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Teams & Riders Team Movistar-thread

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Let's be serious here. Valverde will help to a certain extent as long as he can get another top ten, if that is in doubt then he will leave Mas to drown.

Mas will have 6 riders dedicated to helping him. From Unzue's comments it sounds like Valverde will have free role, or basically do what he wants, but at most will only have one teammate there for him and that likely will be Erviti. The rest of the team will be there for Mas. I also think the amount of help Mas will get from Valverde will depend on how much trust and confidence Valverde has in Mas. This is going with the assumption that Soler goes to the Giro. If they send Soler, Mas and Valverde to the Tour, we're likely in for a hot mess again although with less infighting.
 
Let's be serious here. Valverde will help to a certain extent as long as he can get another top ten, if that is in doubt then he will leave Mas to drown.
No, let's be really serious. Do you really think that a champion of Valverde's caliber must slave for 3 weeks for anybody? Enric Mas is no Alberto Contador, he'll have 6 men at his disposal, and this 7th guy is there to fine tune his shape for his biggest goal of the season. He'll be there to land a hand if necessary, but he won't jeopardize his main goal, and everyone in the team is perfectly fine with it. In fact I can't recall any of his teammates during his long career speak anything but praise for Alejandro Valverde as a teammate.
 
2016 was his 3 GT in a year season. If he'd have managed a top 10 at la Vuelta he would have been one of only 3 riders to ever get top 10's in all 3 GTs in one season. I agree with Blanco that his racing and finishing on the podium was likely a bigger issue with his Olympics than the Tour was. Also he could have just had a bad day at the Olympics. Granted he's an exceptionally consistent rider, but even he is allowed to have a bad day once in awhile. Unfortunately for him, when he does it's more magnified because he is so consistent. The other possibility of his performance at that Olympics was his age just starting to show a little. One other thing to remember is that the Olympics have been his worst one day race with his best finish having been 12th in 2008. Unlike the Worlds, the Olympics haven't exactly been kind to him.

Also one other thing, he did just set the record for most all-time top 10s in Grand Tours this season with his top 10 at the Tour and his podium at la Vuelta. So it's not a pointless top 10 at the Tour. That's a record that we are unlikely to see anyone come close to in our lifetime and he put that number so far out there that it could be a record that people will look at as untouchable.
 
No, let's be really serious. Do you really think that a champion of Valverde's caliber must slave for 3 weeks for anybody? Enric Mas is no Alberto Contador, he'll have 6 men at his disposal, and this 7th guy is there to fine tune his shape for his biggest goal of the season. He'll be there to land a hand if necessary, but he won't jeopardize his main goal, and everyone in the team is perfectly fine with it. In fact I can't recall any of his teammates during his long career speak anything but praise for Alejandro Valverde as a teammate.

And this is why Movistar will just have to accept winning the team classification in GT's until they have a team who are all in for a team leader.
 
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I don't think that Movistar problem was having Valverde riding his own race. That in fact usually takes the pressure off the other riders. It has worked in the past for other teams as well.
I think the problem with Movistar was having an additional leader. Three leaders or riders doing their own race proved to be too much for them. Even at Ineos I think it would have been an issue as well.
 
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from a rider outside their big three. You don't think they expected (as they should have) more out of Landa, Valverde, and Quintana?

First, so what that it was Carapaz and not Landa, Valverde or Quintana that won the Giro. Second, Valverde did finish 2nd at la Vuelta. How much more exactly are you expecting from a 39 year old? He wasn't even supposed to be racing for GC at the Tour and still finished in the top 10 on GC. Then he did go after la Vuelta, where he got a stage win and finished on the podium. He even said after la Vuelta ended that he dared not dream of finishing on the podium in the rainbow jersey.
 
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And this is why Movistar will just have to accept winning the team classification in GT's until they have a team who are all in for a team leader.
Had they been all in for Quintana, I personally don't think it would have made much difference. Quintana hasn't been at his best in the past few years at the Tour, as evidenced by him rarely being in the mix when the aggression starts in the mountains. Where before he was always with the elite climbers, he is now most often in the 2nd or even 3rd tier group. Having the team singularly dedicated to him would not have made much difference. If the rest of the teams felt that he was being under utilized and supported and that a simple change of scenery would bring him back to the heights of his best performances of years past, he wouldn't have ended up signing for a pro continental team instead of a World Tour team.
 
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I don't think that Movistar problem was having Valverde riding his own race. That in fact usually takes the pressure off the other riders. It has worked in the past for other teams as well.
I think the problem with Movistar was having an additional leader. Three leaders or riders doing their own race proved to be too much for them. Even at Ineos I think it would have been an issue as well.
...and Valverde wasn't strictly riding his own race. I recall multiple occasion him riding in support of another rider. One instance in particular sticks in my mind where on a mountain finish stage he led the peloton up the climb, dropped off, seemed to be done only to return to the front after pulling himself back to the lead group, did another extended turn on the front.
 
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