Valv.Piti said:
All this talk about Valverde declining, stepping a bit down etc. Yes, he will possibly focus more on one week races and Ardennes, but I want to see that happening first. What I also want to see happening before I conclude anything is the fact that he actually has gotten worse. And if he is worse than he was this year, so is the rest of the pelotón bar maybe one or two riders in the world. Yes, Valverde was the best rider in 2017 before he got injured and is a phenomenal athlete. This guy will be back.
Quintana, Valverde, Landa and Soler full genius come Tour de France 2018.
The field in the Ardennes classics was lackluster, impossible to claim Valverde was the best rider based on those pitiful races. The only guy in that peloton that could've beaten Valverde was positioned like crap for some reason and he still finished third.
As for those one-week races, he only beat Contador, who is clearly past his best (as we saw in the Tour this year). Couldn't challenge for victory at the Dauphiné.
Sagan hasn't had much luck this season,
but it's obvious he was the strongest so far, even if the results don't show it.
- Crash in the Ronde van Vlaanderen
- Multiple flat tires in Paris-Roubaix
- Disqualified unjustly in the Tour de France
- Flat tire at the must crucial moment of the race in the Binckbank Tour.
Nobody waits for Sagan when he has bad luck. Climbers on the other hand eat ice cream together at the top of a mountain and cross the finish-line hand in hand singing children songs. They don't even know what the words "attack" or "win" mean.