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

[Angliru]

I'm not on Twitter at all. What did he write?

 

[tobydawq]

Thanks for the good work by the team in the GP Beghelli.
Nice final part of the season in Italy until going for Lombardia next Saturday, rocket emoji.

 

[Rollthedice]

No Lombardia https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/alejandro-valverde-miss-il-lombardia-2019-439852

Must be some sort of a joke. He starts tomorrow in TVV.

 

[Blanco]

He also said this on the team site:

REACTION / Alejandro Valverde:
“I feel like I’m ready for Lombardia. At the Worlds I would of course have liked to be up there contesting the medals, but with the weather conditions we faced, it was just impossible for me to keep up. I’m still doing alright, I think, and took the start in this early October classics in Italy to not lose the racing pace before next Saturday. I’m willing to go for Lombardia. I tried to follow the main moves this weekend, and at that final climb I tried an attack just before the top, went away with those 6-7 riders and ended up beaten only by a sprinter like Colbrelli, so I’m satisfied.”

 

[barmaher]

He was good in Torino and I suspect he is capable of winning Lombardia if things fall right. But he is possibly a level or two below Peak Bala.

 

[joe_papp]

So are you guys confident for tomorrow? I'm trying to decide how much - if any - of the race to watch live...or just go do something else (probably go birding) and catch the highlights. I really want Valverde to win, but ...

 

[Blanco]

So are you guys confident for tomorrow? I'm trying to decide how much - if any - of the race to watch live...or just go do something else (probably go birding) and catch the highlights. I really want Valverde to win, but ...

Watch from Sormano, you want regret it

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah Il Lombardia is really easy to pinpoint in which part of the race you want to watch. You're wanna catch the Muro di Sormano, if nothing happens there you can go do something else for the next 30 minutes, then watch the finale with Civiglio and San Fermo

 

[Velolover2]

Best I've seen him in Lombardia but not enough to win.

 

[tobydawq]

Jesus Christ, what an annoying race. Why make that attack if you don't want to follow through?

 

[ice&fire]

Perhaps he expected the others to just let him go as if he was an underdog

 

[SafeBet]

Random stat of the day: Valverde has been in the top20 of every Monument he's finished since the 2006 Liegi Bastogne Liegi.

 

[Blanco]

What a pity, he had the legs for the win today. Should've gone all-out on Civiglio.

 

[joe_papp]

Sigh.

...Oh well. What a great rider. Privileged to have watched his performances for all these years. I wish he had won today tho.

 

[Blanco]

Jesus Christ, what an annoying race. Why make that attack if you don't want to follow through?

Roglic closed it, he probably wanted to thin the group and drag along 2-3 guys, which will reduced the chance to happen something like this Mollema attack.

 

[Red Rick]

They went too hard in the first half of the Civiglio or so. Mollema was a good 5s behind Roglic/Valverde at some point after like 1.5km or so, and Mollema broke the Civiglio record.

 

[Koronin]

Shame he wasn't able to win. What I've seen in his races in Italy is that it appear some of that hunger he lost while wearing the rainbow jersey is coming back. He posted this picture of Lombardia.

 

[Blanco]

So, Valverde will finish in the top 10 of the UCI ranking once more. That's his 14th top 10 finish in various UCI rankings (UCI rankings, World Tour, Pro Tour). Only in 2002, his first pro season, and in 2005 mainly due to injury at the Tour, he finished outside.
That's some amazing consistency and longevity. In terms of longevity I would put him in the company of Bartali, Coppi, Poulidor and Zoetemelk, but in terms of consistency I would dare to say that he's standing at the top step in the whole history of cycling.

 

[Nirvana]

Coppi declined sharply after 1955 and also Zoetmelk in GTs wasn't competitive anymore at high levels after 1982 and his big results became fewer also in other races. Bartali and Poulidor were on another level beyond 36/37, Bartali had to have that terrible car accident, where he risked to loose a leg, in the fall of 1953 to see a big dip in his performances and Poulidor was still able to finish on the podium of the Tour in 1976 after turning 40 and he had only an off year in 1975.

 

[Red Rick]

But can he reach an all time high at 41 like the legend of Chris Horner?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Maybe he'll win the Vuelta at age 42

 

[Blanco]

I would be content with an Olympic Gold at 40

 

[ice&fire]

I would be content with an Olympic Gold at 40

He's the strongest candidate for silver

 

[Blanco]

So what will Mr. consistency do next year? Ideal scenario would be Ardennes, Tour for the 2/2,5 weeks, Olympics, Vuelta, Worlds and fall classics, but I'm afraid he won't quit the Tour until the end, so a safer scenario would be Giro, Olympics, Vuelta, Worlds.

 

[tobydawq]

I believe in scenario 2. But he has done the Tour every time he had the opportunity in his entire career.

I hope he will do Strade and Flanders.