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

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What will Valverde's impact be the cycling world in 2012

  • Nuclear Holocoust

    Votes: 27 100.0%

  • Total voters
    27
No, but 5 wins out of 12 races isn't a run. 12 consecutive races without being off the podium is off the charts (whether he won 0, 5 or 11 of those is not important for that point) and un-parallelled in modern cycling.

Is there some sort of complex that you have regarding podiums?

Ah, wins are not important.

I do believe that I have never tried to overemphasize podiums in relation to wins like you seem to continue to be doing. Does this answer your question? If it does, maybe you can answer mine.
 
No, I'm not pretending he did everything right, but you, and I for that matter, just don't know if he would get those wins had he did what you think he should.
At that Worlds, for example, Purito himself said that Valverde told him to attack 3-4 km's from the end because he was dead. His main mistake was that he fell asleep on Nibali's wheel, and didn't react to Costa in time. After was late, he couldn't close that gap, and eve if he somehow could, he wouldn't won that sprint.
At Lombardia, we have Gilbert who was forcing at Bergamo Alta and looked pretty strong with a teammate, and not just ordinary one, but Samu Sanchez, another strong rider. So we have Valverde, looking mainly at Gilbert cause he's the fastest beside him, plus with a teammate. Martin goes, Gilbert and Samu does nothing, Valverde looks for a couple of seconds to them, and BAM, the race is lost. He can close it maybe, but there's no way he will win a sprint after that.
Cycling finales are complicated, you must react in split second, and you can't always react right. Sometimes you win, sometimes don't. But Bala had his fair share of wins, he can't complain.

Reads like he could have closed the gap and actually sprinted for the win but probably lost instead of far more certain wins in the sprint for 2nd and 3rd.

Which reads suspiciously like the point that I am making. So I am not sure what exactly is your argument other than making excuses.
 
Ah, wins are not important.

I do believe that I have never tried to overemphasize podiums in relation to wins like you seem to continue to be doing. Does this answer your question? If it does, maybe you can answer mine.

When did I say wins are not important?

Cancellara's 12 consecutive podiums is something amazing and shows a consistency that is mind-boggling. That he won five (seven in total) is what places him as one of the best riders of the century. But podiums also matter.

But you seem to think that podiums are completely irrelevant and you certainly don't seem to have any fondness at all for statistical curiosities which I evidently do. So I don't really think it's worth it to keep this going any longer...
 
When did I say wins are not important?

Cancellara's 12 consecutive podiums is something amazing and shows a consistency that is mind-boggling. That he won five (seven in total) is what places him as one of the best riders of the century. But podiums also matter.

But you seem to think that podiums are completely irrelevant and you certainly don't seem to have any fondness at all for statistical curiosities which I evidently do. So I don't really think it's worth it to keep this going any longer...
Why is it more impressive not to finish a race than to finish it outside the top-3 in this context?
 
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Not even sure where the Valverde vs Cancellara comes from, plus there's like multiple different arguments in here now.

For me

Is Valverde an aggressive or rider who's made the most of his talent? Not in one day races.
Is Valverde a more exciting rider than Cancellara was? Not for me.
Is Valverde a greater rider than Cancellara? Yes.

It wasn't to match them up against each other, I merely pointed out that other riders sometimes get podiums too and then Cancellara's streak came to mind.
 
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Okay, so he has ruled out to ride the Tour, but not yet the Giro:

“I want to enjoy my last season as a pro. I don’t have my season sketched out yet, but a start at the Tour de France is already excluded,” he said.
“I hope to race the Vuelta next year, and we will study the Giro route too. And then there’s the classics and all the races on the Spanish calendar.”
"When I retire I have a contract for two more years in the Movistar team. I will try to help the team as much as I can, especially by coaching young riders, which is something I like a lot."

Lol he's never gonna want leaving after retirement no matter what he has stated in the past :hearteyecat::tearsofjoy:
 
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