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

[Red Rick]

Peaking in spring is a bad idea for all legit Olympic/Worlds contenders imo.

But Valverde got his win, perhaps hes less invested in the worlds now and the main peaks would be spring amd Olympics

 

[Blanco]

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.

I think not, at least Flanders. I believe doing Flanders this year messed up his spring campaign, he gained some body mass for it and paid the price in his most favorable races. Already at Catalunya it was evident that something is wrong when the road went uphill, then at Amstel, Fleche...
I think we will see him in his usual spring campaign, and then either Giro or the Tour.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Dont hope for Flanders either for the reasons above. I think top-10 is his ceiling. Strade, always, but also, why isnt the racing the *** Paris-Nice soon? Guess he dislikes the weather maybe.

Its hard to say what will be the most optimal schedule next season, but I think it will be a normal spring, Tour as prep (hunting stages), Olympics, Vuelta and Worlds.

 

[Nirvana]

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.

In the last two seasons he was forced to go to the Tour (by Unzue in 2018 and by the injury in 2019).

If they keep the classic route instead of the terrible race ruining MTF that Vegni wanted to put in the past years against the history of the race he should give a try to Tirreno, the muritos are perfect for him even if this year looked a bit too open racing for his style.

 

[Koronin]

I think we saw his one and only attempt at Flanders this season. It really messed up his entire Spring, so I highly doubt we'll ever see him race it again. I also think he got what he wanted out of it. He proved he could do well in the cobbled races with his top 10 and Flanders and he'll go back to his preferred spring schedule. I'm also starting to wonder if 2016 was his one and only attempt at the Giro as well. Not because he hasn't wanted to go back, but because things keep preventing him from going back for one reason or another. For him the Giro would be the better option, but I have this nagging feeling Unzue is going to want him at the Tour to act as mentor/coach/road captain/experience/help keep some of the leadership pressure off the Mas and/or Soler, etc. Plus likely races the full 3 weeks and for GC because he won't allow himself anything else.
So my guess is his typical race schedule and swap San Sebastian for the Olympics.

 

[Red Rick]

Least this time the Tour route is good for Valverde.

If I were Unzue I wouldnt even go for tje Tour with Mas I think

 

[Nirvana]

Least this time the Tour route is good for Valverde.

If I were Unzue I wouldnt even go for tje Tour with Mas I think

Yeah the route is good for him but it's an year that he's saying that Olympic gold is his last big target, would be crazy to take himself out of contention for a lesser GC placement at the Tour. If Unzue wants him in France two weeks and then a flight to Japan.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Maybe he should give up with the GT's next year if he want to go for the Olympics. He tends to scupper the plans of anyone going for the win in GT's and Mas and/or Soler would be better going for sole leadership in the Tour. Valverde ain't gonna be around forever so what would the younger ones do when he ain't there for help/experience/mentor/captain. If he goes for stage wins in the Tour, it will not turn out like that. He will make sure he is still up there as far as possible on GC so the rest of the team will end up having to work for him. Next year he should have a program that lets the new/younger riders go for it on their own and let him go for the Olympics and if needs be a last top ten in the Vuelta.

 

[Koronin]

Maybe he should give up with the GT's next year if he want to go for the Olympics. He tends to scupper the plans of anyone going for the win in GT's and Mas and/or Soler would be better going for sole leadership in the Tour. Valverde ain't gonna be around forever so what would the younger ones do when he ain't there for help/experience/mentor/captain. If he goes for stage wins in the Tour, it will not turn out like that. He will make sure he is still up there as far as possible on GC so the rest of the team will end up having to work for him. Next year he should have a program that lets the new/younger riders go for it on their own and let him go for the Olympics and if needs be a last top ten in the Vuelta.

He'll race his beloved Vuelta next year and in 2021 simply because he can't miss it. I just think next year would be better for him to race only 1 Grand Tour, but not sure he's willing to actually do that.

 

[Blanco]

With the Giro and Tour routes released, I think best option would be Soler for the Giro, Mas for the Tour + Valverde (for 2 weeks), and then Valverde for the Vuelta with whoever feels fresh of the other two.

So for Valverde the best schedule would be his usual spring campaigne, Tour for 2 weeks, Olympics, Vuelta, Worlds.

 

[Velolover2]

Riding the real Ronde is too much of a task if he wants to peak for the Ardennes. If he really wants to do one of the Northern classics, it should be a less demanding race like the Omloop or Dwars for the fun of it.

 

[Valv.Piti]

With the Giro and Tour routes released, I think best option would be Soler for the Giro, Mas for the Tour + Valverde (for 2 weeks), and then Valverde for the Vuelta with whoever feels fresh of the other two.

So for Valverde the best schedule would be his usual spring campaigne, Tour for 2 weeks, Olympics, Vuelta, Worlds.

Agree. They would probably send Soler to the TdF and Mas to the Vuelta as well.

 

[Red Rick]

What's Soler gonna do?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Ride the Giro and potentially ride in support for Mas in the Tour imo

 

[Red Rick]

I haven't followed Soler but I still think he's only domestique/stage hunter material.

 

[tobydawq]

I haven't followed Soler but I still think he's only domestique/stage hunter material.

I think he finally proved that assumption wrong in the Vuelta.

 

[Red Rick]

I think he finally proved that assumption wrong in the Vuelta.

He got 9th at 22 minutes. Unless a bottom end top 10 place is the goal, I don't believe in Soler.

 

[Velolover2]

I think Movistar will be a stage hunting team in the Giro. They don't have the depth for two strong GT teams anymore.

Soler will properly get his chances in the week long races. But without Amador, they need a strong "rouleur-climber" as a engine in the Tour's high mountains. I know there is Cataldo who could target stages in the Giro and work as a dom in the Tour.

Tour team could be something like: Mas, Valverde, Soler, Verona, Cataldo, Olivera, Rojas, Erviti. That is a strong and experienced team.

 

[tobydawq]

He got 9th at 22 minutes. Unless a bottom end top 10 place is the goal, I don't believe in Soler.

He lost 10 minutes on the second stage for some reason, and then he wasn't allowed to go for his own chance which was perfectly fair. But I think he was only clearly worse than Pogacar, Valverde and Roglic in the mountains and on the TT, Roglic was the only GC rider that was better than him.

I didn't believe in him becoming a significant GC rider for one second before this Vuelta but I have to admit that he made me change my view of him there.

On the other hand, he is almost 26 and it's not clear how much room for improvement he has.

 

[Koronin]

The only issue I see with sending Valverde to the Tour is good luck getting him to leave on the 2nd rest day.

However, I agree have him go back to his typical spring schedule and give him his normal break after the Ardennes. At that point give him the option of which June race he wants and the option of Polond or the Tour before the Olympics. Then Olympics, Vuelta, Worlds, Italian fall classics.

I do think this year was the one and only time we see him race Flanders. The top 10 he got is likely the best he can do at this point in that race esp with how much it cost him in for the rest of his spring. Get him back to that normal spring schedule that he's comfortable with.

For Soler, I maybe send him to the Tour with Mas as co leaders and then send both of them to la Vuelta to help Valverde and be plan B just in case age does start catching up to Valverde there. Also not entirely sure we'll see Valverde lose the weight he lost this year for the Grand Tours next year. It's also possible that this year was Valverde's one last attempt for that record podium of his beloved Vuelta. Yes he'll still race it and still go after stages and likely GC, but not sure he'll do it with the weight loss from this year.

 

[Nirvana]

Also this year looks very likely that Unzue has decided for him regarding the Tour...

"Alejandro doesn't have another race prior to the Olympics that won't be the Tour," Unzué said at the MARCA Sport Weekend, according to Spanish website Zikloland.

The longstanding Movistar manager recognised that "probably this isn't the ideal preparation, because those who finish the Tour will do so late on a Sunday evening, which is already" - because of the time difference - "the following day in Tokyo."

"So they won't arrive in Japan until Tuesday at the earliest, and they won't have time to adapt to the time difference or climate there," Unzue said. "But I don't think that will be a problem for Alejandro."

"If he finishes the Tour, as I hope he will, we'll try to ensure he reaches there [the Games] in the best condition possible," Unzue commented. "If he did another race as build-up he might be fresher, but he'd be lacking the form he gets from racing a Grand Tour."

These declarations are Unzue/Movistar weirdness at maximum level, he basically admits that going from Paris to Tokyo five days before ORR is a problem for riders but for him it isn't for Valverde (only God knows why...) and so he wants him to finish the Tour.

 

[Koronin]

Also this year looks very likely that Unzue has decided for him regarding the Tour...



These declarations are Unzue/Movistar weirdness at maximum level, he basically admits that going from Paris to Tokyo five days before ORR is a problem for riders but for him it isn't for Valverde (only God knows why...) and so he wants him to finish the Tour.

Valverde's recovery abilities, are why the racing one week after the Tour isn't an issue. The only issue is going to be time difference. Why time difference isn't going to be much of an issue for Valverde while it appears to be for many others, who knows. However, remember back to 2016 when the team did give Valverde options of what he wanted to do for prep for the Olympics and he picked the Tour over going to Poland saying it was better to race it. He also raced San Sebastian before going to Brazil in 2016 unlike the others.

Unzue wouldn't have said this if he hadn't have talked to Valverde about it first.

 

[Koronin]

Of course cyclingnews in their wonderful copy/translate of an article in MARCA at the end they said that Valverde is thought to be contemplating retiring after the Olympics. LMAO. Apparently they have missed his comments for the past entire seasons which include him stating he is not retiring after the Olympics. They also missed where Unzue stated Valverde's 2nd of the of season schedule is Tour, Olympics, Vuelta, Worlds. Then they missed the fact that Valverde signed a contract that is for 2 years for racing and 3 additional years after that. After signing it he flat out stated he wanted to race 2 more years.

 

[Nirvana]

Valverde's recovery abilities, are why the racing one week after the Tour isn't an issue. The only issue is going to be time difference. Why time difference isn't going to be much of an issue for Valverde while it appears to be for many others, who knows. However, remember back to 2016 when the team did give Valverde options of what he wanted to do for prep for the Olympics and he picked the Tour over going to Poland saying it was better to race it. He also raced San Sebastian before going to Brazil in 2016 unlike the others.

Unzue wouldn't have said this if he hadn't have talked to Valverde about it first.

But in 2016 riding all the Tour was a good preparation because they had an extra week and also fly to Brasil with a positive time difference is a lot different compared to fly to Japan with a negative time difference, if you take a flight on Monday morning you'll be in Tokyo when it's already the following morning there (and should be a direct flight otherwise could be even 15/18 hours of travel only) and that shorten also the recovery time, in addition to the jet lag and the weather, so I don't think the fact that Valverde is one of the few that is always good in San Sebastián after the Tour can be used as reference. Maybe he won't be a dead man walking like the ones that in normal years aren't even able to perform in San Sebastián coming out of the Tour but he'll be hampered compared to the ones that will leave the Tour early or will come from a different approach that enable them to fly to Japan earlier.

 

[Koronin]

But in 2016 riding all the Tour was a good preparation because they had an extra week and also fly to Brasil with a positive time difference is a lot different compared to fly to Japan with a negative time difference, if you take a flight on Monday morning you'll be in Tokyo when it's already the following morning there (and should be a direct flight otherwise could be even 15/18 hours of travel only) and that shorten also the recovery time, in addition to the jet lag and the weather, so I don't think the fact that Valverde is one of the few that is always good in San Sebastián after the Tour can be used as reference. Maybe he won't be a dead man walking like the ones that in normal years aren't even able to perform in San Sebastián coming out of the Tour but he'll be hampered compared to the ones that will leave the Tour early or will come from a different approach that enable them to fly to Japan earlier.

I'm not entirely sure it's the smartest of ideas, however, if he's the one that wants to do it, they aren't going to say no to him. In 2016 he also raced San Sebastian before going to the Olympics. If I'm reading correctly what is being said, is that he wants hard racing right before the Olympics which if he doesn't race the Tour he's not getting or doesn't think he's getting. IMO, racing 2 weeks to maybe into the 3rd week of the Tour is likely the best prep for the Olympics. However, I'm not sure you're going to find many who would be allowed to do that.