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

[Koronin]

How come Valverde is a hero at 39 and Horner was a dog at 40?

Valverde's been a hero since he was young. Heck he's had a fan base that started when he was a young child who watched him grow up racing. Some of his biggest fans are the guys who raced with and against him when he was a child

 

[Lequack]

A nice article I found, where Valverde also talks about his depression. I used Google translate to help me.
https://www.marca.com/ciclismo/2019/09/17/5d7f9c1f22601d9b638b4572.html

Google translated:
https://translate.google.com/transl...ismo/2019/09/17/5d7f9c1f22601d9b638b4572.html

There are also some video so maybe someone who speaks Spanish can find it useful.

 

[Blanco]

He had some really nice words for Roglic there, concerning Toledo stage

 

[Escarabajo]

Valverde farewell to Nairo:

https://www.revistamundociclistico....-equipo-ha-sido-muchisimo-alejandro-valverde/

 

[Valv.Piti]

Think it was great to see Mas doing so well in Canada the other day. That bodes well for next year consideirng his very mediocre TdF - maybe he can even win Lombardia with this shape. Never seen him as a one day racer at all, but maybe he will do the Ardennes next year along with El Don. Although what I hope is he rides a rather easy spring and does Tour + Vuelta since GTs are his really strong suit due to his recovery.

Also think it was nice for Soler personally to get a 9th place despite not really working for it apart from the last day. That was he gets a little redemption for the Andorra-stage. Overall, he has been the best domestique in the world in GTs this year, which was something I didnt think after a rather meh year last year in the mountain and earlier this year. Movistar is really taking the Indurain-approach with Marc, next year he would have to prove himself in GTs as a captain (or co-leader) and I could very well see him doing that in the Giro, although it would depend on what Valverde does. They cant afford to send two of the big 3 riders to Italy given how they are very slim compared to last year and the Tour and Vuelta are more important races. I cant see anyone on the team who could be able to step up and ride as a shadow-GC threat on this team next year, maybe Pedrero? Kinda weird team they have next year.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Yes, it looks like a transitional year, one year later some of the young guys, I'm thinking about Rubio and maybe Alba, could be ready step up.
The story about Valverde getting panic attacks even durning races after his comeback and then finding out that it was probably because of depression is sad and sounds pretty genuine.

 

[Koronin]

This is the first time he's publicly talked about the depression after coming back to racing in 2012. This and a lot more is in a special RTVE is releasing Wednesday (tomorrow) on TV. It's called A Year in Rainbows.

 

[Noddy97]

I would like to see Mas in the giro. He won't stand a chance against the likes of dumoulin, roglic, bernal, probably froome,etc

 

[Blanco]

Didn't know that Worlds finish is uphill, 500 m at 6% if I saw correctly. That change things a lot concerning Valverde. He's a master in uphill sprinting after a hard race.

 

[Noddy97]

Didn't know that Worlds finish is uphill, 500 m at 6% if I saw correctly. That change things a lot concerning Valverde. He's a master in uphill sprinting after a hard race.

No chance against the likes of sagan and MVP

 

[Velolover2]

Didn't know that Worlds finish is uphill, 500 m at 6% if I saw correctly. That change things a lot concerning Valverde. He's a master in uphill sprinting after a hard race.

500 m at 12 %, sure.

500 m at 6%. I can think of 10 riders who can bet him on such finish. He is not 29 anymore.

 

[Blanco]

500 m at 12 %, sure.

500 m at 6%. I can think of 10 riders who can bet him on such finish. He is not 29 anymore.

Yep, in a flat 180 km stage.
In a 280 km long, hilly race, I can see only a few.

 

[Salvarani]

Yep, in a flat 180 km stage.
In a 280 km long, hilly race, I can see only a few.

In a small group he has a good chance at least.

 

[Asero831]

500 m at 12 %, sure.

500 m at 6%. I can think of 10 riders who can bet him on such finish. He is not 29 anymore.

Isn't the last 200m relatively flat? Max at 2%

 

[Scarponi]

On review of the Veulta and my posts, I just wanted to apologize for some of the aggression posted in this thread to the Valverde fans as it was not my intention.

 

[Koronin]

I thought the finish for the World's was fairly flat. In a small group he has a chance for the podium, and a good one at that. Not sure there won't be at least 1-2 guys who are faster than him in the slight uphill finish here regardless of the size of the group. Plus he is 39 not 29.

 

[Nirvana]

Isn't the last 200m relatively flat? Max at 2%

Yes, but there is a ramp at around 10% before it flattens in the last hundreds of meters and there could be launched a winning move, a gap of a couple of second I think could be enough to prevent faster riders to come round towards the finish line.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

but guys like Alaf, Sagan and MvdP are absolute rockets on short uphill sprints even of 10%..

It's not the same as a 10% ramp in a 3km Ardennes climb or a 10% ramp on a 15km col.

 

[Blanco]

but guys like Alaf, Sagan and MvdP are absolute rockets on short uphill sprints even of 10%..

It's not the same as a 10% ramp in a 3km Ardennes climb or a 10% ramp on a 15km col.

So is Valverde. He won many times in his career at similar finishes. And this will be a hard, hard race. In form Valverde (and he is in form, believe me) will be a factor in the final sprint, if everything comes to that.
You underestimated him recently, don't make that mistake again

 

[Velolover2]

but guys like Alaf, Sagan and MvdP are absolute rockets on short uphill sprints even of 10%..

It's not the same as a 10% ramp in a 3km Ardennes climb or a 10% ramp on a 15km col.

Was thinking the same. The ramp is like 100-200 m, right? This is not Mirador De Ézaro we are talking about. I wouldn't even call it a hill.

The classics riders should be better than a climber on such a road.

 

[AQETUYIOI]

View: https://youtu.be/Gs0bxDEDkf8?t=2255

 

[Koronin]

I believe he'll be there, but I do think guys like Sagan and Gilbert are faster on this type of climb. The length of a race like this shouldn't hurt Gilbert (whom is my favorite). I'd love to see him win it again, and there is a possibility he can win it again, but everything has to go perfectly.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I haven't been too impressed by his explosiveness this season.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I haven't been too impressed by his explosiveness this season.

Last year in the Vuelta, he seemed more explosive and wasnt going all that well in the high mountains (in Tour also). This year is a different story, extremely consistent in the high mountains, but not with the same killer instinct. He will need to find that quickly, but not matter what, Im pretty sure he will be up there. Just cant see him beat Sagan or Mathieu mano a mano on this course, so he will have to be good tactically and a bit lucky to pull this off.

 

[hammerthaim]

Last year in the Vuelta, he seemed more explosive and wasnt going all that well in the high mountains (in Tour also). This year is a different story, extremely consistent in the high mountains, but not with the same killer instinct. He will need to find that quickly, but not matter what, Im pretty sure he will be up there. Just cant see him beat Sagan or Mathieu mano a mano on this course, so he will have to be good tactically and a bit lucky to pull this off.

I think the consistency has come from being a bit lighter. Like he said before the Tour he lost 5 kilos! While I don't think it is that drastic cause he'd likely have died if he had lost 5kg. He might have put on a bit of weight after the Vuelta to help with speed,who knows.