the Ardennes, I don't expect to do well. Twice as much for the Giro". Actual quote.)
Amstel
Fleche
Liege
Giro
-Rest-
Possible June stage race, TBD
Nationals
Poland or Burgos+San Sebastian. Poland more likely.
Vuelta
Worlds
Pre-Lombardia races TBD
Lombardia


Interestingly enough I think Val.Piti and I both came up with something similar to this as what we thought his calendar would look like. We just both would prefer to swap UAE for Andalucia. (My guess is he's racing UAE because they are offering a huge bonus/entry fee for him to be there.)

Every WT team is racing the UAE tour.
 
Re: Re:

yaco said:
Koronin said:
GuyIncognito said:
2019 schedule, from the horse's mouth:

Trofeo Palma
Valenciana
Murcia
UAE
Strade Bianche
Catalunya
Dwars
Flanders
("It's too many races before the Ardennes, I don't expect to do well. Twice as much for the Giro". Actual quote.)
Amstel
Fleche
Liege
Giro
-Rest-
Possible June stage race, TBD
Nationals
Poland or Burgos+San Sebastian. Poland more likely.
Vuelta
Worlds
Pre-Lombardia races TBD
Lombardia


Interestingly enough I think Val.Piti and I both came up with something similar to this as what we thought his calendar would look like. We just both would prefer to swap UAE for Andalucia. (My guess is he's racing UAE because they are offering a huge bonus/entry fee for him to be there.)

Every WT team is racing the UAE tour.


This is Alejandro's calendar, not Movistar's. These are the races that he personally has on his calendar to race. Some races do pay entrance fees/bonuses to get specific riders to show up for their races.
 
Re: Re:

Koronin said:
GuyIncognito said:
No, too many races to do well at the Ardennes. Adding Flanders with its travelling and weather is what makes it overkill

Or so he said


Ok. He raced Dwars last year GP Miguel Indurain instead of Flanders, and still did well overall in the Ardennes. I just don't see this really being much different.

I really think this is more him, just being typical of himself in downplaying his chances that he has gotten so very good at doing.

I think you're right regarding him downplaying his chances but riding Flanders is infinitely more taxing than the Induráin race.

But if he could recover from close to collapse in the Vuelta to Worlds-conquering shape in two weeks, he'll probably be okay in the Ardennes (Amstel is of course two weeks later than Flanders).
 
Re: Re:

Koronin said:
yaco said:
Koronin said:
GuyIncognito said:
2019 schedule, from the horse's mouth:

Trofeo Palma
Valenciana
Murcia
UAE
Strade Bianche
Catalunya
Dwars
Flanders
("It's too many races before the Ardennes, I don't expect to do well. Twice as much for the Giro". Actual quote.)
Amstel
Fleche
Liege
Giro
-Rest-
Possible June stage race, TBD
Nationals
Poland or Burgos+San Sebastian. Poland more likely.
Vuelta
Worlds
Pre-Lombardia races TBD
Lombardia


Interestingly enough I think Val.Piti and I both came up with something similar to this as what we thought his calendar would look like. We just both would prefer to swap UAE for Andalucia. (My guess is he's racing UAE because they are offering a huge bonus/entry fee for him to be there.)

Every WT team is racing the UAE tour.


This is Alejandro's calendar, not Movistar's. These are the races that he personally has on his calendar to race. Some races do pay entrance fees/bonuses to get specific riders to show up for their races.

I fully understand your post - The fact is every WT team is riding the UAE tour, while Valverde is the defending champion.
 
Combining the Flemish classics and Ardennes shouldn't really be a problem for a super-fit rider like Valverde. But when you add a lot of stage races (where you target the GC) too, it's starts to become very hard challenge. Even for the most experienced rider of them all.
 
Re: Re:

tobydawq said:
Koronin said:
GuyIncognito said:
No, too many races to do well at the Ardennes. Adding Flanders with its travelling and weather is what makes it overkill

Or so he said


Ok. He raced Dwars last year GP Miguel Indurain instead of Flanders, and still did well overall in the Ardennes. I just don't see this really being much different.

I really think this is more him, just being typical of himself in downplaying his chances that he has gotten so very good at doing.

I think you're right regarding him downplaying his chances but riding Flanders is infinitely more taxing than the Induráin race.

But if he could recover from close to collapse in the Vuelta to Worlds-conquering shape in two weeks, he'll probably be okay in the Ardennes (Amstel is of course two weeks later than Flanders).


I agree Flanders is more taxing than the Indurain race. However, this is Valverde we're talking about. The same person who said last summer no problem going for stages and overall at la Vuelta and still being ready for the Worlds. Plus we're talking about a rider whom everyone knows can recover in a short period of time. Of course we're talking about a rider who's made downplaying his chances in races where he's the favorite an art form.
 
Re: Re:

yaco said:
Koronin said:
yaco said:
Koronin said:
GuyIncognito said:
2019 schedule, from the horse's mouth:

Trofeo Palma
Valenciana
Murcia
UAE
Strade Bianche
Catalunya
Dwars
Flanders
("It's too many races before the Ardennes, I don't expect to do well. Twice as much for the Giro". Actual quote.)
Amstel
Fleche
Liege
Giro
-Rest-
Possible June stage race, TBD
Nationals
Poland or Burgos+San Sebastian. Poland more likely.
Vuelta
Worlds
Pre-Lombardia races TBD
Lombardia


Interestingly enough I think Val.Piti and I both came up with something similar to this as what we thought his calendar would look like. We just both would prefer to swap UAE for Andalucia. (My guess is he's racing UAE because they are offering a huge bonus/entry fee for him to be there.)

Every WT team is racing the UAE tour.


This is Alejandro's calendar, not Movistar's. These are the races that he personally has on his calendar to race. Some races do pay entrance fees/bonuses to get specific riders to show up for their races.

I fully understand your post - The fact is every WT team is riding the UAE tour, while Valverde is the defending champion.
And we are all well aware for that.
 
wheresmybrakes said:
C'moooooooon, the guy had a race today and his thread is down near the bottom! Got to keep up with the Remco's. :lol:

LOL, Some of us have jobs without any real access to the internet. Also remember if we commented on this thread everytime Alejandro finishes in the top 5 let alone top 10 this thread would be a lot longer than it currently is. As of right now he's had 4 races and finished top 10 in all 4 of those races.
 
Re:

Blanco said:
I have a feeling he's slightly off his usual form at this time of the year. Last year he peaked too early, guess he's trying to get it right this time.

Maybe, but compared to others probably not being in top form either that probably wont matter much. If that would be case.

But I can agree he might have peaked a little bit too early last year. Especially in time for AGR, Fleche and LBL. He looked like he might have been 1-2% off in those races. Kinda hard to tell though with him, but remember thinking that. Even though he was still very much there in all three races.
 
Re: Re:

Salvarani said:
Blanco said:
I have a feeling he's slightly off his usual form at this time of the year. Last year he peaked too early, guess he's trying to get it right this time.

Maybe, but compared to others probably not being in top form either that probably wont matter much. If that would be case.

But I can agree he might have peaked a little bit too early last year. Especially in time for AGR, Fleche and LBL. He looked like he might have been 1-2% off in those races. Kinda hard to tell though with him, but remember thinking that. Even though he was still very much there in all three races.

In AGR he was top notch, not so much in the other two.
 
It's ok if he's just a little off form at this point in the season. I agree he peaked a bit too early last year, however I also think it was somewhat intentional on his part because of that injury and he didn't know what he was going to be able to do when he came back. So peaking a little too early last year was understandable. He should be a little off of that form this year. However, his little off form is usually better than a lot of others little off form simply because he doesn't seem to have the big difference between his peaks and his not peak. As it's unlikely anyone is really peaking for these races, he'll be fine and still could win.
 
Re:

Eli said:
It looks like some of you on this page know more about Valverde than the Man himself.


You'll find that there is a group of us here who have been following him for years and do have a very good idea in watching him race what level he is near or at.
Here's another thing, he said in an interview a couple weeks ago that his plan was to not be as close to peak to start the season as he was last year because of needing to be able to race through May this year. So he needed to start this season at a bit lower level than he did last season. Here's the thing with Valverde. It is very hard to tell when he's near peak or at peak as for him there really isn't much if any difference. There is a small difference in his racing when he's off peak. When he's just in race shape is when there is a big difference.
 
He messed up a little yesterday, took the wrong wheel and he wasn't in first 2-3 spots coming into that double turn, but he had the strength and the speed. He managed to close that gap to the first three, and I think it would be tight if it was him instead of Trentin on Greg's wheel.
 

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