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

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Some really nice words from Tao Geoghegan Hart:
"Chapeau to him, he’s pure class in the bunch. To be honest, I think you’d be very hard pressed to find a rider who doesn’t see that class in how he moves around the bunch, how he treats others, how he respects people in the race".
And also Michael Rasmussen posted on twitter that Valverde is by far the best rider of this millennium.

Koronin will stop at nothing to hack into twitter accounts in order to make her case.

 

[Amazinmets87]

If he takes yellow, how on earth is he going to keep it until stage 8 when he will lose minutes in the TT on stage 5?

To which GC rider?

 

[Bonimenier]

To which GC rider?

I think you can figure that out yourself. It doesn't even have to be a GC rider though.

 

[yaco]

Valverde won outside of Spain. What a surprise !

 

[Velolover2]

Should go on stage hunting in the Tour. And it has to be mountain stages.

I don't think he can win uphill or reduced bunch sprints with Roglic, Ala, WVA and VDP in the race.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Should go on stage hunting in the Tour. And it has to be mountain stages.

I don't think he can win uphill or reduced bunch sprints with Roglic, Ala, WVA and VDP in the race.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that Alaphilippe and VDP pulled out of the Olympics RR specifically because they know they can't beat Valverde in a reduced bunch sprint. VDP even felt he had no choice but to compete in a completely different discipline.

 

[Koronin]

Koronin will stop at nothing to hack into twitter accounts in order to make her case.

LMAO.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Valverde won outside of Spain. What a surprise !

In France no less. Would be even better if it was in Italy.

 

[Blanco]

Valverde won outside of Spain. What a surprise !

Yeah, 34th time in his career, what a rare occasion

 

[Breh]

Yeah, 34th time in his career, what a rare occasion

Only small races

 

[Valv.Piti]

Classic yaco comment

But yeah, Rasmussen is indeed a big Valverde-fanboy, and so is a lot of riders in the peloton despite his past. Thats a reason why I like Rasmussen even more!

 

[yaco]

Classic yaco comment

But yeah, Rasmussen is indeed a big Valverde-fanboy, and so is a lot of riders in the peloton despite his past. Thats a reason why I like Rasmussen even more!

My post was in reference to Koronin's posting earlier this year that Valverde would only ride a Spanish calendar - I wouldn't expect you to understand the subtleties of my post.

 

[Valv.Piti]

My post was in reference to Koronin's posting earlier this year that Valverde would only ride a Spanish calendar - I wouldn't expect you to understand the subtleties of my post.

Hard to follow intellectual masterminds like you, my bad.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

So Valverde isn't riding the Nationals. Amazing how quickly his calendar went from Nothing But Spain to No Spain at All. At this rate, will he even ride the Vuelta?

 

[lenric]

well even if he doesn't, excluding injuries and doping suspensions... I'm so young I can't remember when he hasn't ridden the Vuelta. Perhaps 15 years ago?

 

[Koronin]

well even if he doesn't, excluding injuries and doping suspensions... I'm so young I can't remember when he hasn't ridden the Vuelta. Perhaps 15 years ago?

He's raced la Vuelta every year he's been a pro that he's been able to race to race it. The only Vuelta's he's missed since 2002 are for injury or his suspension.

 

[Blanco]

He's raced la Vuelta every year he's been a pro that he's been able to race to race it. The only Vuelta's he's missed since 2002 are for injury or his suspension.

He didn't rode it in 2007. He wasn't injured or suspended, and frankly I have no idea why did he skipped it.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Rebellin just did a top 10 in Adriatica Ionica today, so apparently we can expect Valverde to be around for another 8 years

 

[ice&fire]

He didn't rode it in 2007. He wasn't injured or suspended, and frankly I have no idea why did he skipped it.

2007 was the first year he finished the Tour and he must have felt spent.
He also missed the 2005 Vuelta.

 

[Blanco]

2007 was the first year he finished the Tour and he must have felt spent.
He also missed the 2005 Vuelta.

2005 he was injured during the Tour, that's why he missed it.

 

[roundabout]

He could have raced it though, as he did the Puertos de Guadarrama 1 week before the Vuelta and was in good enough form to finish 2nd in the Worlds 1 week after.

Or maybe there were some issues that were discovered pre Vuelta? I don't remember

 

[Fantastico]

2007 was the first year he finished the Tour and he must have felt spent.

He wanted to focus on the World Championships after the Tour: https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/no-vuelta-for-valverde/

Which is kinda funny because he achieved his worst result of all WC he finished. Maybe that's also why he decided that the Vuelta would be his best preparation for the World's anyway in the following years.

 

[Fantastico]

He could have raced it though, as he did the Puertos de Guadarrama 1 week before the Vuelta and was in good enough form to finish 2nd in the Worlds 1 week after.

Or maybe there were some issues that were discovered pre Vuelta? I don't remember

There were some news reports stating that he would skip the Vuelta due to still having problems with his knees.

 

[roundabout]

There were some news reports stating that he would skip the Vuelta due to still having problems with his knees.

What I remember that some were questioning the extent of the injury. It did seem pretty random if not impossible.

Edit: ok, reading the CN archives I guess it was a legit injury and there was no point in risking making it worse

 

[Koronin]

2005 he left the Tour with a knee injury and they didn't know the extent of it. I'm not entirely sure they ever did figure out the extent of it. Basically it was out of caution for the knee.

2007 I thought he was either injured or sick.