2013, 2015 and 2018 are the years when Valverde had the legs to win Amstel...
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Maybe 2017 too. His form was insane that spring but he was caught napping when the winning group got away.
Yep, but as far as I remember, he could not bridge at Keutenberg but Kwiat did. Seems to me that he wasn't sharp enough after Itzulia, and that Amstel fine tuned his form for Fleche and Liege. Something that I hope will happened this year also..
Still think that was his best year form wise and if not for that stupid crash he woulv've won TdF. He basically won every race he wanted bar Amstel that year.
Valverde should have won when the finish was atop Cauberg. Probably 2008 was his best oportunity.
Haven't seen such a long and strong sprint from him in a long while. 5th on such a course is a very good sign for Flèche and Liège.
His positioning on Cauberg was pretty bad, though.
His positioning on Cauberg was pretty bad, though.
5th. Not bad for a guy who didn't have a chance.
In more important news, Koronin will be delighted that Valverde is riding the Ruta Del Sol next month.
Much better finish than I expected. Also he's still good at being in bad position. Hopefully he fixes that for the rest of the week.
Shockingly impressive sprint where he tried to play Van der Poel, opening 300 metres out and almost finishing fourth anyway. Where has this guy been the past year and a half?
Such a pity that he didn't just go with the winning move, he was right there for it.
Such a pity that he didn't just go with the winning move, he was right there for it.
He isn't a guy with best roleur skills, plus he was a little cooked because of that bridging after Cauberg (which was impressive by the way..). I guess he needed little time to recover, but those guys wait for no one.
And indeed impressive sprint. To me he's in it for the win at Ardennes double.
Looks like a pretty hectic two weeks if so.
If he does the Mallorca races followed by Ruta Del Sol and then Murcia (home race) the next day after Ruta Del Sol ends.
And imagine the shock of Koronin if Valverde cancels one of these races...
And imagine the shock of Koronin if Valverde cancels one of these races...
Wait... he promised all the small Spanish races he'd ride?
I don't know who promised what, but apparently Koronin thinks he'll do it all. I personally think he will skip at least one of those, either Mallorca (more probably) or Ruta del Sol.
His team was awful at Amstel, except Verona. Especially Garcia Cortina was disappointing, Serrano too... They were nowhere, in the last 50-60 km Bala was left with Verona only to cover all moves, and there were plenty of it. That's why he was so badly positioned last time they went over Cauberg, Verona was dead and he had no one to guide him. Alaphilippe for example had 3 or 4 men, Ineos had even more.
For Fleche and Liege he needs stronger team, he needs Mas and Oliveira beside Verona.
Edit: I saw that they announced the team, no Oliveira but Jorgenson is there. He needs someone to control things on penultimate climb, and someone to land him in a good position at the foot of the Mur, I think Mas and Verona could do the job.
For Fleche and Liege he needs stronger team, he needs Mas and Oliveira beside Verona.
Edit: I saw that they announced the team, no Oliveira but Jorgenson is there. He needs someone to control things on penultimate climb, and someone to land him in a good position at the foot of the Mur, I think Mas and Verona could do the job.
I think the combination of Jorgenson, Mas and Verona will be there for him. Verona has some good form, Mas' is better than it has been and hopefully Jorgenson is back to where he was at Paris-Nice. Jorgenson has said he really was hoping to race the Ardennes with Valverde because he wants to learn so and understand what needs to do to be good in those races. Hopefully he has some good form.
He really was one of the strongest on sunday, he was right there in the wheel when Pidcock attacked, but decided not to cover. I'm sure he had the legs for it, especially looking at his impressive sprint.
At the start of the climb was one of the last of a 30 men group... I dont know what could have been if he had been at the wheel of Alaphilipe or Roglic.
Very shrewd move to hop onto the curb in order to obtain better positioning.
Its not a matter of seconds, its a matter of energy you spend. At 1km to go he was the last of the group, he had to spend a lot of energy to come to the front. Energy that he didnt have to respond Alaphilipes attack.
And then, once you dont have the chance to win you dont push the same. He just looked to get the third spot of the podium.
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