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

[LaFlorecita]

Except Valverde and his fans will. Plus it actually means something to him. His Worlds podium record means a LOT to him. He was asked a couple years ago (before he won the worlds) if he would trade in his 6 podiums for 1 Worlds win and rainbow jersey. Without hesitating he said no. He said that record means a lot to him and shows how consistent he's been over his career. He may be the only one who would answer that way, but these type of records do have a lot of meaning to him. With all the crazy records he owns, yes la Vuelta podium record AND the all-time Grand Tour top 10 record do mean a lot and do add to his legacy. You're also missing the part that he has always valued his consistency as has the team.

Absolutely insane IMO

 

[tobydawq]

Talking of consistency: Did you know that it's now more than 7 years since the last time he finished outside of top 100 in a race (stage 2 of the 2012 Vuelta)?

 

[Red Rick]

Absolutely insane IMO

He wanted Purito to enjoy that sweet, sweet silver medal

 

[Valv.Piti]

Talking of consistency: Did you know that it's now more than 7 years since the last time he finished outside of top 100 in a race (stage 2 of the 2012 Vuelta)?

Damn unlucky. He could lowkey have changed that race if not for that lost time. Someone asked when/if Valverde has ever climbed this consistently and I would point to exactly that race, his top level was very high and he was super consistent. Also underrated how great he was at Fuente Dé, just incredibly strong that year. And his legendary win at Gallina, my favourite.

On todays stage, I think Valverde proved how loyal he really is to Quintana and the podium. If not Quintana gained that time yesterday, he would obviously have pulled along with Lopez to race for the stage win. Obv. Lopez would still have to do the majority of work. But not really sure if he would have beat Rogla, that guy is pretty amazing. Without a doubt the best/most dominant GT-win this season. Just wonder for a second if Lotto Visma followed their initial (stupid) plan to let Rogla ride the Tour after that spring. Man, he would have had this in the bag.

Anyways, superb performance today. I hoped he would have attacked on Morcuera, the last 1-2 km and try to bridge to Lopez, Fraile and Oliveira. That could have been amazing.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm fairly sure they couldn't go with Lopez and they knew as soon as he flew away. Maybe Roglic could have but he knew there was no point as soon as he saw Lopez was going alone.

 

[Koronin]

Absolutely insane IMO

Remember his first Worlds podium was in 2003 and his win was in 2018 (2014 was his last podium before last year) and those have been on different types of courses and against different types of riders as well. As you can see his values that podium record which of course is now 7.


Thinking about the biggest things still missing from his palmares has to be Lombardia, the Olympics, maybe Amstel and Strade Bianche, and Paris-Nice. Then of course the record for LBL where he needs one more victory to tie Merckx.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I'm fairly sure they couldn't go with Lopez and they knew as soon as he flew away. Maybe Roglic could have but he knew there was no point as soon as he saw Lopez was going alone.

They couldnt, but I had actually expected an attack from Valverde to try to bridge. A Valverde classic, if you will, but he was probably also empty towards the top at Morcuera. There was a small, small gap to Rogla which proved insignificant, unfortunately.

 

[Noddy97]

Oh, come on, this isn't fourth places we're talking about, but you have proven yourself to be pretty hardcore anti-Valverde so no need for me to get too deeply into this discussion with you.

He is a Grand Tour winner, though, and there was no way he could beat Roglic in this Vuelta, and of course he cares about the result, Nibali did the same in the Giro this year, and everybody always does.

Nibali tried to win, If not carapaz would not win il giro in my opinion.

 

[Noddy97]

Valverde is a different type of rider than Contador and many others. Valverde does value consistency. Part of why he doesn't have high peaks.

Safe Bet, that's an impressive stat for Rebellin.

Contador was pretty consistent too. The difference is valverde cares a lot about podiums. It's ok but for me is difficult to root for him because what I want to see is entertainment and valverde doesn't give me 100% of that.

 

[EganArley]

Comparing Contador with valverde is blasphemy. its like comparing sagan with kittel....(if you focus on entertainment)

 

[Koronin]

Contador was pretty consistent too. The difference is valverde cares a lot about podiums. It's ok but for me is difficult to root for him because what I want to see is entertainment and valverde doesn't give me 100% of that.

Yes, he does. He also has a lot more wins than other GC riders.

 

[joe_papp]

...true winners like Contador / Armstrong Merkxc...

Very normal to come to the thread about a rider to trash talk him and argue with the rider's fans about whether he's quality or not

BTW: Valverde has more Grand Tour wins than Armstrong.

 

[hrotha]

Rider threads are not the private reserve of their fans.

 

[joe_papp]

I used to like him until he went publicly against Quintana this year? And true winners like Contador / Armstrong Merkxc would only care about “consistency” if they weren’t out right winners is my point.

Very normal to come to the thread about a rider to trash talk him and argue with the rider's fans about whether he's quality or not

BTW: Valverde has more Grand Tour wins than Armstrong.

Rider threads are not the private reserve of their fans.

Nonetheless, Valverde still has more GT wins than "true winner" Armstrong lol.

 

[Red Rick]

Very relevant.

I have the same amount of Tour de France wins as Lance Armstrong.

Valverde has the same amount as Chris Horner

 

[Blanco]

But no one will remember that. People will remember the winner and how many gt's each legend has in his palmares. No one remember how many gt's podiums indurain has but I know he won 5 tours and 2 giros. I can say the same about Hinault, Ulrrich, Pantani, etc. Legends are made of wins!! Not secondary places! Legends try hard to win, no matter what. A podium don't add nothing to valverde's legacy.

Of course they will remember. It's an all-time record. Or do you think people are not remembering the likes of Raymond Poulidor or Joop Zoetemelk? It's not all about GT wins you know. How then would you consider Pantani a legend? Or Ullrich?
Valverde's legacy won't be GT wins obviously, but it will be his consistency, his longevity, his capability to win on every terrain, etc. You would need to go deep in the past to find rider with similar skills, and back then it was way easier to do things he's doing in the present.
He was never as dominant rider as for example Contador was in GT's, or Froome, or maybe Cancellara in the classics, but who else has a 16 years span between his first and last GT stage win, or between GT podiums? Who else has a 19 top 10 placings in Grand Tours? Who else has 7 WCRR medals? Who else has a 130 professional victories in the modern peloton while not being a sprinter? Who else was a top 10 rider in the world every single season for 16 years!?
And there are many, many more things in which Alejandro Valverde is unique in today's peloton, and that's the real reason why he is a legend.

 

[Blanco]

Absolutely insane IMO

Insane? I don't think so.
How many riders in the history of road cycling has 6 WCRR podiums?

 

[SafeBet]

Insane? I don't think so.
How many riders in the history of road cycling has 6 WCRR podiums?

Man I'm the ultimate podium sucker but that is truly insane.
We're talking about the most iconic jersey in cycling.

 

[Rollthedice]

Insane? I don't think so.
How many riders in the history of road cycling has 6 WCRR podiums?

He was the Jimmy White (snooker) of cycling until last year.

 

[Blanco]

Man I'm the ultimate podium sucker but that is truly insane.
We're talking about the most iconic jersey in cycling.

He didn't say he won't fight to get one, which he ultimately did, and you could've seen his joy and what it meant to him. He just said he wouldn't trade something no other person in the world achieved, for something that more than 50-60 people did in the history of cycling.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I have thought about this a whole lot: Was Vavlerde over-loyal to Quintana yesterday? Should he have went for it?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Insane? I don't think so.
How many riders in the history of road cycling has 6 WCRR podiums?

That's crazy talk. A win in one of the most prestigious races tops even a dozen podiums. People remember wins, podiums are for statisticians.

 

[Noddy97]

Of course they will remember. It's an all-time record. Or do you think people are not remembering the likes of Raymond Poulidor or Joop Zoetemelk? It's not all about GT wins you know. How then would you consider Pantani a legend? Or Ullrich?
Valverde's legacy won't be GT wins obviously, but it will be his consistency, his longevity, his capability to win on every terrain, etc. You would need to go deep in the past to find rider with similar skills, and back then it was way easier to do things he's doing in the present.
He was never as dominant rider as for example Contador was in GT's, or Froome, or maybe Cancellara in the classics, but who else has a 16 years span between his first and last GT stage win, or between GT podiums? Who else has a 19 top 10 placings in Grand Tours? Who else has 7 WCRR medals? Who else has a 130 professional victories in the modern peloton while not being a sprinter? Who else was a top 10 rider in the world every single season for 16 years!?
And there are many, many more things in which Alejandro Valverde is unique in today's peloton, and that's the real reason why he is a legend.

He is a legend in my opinion too. Of course I'm going to remember him until my death but He could be much more legendary if He had the courage to go all out in some situations. Legends are also made of historic rides like the one we saw in 98 with pantani and Ullrich. For example, active riders who are legends: Froome - I will remember finestre, Ventoux (his win and his run, Pena Cabarga. These were freacking moments in cycling.
Gilbert - 2017 Route de Flandres, 2018 Paris Roubaix, 2011 Liege.
Nibali - That win in tre cime di lavaredo, His fantastic ride in milan san remo and that mini roubaix in the tour. These were iconic moments. From Valverde, the only iconic moment that comes to my is the 2013 worlds, where valverde and purito delivered the win to Rui. Others can say courchevel but Lance wasn't racing and worried about valverde. There isn't a moment where I can say " Oh what a solo from valverde" (in big races of course). This is what makes me sad, valverde is probably the biggest talent I saw in the last 20 years but the fact that he relies so much on his sprint and his love for podiums didn't help to increase his legacy.

 

[Noddy97]

I have thought about this a whole lot: Was Vavlerde over-loyal to Quintana yesterday? Should he have went for it?

I just think he is happy with his vuelta unfortunately.

 

[Blanco]

I just think he is happy with his vuelta unfortunately.

But he could've gone for the stage win, no?