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

[Valv.Piti]

Easy pickings tomorrow. Isnt Michael Woods a worse Purito Rodriguez on a TT bike? Lmao, even if Valverde on his older days is shitty in this discipline, it possible cannot be worse than Woods. Unless im underestimating him....

I feel a good season coming!!

 

[tobydawq]

Easy pickings tomorrow. Isnt Michael Woods a worse Purito Rodriguez on a TT bike? Lmao, even if Valverde on his older days is shitty in this discipline, it possible cannot be worse than Woods. Unless im underestimating him....

I feel a good season coming!!

I wouldn't be certain. Yes, Woods is bad but so has Valverde been for a couple of years.

 

[Netserk]

Valverde took 23'' on Woods in the Itzulia ITT last year over 13.9 km. While I could see it closer today between them, I think the overall is pretty much in the bag.

 

[Blanco]

...And win no.133.
Also his 25th GC win,
4th all-time behind Merckx, Hinault and Indurain.

Now to Strade Bianche, with this form he could be a contender there.

 

[Koronin]

...And win no.133.
Also his 25th GC win,
4th all-time behind Merckx, Hinault and Indurain.

Now to Strade Bianche, with this form he could be a contender there.

I saw a comment that says Indurain has 26 GC wins, so it's not out of the real of possibilities for him to end up 3rd on that list.

Nice overall win to go with the stage win.

 

[CyclistAbi]

For a moment i thought i have seen Valverde finishing on a podium today.

 

[Salvarani]

Insane how consistent he is. Still!

 

[AlfaLum]

Great result again, but still annoys me every time I see him race. Or well, see how he refuses to race.

Some will call it smart riding I guess, but in my opinion a great champion should cooperate a bit more rather than killing the chance of every chasing group he has ever been in.

 

[Lequack]

I just never want him to stop racing! This man gets better as he ages, just amazing. What's even more amazing is the amount of motivation and hard work needed to stay at this lever for so long.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1500151844252884994

View: https://twitter.com/Movistar_Team/status/1500151844252884994?s=20&t=UMMb7Bj8gVbBRQduOA1xOw

 

[Ilmaestro99]

You can't convince me he isn't riding covertly for UAE

 

[Salvarani]

Great result again, but still annoys me every time I see him race. Or well, see how he refuses to race.

Some will call it smart riding I guess, but in my opinion a great champion should cooperate a bit more rather than killing the chance of every chasing group he has ever been in.

I think each rider has to ride to the best of their abilities. I dont think he would be as successful as he has been for so long if he had ridden any other way. Maybe that is also why he has been able to ride for so long.

 

[AlfaLum]

I think each rider has to ride to the best of their abilities. I dont think he would be as successful as he has been for so long if he had ridden any other way. Maybe that is also why he has been able to ride for so long.

Yeah that’s all good and perhaps fair. But I still don’t like it. Always taking the least turns of the entire group, even with uproven youngsters like Narvaez and Simmons in the group.

 

[Salvarani]

Yeah that’s all good and perhaps fair. But I still don’t like it. Always taking the least turns of the entire group, even with uproven youngsters like Narvaez and Simmons in the group.

It is fair to not like his style of racing, but he has always ridden this way and gotten the most out of it. A big achievement in itself. I think you cant expect him to ride any differently now, in his last (?) season. He is Valverde.

 

[Koronin]

Yeah that’s all good and perhaps fair. But I still don’t like it. Always taking the least turns of the entire group, even with uproven youngsters like Narvaez and Simmons in the group.

As Salvarani said he's always ridden like this. You can't expect someone in his 40's to change how he's raced since he was basically 9 years old. You also can't expect him to change how he trains either, which from all accounts is also different from most everyone else. This is how he races and he is in the top 3 of active riders for most victories. It's worked extremely well for him. The 2016 Giro he was part of the lead group with two other of the top GC riders. I remember one of them asked something about him taking a few less turns. The response was, we know how he races and exactly what he's going to do in these situations. It's either accept it or allow people behind to catch us which isn't an options. (paraphrasing that answer).

Great to see him on the podium at Strade and it's his best ever finish in the race.

 

[Eeslliw]

You also can't expect him to change how he trains either

How does he train?

 

[tobydawq]

He must have something on the powers that be. To be getting away with it for so long is funny as he'll. Lmao.

Come on, you know you can't post stuff like that here.

 

[Koronin]

How does he train?

Typically between 2 and 4 hours a day with his friends and brother. Granted we're talking about guys who raced at adult amateur level in the Cat 1 and 2 categories and most are now racing in the masters division.

 

[tobydawq]

Tonight, we will have a 41-year-old at the top of the 2022 CQ ranking so far for the season.

It is just unbelievable.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Come on, you know you can't post stuff like that here.

Correct, sorry, now deleted. But it is a little frustrating and funny.

 

[Ranagazoo]

Great result again, but still annoys me every time I see him race. Or well, see how he refuses to race.

Some will call it smart riding I guess, but in my opinion a great champion should cooperate a bit more rather than killing the chance of every chasing group he has ever been in.

Agreed, I respect him and appreciate he's had an insanely successful career, but would it kill the guy to take a pull?

 

[Breezy1985]

Agreed, I respect him and appreciate he's had an insanely successful career, but would it kill the guy to take a pull?

We should change the thread to "he's coming home on the back of someone else's wheel"

 

[Netserk]

He’s a tumour to the peloton. The best we can hope for is minimal lasting damage after he’ll finally be removed.

 

[tobydawq]

Agreed, I respect him and appreciate he's had an insanely successful career, but would it kill the guy to take a pull?

He did take pulls. But he also abstained from doing it a few times. I was about to want to kill him when he let Wellens go, but I think it was just before one of the toughest graveled climbs (Le Tolfe?) so I assume he didn't want to burn a match just before that.

Also, I think he was genuinely surprised to be that strong compared to his rivals given his age and the fact that he had spent a large portion of the pre-final chasing after the big crash.

 

[Salvarani]

People calling Valverde a wheelsucker and then there are people calling Pog attacking and soloing boring.

 

[Blanco]

Agreed, I respect him and appreciate he's had an insanely successful career, but would it kill the guy to take a pull?

He took plenty of pulls, but obviously not enough...