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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
Yeah, decent result but not a good ride. I expected more after 2nd at Fleche. He basically didn't do nothing all day, he just rolled in as 7th.
The race simply doesn't suit him due to the 10km flat run in. He's never beating Van Aert or Evenepoel in a sprint and they're not dropping on the climbs in order for there to be a select group of weaker sprinters he can beat.
 
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The race simply doesn't suit him due to the 10km flat run in. He's never beating Van Aert or Evenepoel in a sprint and they're not dropping on the climbs in order for there to be a select group of weaker sprinters he can beat.
Not beating Evenepoel in a sprint?! I think he could beat him with one leg.
Van Aert was dropped on RaF, even though the climb was not ridden super hard. It's true that the previous profile suits him more, but with good legs he can make a selection here too with only a handful of riders, and old Valverde could finish it.
 
I would guess Valverde‘s average performance (all disciplines, climbing, sprint and so on) has decreased ca. 2% compared to his peak, and might be similar to when he started his career.
98% in 2002, 100% in 2005-2015, 98% in 2022.

I dream of him doing the same as Rebellin did: I hope Alejandro goes on riding as an UCI rider for the next 25 years: WT until age 45, PCT until 60, CT until 67. That would be perfect, and he could return to the amateur category aged 67.

Maybe he would even win 1.1 races aged 60… :)
 

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