does anyone think alejandro valverde will ever win the tour de france?
March 4, 2010
Finished 2nd at Vuelta 2006 blew a good lead, fell apart at Tour De France 2007 was good at start he always seems to lose his form in the last week. Does anyone think he has a chance in 2008 or 2009?
Floyd Landis WON – not a Spaniard – one day’s worth of testosterone does not make you go that fast on a breakaway.
Even the majority decision in the arbitration found that the testing lab made errors and that the samples would not have been retested had the lab followed their standard protocol. All subsequent "positives" are the fruit of the poisoned tree – and were probably spiked by some jealous French lab tech.
He has a good chance. But I don’t think it will be this year, definitely not if Alberto Contador rides for Disco and gets protected by Levi and George. I wish someone would knock that team down a few notches. For some reason they bug me……. Go CSC !
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Kennie must not have gotten the memo that Team Disco announced last August that they were disbanding when the season ended in October. So…there is no Team Disco any more. Contador and Levi are now riding for Astana, and George signed with T-Mobile.
As for Valverde, his talent is obvious, but it takes so much more than talent to win the TDF. You have to have an incredibly good combination of great teammates, good luck (no crashes), solid health (a little cold can derail a whole race), and excellent organization (look at Disco). If you can put all of that together in a year when your team’s top rider is peaking at the right time, then you can win the TDF.
I’m not sure Valverde will ever win the TDF, for the simple reason that he is a Spaniard. Spaniards tend to be more enthused about the Vuelta, and I think most of them gear their whole year around that one race. While it’s true that Spanish riders have won the TDF ten times (five by Indurain), I don’t think the next TDF winner will be a Spaniard.
I think he’ll be an Australian.
EDIT: I think I may have misspoken, and made it seem like the SOLE reason Valverde won’t win is because he’s a Spaniard. I think, taken as a whole, that Spaniards are probably the best cycling nation on the ProTour at the moment. Valverde won’t win because I don’t think he’ll ever devote his ENTIRE season to peaking at the TDF, and I think that’s what it takes to win the Tour (along with all those other factors I listed above.)
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I agree with tecu… above. So much has to be right to win. I think Valverde is an excellent rider but will be relegated to many top 15 finishes like Kloden, Zule, Mayo, Jalabert etc. However I don’t think being Spanish or being on a Spanish team would be a problem as Indurain is an example of this.
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Valverde is a very talented rider.The last two winners of the tour de France do happen to be Spaniards so his chances are not diminished by his nationality… however, I think he will have a hard time winning it as his team is somehow not really prepared to back him up besides, he may need to let out pressure and try some new strategies in as far planning his season is concerned… all said, he is a "natural " winner with a very strong "killing" instinct which if it is not muffed by his coach and external pressures will let him win whatever race he takes part in
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Floyd Landis WON – not a Spaniard – one day’s worth of testosterone does not make you go that fast on a breakaway.
Even the majority decision in the arbitration found that the testing lab made errors and that the samples would not have been retested had the lab followed their standard protocol. All subsequent "positives" are the fruit of the poisoned tree – and were probably spiked by some jealous French lab tech.
References :