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Calling Valverde a 'pure hilly rider' is like calling a smartphone 'a clock'.Red Rick said:Typically pure hilly riders can do well here but they don't really win. I would've given him more chance on the old route, which I think was a little bit less selective and less predictable.
I think on a route like this he needs to be gone on the Hotond, but everybody and their mother is attacking there these days.
In de Ronde van Vlaanderen, he might as well be.DFA123 said:Calling Valverde a 'pure hilly rider' is like calling a smartphone 'a clock'.Red Rick said:Typically pure hilly riders can do well here but they don't really win. I would've given him more chance on the old route, which I think was a little bit less selective and less predictable.
I think on a route like this he needs to be gone on the Hotond, but everybody and their mother is attacking there these days.
tobydawq said:He may do 4 top 10s in monuments this year. That doesn't happen a lot.
Red Rick said:Because in a cobbles field his sprint is nothing special?
Oh yeah, of course.tobydawq said:At least he proved to be much better than Nibali as one would have expected. Like a fish in the water, really. His position for the sprint was horrible, though. That cost him a few places.
For Valverde the difference between the Pater and Oude Kwaremont seemed huge, and that's reasonable cause he's so much lighter.Blanco said:Red Rick said:Because in a cobbles field his sprint is nothing special?
Well, had that group escaped after Pater (Van Avermaet, Naesen, Van Der Poel and him), I guess that sprint could've bring him a podium.
Masterclass from him today, he was certainly among the 5-6 strongest guys, a 61 kg Grand Tour and hilly classic specialist. We don't see that much often.
Oh, and by the way, I'm curious, which pure hilly riders do well here?
Yeah, I was thinking about the last Paterberg.Valv.Piti said:He looked horrible to me on Paterberg the first time with about 50 to go, but on all other climbs, he seemed the naturaleza that he is.
First Pater is faster I think? Final Pater which comes a few minutes after the Kwaremont is perhaps where the pure climbing ability helps if anywhere.Valv.Piti said:He looked horrible to me on Paterberg the first time with about 50 to go, but on all other climbs, he seemed the naturaleza that he is.
Gilbert did it back in 2010 and 2011.tobydawq said:He may do 4 top 10s in monuments this year. That doesn't happen a lot.
A couple of year ago i was criticized a lot when i said that Cancellara was faster than him in a flat sprint but it's the truth, he can win sprints also against very fast riders when the finish is uphill but when it's flat, not only sprinters, also a lot of classics rider can outsprint him.Velolover2 said:He looked smooth on the cobbles. On the Paterberg especially. Closed down a MVDP attack. And he'll be back in 2020 and 2021.
Too late? Properly. But it's a race that actually suits him. A peak Valverde could have won a stage with a Koppenberg HTF.
He needs to get way with another rider in order to podium. As Rick Rick mentioned, his sprint is impressive against climbers but not among the heavier classics riders.
I don't think there are much examples without going back 40/50 years, i checked a bit and probably Gilbert is the only one in the last 15/20 years, going back to 90s there is Bartoli in 1997 and 1998 and Sorensen in 1991, then very close Tchmil in 1994 (9th, 3rd, 1st, 11th) and Museeuw in 1996 (8th, 3rd, 1st, 13th).shalgo said:Gilbert did it back in 2010 and 2011.tobydawq said:He may do 4 top 10s in monuments this year. That doesn't happen a lot.
Sean Kelly did it in 1984, 1985, and 1986.
I'm sure there are other examples, even without going back to Merckx, but it would certainly be a rare achievement.
Nirvana said:A couple of year ago i was criticized a lot when i said that Cancellara was faster than him in a flat sprint but it's the truth, he can win sprints also against very fast riders when the finish is uphill but when it's flat, not only sprinters, also a lot of classics rider can outsprint him.Velolover2 said:He looked smooth on the cobbles. On the Paterberg especially. Closed down a MVDP attack. And he'll be back in 2020 and 2021.
Too late? Properly. But it's a race that actually suits him. A peak Valverde could have won a stage with a Koppenberg HTF.
He needs to get way with another rider in order to podium. As Rick Rick mentioned, his sprint is impressive against climbers but not among the heavier classics riders.
Anyway i think the form is there, his bad performances in Catalunya are more related to the fact that he suffers (probably for the age) more and more mountain stages, we already saw that in the Vuelta last year, very good in hilly, medium mountain, easy unipuerto, muritos but in the last weekend when there was a longer MTF and an harder multi mountain stage he suddenly became a lot worse, i still remember how a lot of people was fearing for the WC but on an hilly route was again his usual self.
I'm pretty sure we'll see him very competitive in the Ardennes and in the first two weeks of the Giro before eclipsing again on the mountains in the third week.