ALEJANDRO VALVERDE
MOVISTAR
If you think we’ve been here before with Alejandro Valverde and riding Flanders and then Liège, you’d be right. Through spring 2018 there was speculation that ‘El Bala’ would be on the start line of the Ronde, before heading to the Ardennes. When he took 11th in Dwars door Vlaanderen, despite the poor weather (never favourable for Valverde), the rumours intensified.
But no. Valverde was whisked away from Belgium to ride the GP Miguel Indurain in Navarre in Spain. Rather than take part in Flanders, his squad preferred him to race a 1.1 event - which Valverde, let it be said, did win.
Valverde missing Flanders barely raised a ripple back home. The only exception was journalist Carlos Arribas, who rarely misses a trick in Movistar kremlinology, and who wrote a lengthy article for El País, headlined, “Why Valverde is not present in Flanders.” Arribas said Valverde was “moved by the sentimental and symbolic value the race has for his team.” It’s not just the race: Navarre is, of course, Movistar’s home region, and last year the race held a special homage to manager José Miguel Echavarri.
If Valverde does start in Antwerp on April 7 2019, he’s not a favourite. Spain has had just one podium finish in Flanders - Juan Antonio Flecha, third in 2008, riding for a Dutch team.
It’s not just Flanders where the Spanish traditionally are weak. “Our race culture is focused on stage racing. In a few one-day events we might do well, but we’ve got a poor track record,” says Óscar Freire, Spain’s last world champion before Valverde. Freire raced both Flanders and Liège, with a high point of 12th in the cobbled race and 11th in the hillier event. He continues: “For the Spanish, the Tour of Flanders barely existed. They were just there to make up the numbers. If you were racing in a Spanish team, you had a lot of disadvantages: the biggest was not knowing about a race route which the Belgians, Dutch and so on had been doing since they were juniors. But now, Spaniards have realised how important those events are.”
Can Valverde combine Flanders and Liège? Freire thinks so. “He is a very versatile rider. If he can stay well-positioned, which he tends to be, in Flanders then he should be able to hide his lack of experience. It’s a new challenge, and so is Liège with its different route. But that could be his biggest advantage. As a veteran, it’s more important to be motivated, because you’re doing something different, than to be in top form or to know every inch of the roads.”