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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%
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    27
I

ice&fire

Jul 1, 2015
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Red Rick said:
Sad he didn't go and do unbound.

I would have loved to see gravel riders who think they're very good get torn to shreds by an actual former world class pro who has a bit of a hobby
Click to expand...

Valverde must be dissappointed to hear that dudes like Vacok, Morton, Ten Dam and Stetina could not do that job at Unbound and he'll have to enter next year to set things straight.
 
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fmk_RoI

fmk_RoI

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Berniece said:
That means it's very plain?
Click to expand...
Not quite plain (Rendell can string words together a lot better than the likes of, say, Cossins or Sidwell or one of them). It's just ... well not very satisfying in terms of what it has to say about Valverde. He had no access to him, and hasn't bothered speaking to others about him, most of the research is in the clippings library. So most of what he has to say about Valverde is race reports - he won here, he lost there, he finished 17th in the points classification somewhere else.

There's two other strands to the book though, one directly related to Valverde, the other not quite. The first is Puerto, which again is mostly a clippings job, stuff I'd expect Valverde fans to know about already even those who came to him late. The second is about corporate corruption in Spain, particularly in the first couple of decades after Franco, and how cycling prospered from that (he details fraud and other corporate scandals in various sponsors, from Banesto through to Telefónica).

The biggest problem is the conclusions Rendell reaches. Valverde should have spoken out about climate change and the role of petrochemical or other 'planet destroying' sponsors. And, apart from the Fuentes stuff, Valverde rode cleans, and the Fuentes stuff didn't even work on him anyway. If there's a Clinic thread about him ask me about this there and I'll expand - it's not so much the claims but rather the leap of logic needed to believe them.

It's an occasionally engaging read, but not very satisfying. Empty calories when really it should be more meaty. Valverde deserves better, whatever you think of him.
 
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Berniece

Berniece

Sep 12, 2022
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fmk_RoI said:
Not quite plain (Rendell can string words together a lot better than the likes of, say, Cossins or Sidwell or one of them). It's just ... well not very satisfying in terms of what it has to say about Valverde. He had no access to him, and hasn't bothered speaking to others about him, most of the research is in the clippings library. So most of what he has to say about Valverde is race reports - he won here, he lost there, he finished 17th in the points classification somewhere else.

There's two other strands to the book though, one directly related to Valverde, the other not quite. The first is Puerto, which again is mostly a clippings job, stuff I'd expect Valverde fans to know about already even those who came to him late. The second is about corporate corruption in Spain, particularly in the first couple of decades after Franco, and how cycling prospered from that (he details fraud and other corporate scandals in various sponsors, from Banesto through to Telefónica).

The biggest problem is the conclusions Rendell reaches. Valverde should have spoken out about climate change and the role of petrochemical or other 'planet destroying' sponsors. And, apart from the Fuentes stuff, Valverde rode cleans, and the Fuentes stuff didn't even work on him anyway. If there's a Clinic thread about him ask me about this there and I'll expand - it's not so much the claims but rather the leap of logic needed to believe them.

It's an occasionally engaging read, but not very satisfying. Empty calories when really it should be more meaty. Valverde deserves better, whatever you think of him.
Click to expand...
The fact that he didn’t have access to him says enough. I’ll wait for a proper Valverde biography
 
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Unchained

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ice&fire said:
Valverde must be dissappointed to hear that dudes like Vacok, Morton, Ten Dam and Stetina could not do that job at Unbound and he'll have to enter next year to set things straight.
Click to expand...
I agree with everything you wrote but would add that a quality racer did win Unbound..
and if you followed Valverde's win..was as if he outclassed and just raced like a professional. I watched a bunch of English language stuff on YouTube and what struck me right away was that many gravel riders are completely confused.. many in Unbound were riding 200 miles and started with what looked like a combo camping backpack filled w water,gels,a rotisserie chicken and spare set of wheels.. and there is a significant sub group that is in constant chatter about drafting, getting a wheel, keeping it..as if they think that gravel is a slightly dirty road race, while others look like they are going on a cycling survival reality show.
Valverde knew that there would be suffering and he rode out at 100mph and then settled in knowing that very few could go deeper and close huge gaps alone or w tiny groups.. For the best gravel tactics are really a hybrid of ITT and mountain bike racing.. In the US I will pay into a GoFundMe page to bring Wout, Valverde and Pitcock to Kansas so all can see what it's supposed to look like..
* read 2 reviews of the book and says that it's got zero input from Valverde on a book about Valverde..huh?
 
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Wyndbrook

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Unchained said:
I agree with everything you wrote but would add that a quality racer did win Unbound..
and if you followed Valverde's win..was as if he outclassed and just raced like a professional. I watched a bunch of English language stuff on YouTube and what struck me right away was that many gravel riders are completely confused.. many in Unbound were riding 200 miles and started with what looked like a combo camping backpack filled w water,gels,a rotisserie chicken and spare set of wheels.. and there is a significant sub group that is in constant chatter about drafting, getting a wheel, keeping it..as if they think that gravel is a slightly dirty road race, while others look like they are going on a cycling survival reality show.
Valverde knew that there would be suffering and he rode out at 100mph and then settled in knowing that very few could go deeper and close huge gaps alone or w tiny groups.. For the best gravel tactics are really a hybrid of ITT and mountain bike racing.. In the US I will pay into a GoFundMe page to bring Wout, Valverde and Pitcock to Kansas so all can see what it's supposed to look like..
* read 2 reviews of the book and says that it's got zero input from Valverde on a book about Valverde..huh?
Click to expand...
Probably not going to invest my money, but likely will turn up as a birthday or Christmas present.
I'm not sure if a authorised with input book will be much different, Can't see him talking freely and openly, seems like a private person person.
 
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fmk_RoI

fmk_RoI

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Wyndbrook said:
I'm not sure if a authorised with input book will be much different, Can't see him talking freely and openly, seems like a private person person.
Click to expand...
TBF on the input issue, it's not like Rendell had any input from Pantani for The Death of Marco Pantani and most agree that's a damn good book. But this is nothing like that, and is hurt by the lack of access, to Valverde, or anyone else for that matter.
 
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