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

Page 251 - 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
LaFlorecita said:
Screecher said:
No wins so far. Curse of the rainbow jersey?
Or age...

Or he's lost some of his desire. He finally won the one race he'd wanted since he was a child. The desire to still race is there, but I'm questioning if the desire to win is still there at this point. So far 3 races where he would have sprinted for a podium (or today a win) and he chooses not to. Thus blatantly gifting those podiums and today's win to other riders.

Today was a blatant gift to Sanchez.
 
Re:

Valv.Piti said:
He still has an incredibly high level, but its obvious he has lost a bit of explosion. Thats only natural, he was close to get beaten in the WC as well against skinny climbers and that Astana team is no joke in such races.

He beat certain Peter Sagan just 5-6 months ago, a month before the Worlds, so I doubt that explosion is gone...
As far as these couple of races, as I said before he's slightly below his usual level for this time of the year probably because he wants a peak for Ardennes and for the Giro if possible.
 
Re:

Valv.Piti said:
He still has an incredibly high level, but its obvious he has lost a bit of explosion. Thats only natural, he was close to get beaten in the WC as well against skinny climbers and that Astana team is no joke in such races.

I think he just went from way too far out in the WCRR. A ridiculous move that almost cost him his life-long dream. Just a couple of weeks before he beat Sagan in a sprint he had no business winning.

This year, he hasn't looked fast, though, but he has looked strong and I think he will be good in the races that matter. It was always going to be difficult derailing the Astana train, and the fact that he almost succeeded is quite impressive.
 
Re: Re:

tobydawq said:
Koronin said:
He hasn't bothered to sprint at all. It's almost like he doesn't care. It's possible that after winning the Worlds his desire just isn't the same as it was before.

This is becoming a broken record.

Why would he attack and tear up the race on the hill if he didn't care? He obviously does.

I did say almost. However, it's very possible the desire isn't the same as it was before. Int his case it is Sanchez and he's gifted Sanchez wins in the past including last year.
 
Re: Re:

Koronin said:
tobydawq said:
Koronin said:
He hasn't bothered to sprint at all. It's almost like he doesn't care. It's possible that after winning the Worlds his desire just isn't the same as it was before.

This is becoming a broken record.

Why would he attack and tear up the race on the hill if he didn't care? He obviously does.

I did say almost. However, it's very possible the desire isn't the same as it was before. Int his case it is Sanchez and he's gifted Sanchez wins in the past including last year.

It makes absolutely no sense to say that he doesn't care. Why on earth would he make the race hard, go solo, fight until the final kilometer to maintain the lead, and then lose interest in the home straight?

It's logically fallible but I know you'll just repeat it over and over and over like you usually do until the other side of the discussion (all the rest of the users) lose interest (for real, not like Valverde) and stop contesting you.
 
Re: Re:

tobydawq said:
Koronin said:
tobydawq said:
Koronin said:
He hasn't bothered to sprint at all. It's almost like he doesn't care. It's possible that after winning the Worlds his desire just isn't the same as it was before.

This is becoming a broken record.

Why would he attack and tear up the race on the hill if he didn't care? He obviously does.

I did say almost. However, it's very possible the desire isn't the same as it was before. Int his case it is Sanchez and he's gifted Sanchez wins in the past including last year.

It makes absolutely no sense to say that he doesn't care. Why on earth would he make the race hard, go solo, fight until the final kilometer to maintain the lead, and then lose interest in the home straight?

It's logically fallible but I know you'll just repeat it over and over and over like you usually do until the other side of the discussion (all the rest of the users) lose interest (for real, not like Valverde) and stop contesting you.


He said in post race comments to the media that on the descent wasn't willing to risk anything and that he was fully expecting Sanchez to catch him. He also said his form is fine and he's not at all worried about not having a win yet and that he'll eventually get one.
 
He also made this comment today, "Racing in my home region with this jersey on for the last two days already was a victory for me. Every race I take the start of has that special feeling in the rainbow colors."

That certainly sounds like the desire to win just isn't as strong as it was before.
 
Re: Re:

kingjr said:
Koronin said:
kingjr said:
Uh, he's driving hard the whole time to keep the gap to the rest... He wouldn't have won that sprint ten years ago either....Has nothing to do with gifts or lack of desire.

The comments he made after the race more or less said he gifted the win to Sanchez without actually saying it.
I sometimes prefer to let the race speak for itself.

His actions did speak pretty loudly. His comments just added to it.
 

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