Spanish Wunderkind Alejandro Valverde will return to racing this Sunday, February 5. The 25 year-old is starting his 2006 season at the Mallorca Challenge, where he will compete in three of the five one-day races the Spanish island is hosting. Describing his current form as "neither good nor bad", the Illes Balears rider who last year won two of the Challenge stages as well as the general classification, told Spanish newspaper Marca he hadn't set his mind on an early season victory this year. Instead, he was going to ride, "a mountain stage to give [team-mate and 2004 Mallorca Challenge winner] Toni Colom a hand," as his objectives lay further ahead: the Belgian Classics, the Tour de France and the World Championships in Salzburg, Austria.
Asked if he thought he was ready for an overall victory in the Tour, Valverde declined. "I can see myself winning a stage and placing in top five," he said. "It's not impossible [to win the Tour in 2006], but I might still lack one year of experience and maturity. I'm only 25 years old."
For the nearer future, the Spaniard is eyeing Liège-Bastogne-Liège as the Classic that suits him best. "I think I could do very well in both Amstel and Liège. If I had to choose, I'd go with Liège because of the type of ascents it includes: they're not walls, but climbs," he explained.
For this year's overall Tour de France victory, the Spaniard pointed at Team CSC's Ivan Basso as his top favourite. "People say Ullrich [will win], but I think it will be Basso because he has greatly improved his time trialling and in the mountains, he's stronger than Ullrich," the man from Murcia continued.
Valverde, too, has been working on his time trial capacities over the European winter, improving his skills with the help of an Italian biomechanic, Alessandro Mariano. Since adjusting the position of his cleats at the Pinarello factory in November 2005, the rider has been changing his pedalling frequency in a bid to imitate the style if the seven-times Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong.
"I'm riding with a different cadence now," Valverde said. "Before, I rode an average of 84-85 pedal strokes per minute. Now, in training, I reach an average of 90-95. I'm more agile, I feel better. I waste less energy and my muscles recuperate better afterwards."
Valverde to imitate Armstrong?
Although not among the leading favourites for Tour de France success in July, Alejandro Valverde is hoping that a change of pedalling style will boost his chances in the same way it once did Lance Armstrong's. With this year’s Tour de France looking more open than it has done for years following Lance Armstrong’s retirement, as many as a dozen riders are talking themselves up as potential successors to the American. Among them is Illes Balears’ team leader Alejandro Valverde, who handed Armstrong one of his rare defeats on a Tour summit last year when he took the Alpine stage to Courchevel.
Valverde’s Tour hopes then fell apart when he was seriously afflicted by tendonitis in his right knee, and he was forced out of the race before the Pyrenees. Since then, the Spaniard and his team have devoted considerable time to resolving that knee problem, partly through consultations with Italian biomechanics expert Alessandro Mariano.
This process has included investigation of Valverde’s pedalling technique during visits to the Pinarello factory in Italy. Although Mariano kept Valverde’s basic position on the bike the same as it had been, he did change the position of his cleats and suggested that the Spaniard imitate Armstrong’s high-cadence pedalling style.
“Now I am riding at a different cadence,” Valverde told Marca. “Previously I was riding at about 84-85 revs a minute. Now in training I’m doing an average of 90-95 revs. I’m much more agile, feel much better, I’m wasting less energy and muscle recovery is better.”
Watch out for further reports on Valverde’s progress as he prepares to make his season debut in the Majorca Challenge, which starts on Sunday.
Alejandro Valverde, the Spanish sensation that's lighting up cycling south of the Pyrénées, said he now believes he's a man for the Tour de France. In his debut last year, Valverde won a key climbing stage at Courchevel ahead of seven-time winner Lance Armstrong, an experience that he says changed his view of racing.
"At first I was considered a rider for the classics, that they were well-suited for me, but I like the Tour more," he told the Spanish daily AS. "I'd like to win the Tour or another three-week grand tour."
Valverde said he's been working hard to improve in the time trial, a discipline that he admits is his "weak point." He's not forgetting the classics altogether as he builds toward another run at the Tour. He'll race in Liege, Amstel Gold and Fleche Wallone in April. After the Tour, he also confirmed he'll race in the world championships, where he's already earned two silver medals in three starts.
Much has been said about Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears), especially after his stellar win ahead of Armstrong on Courchevel in last year's Tour. But the young rider from Murcia Spain apparently doesn't fancy his chances for a Tour victory, at least not this year. "Fighting this year for the Tour podium will be complicated, perhaps it would be more prudent to shoot for the top five," said Valverde. "I believe I lack experience, since in last year's edition I was only there 13 days of 21."
So if he's not going to win, then who is? Ask Valverde and he'll tell you Ivan Basso. He of course also digs Ullrich, Vinokourov and Paco Mancebo as possible podium contenders.
BiciRace.com would have to agree with that analysis. Valverde is a vastly talented rider, but he lacks the TT firepower of a rider of Ivan Basso or Jan Ullrich's caliber. Granted, he beat the best (umm, sig. Armstrong) in Courchevel last year, but how would he fare for three solid weeks?
To compare him to Lance Armstrong in his early career would not be totally out of line. Both excelled in the hilly one day races as well as the shorter stage races. Both could climb decent and finish quickly. And both were not the best at time trialing. If he could manage to transform himself as a rider as completely as Armstrong did, there would be little standing in his way.
The Damiano Cunego and Lampre-Fondital end their training in Terracina (Lazio) today. The camp was a small camp designed to help bond the core group of riders on the Italian squadra. Cunego has taken huge steps from when he won the Giro d'Italia in 2004: Il Piccolo Principe had an off 2005 with Mononucleosis but also welcomed the birth of his daughter, Ludovica.
To reinforce the mental drive of the Piccolo Principe the team has hired Omar Beltran. The owner of Mental Performance Research has also worked with other cyclists such as Mirko Celestino and Marco Pinotti. "It is a new experience for me, I have never had meetings with a motivator," said Cunego of Beltran. "He has come up with lessons to help explain the techniques of muscles relaxation and how to better use our mental strengths."
"In 2005 it was always a battle of the mind," continued the 2004 Giro champion. "To accept this was not easy for me, it consumed all of my thoughts and I was nervous. Now it is no longer this way. Ludovica is here with me, every night my wife sends a new photo of her via mobile phone ... Now I live well, I am able to think 100% about my work. I ride my bike with calmness and tranquility. I have to believe that I can return to how I was and win another Giro."
The official 2006 camp for Lampre-Fondital will be from 30 January to 4 February in Montecatini (Toscana). Cunego will make his debut at the Clasica de Almeria (26 February), then the Vuelta a Murcia (March 1 - 5), before returning to Italy for the Milano-Sanremo (18 March). The Italian will race for the first time in the Settimana Coppi e Bartali (21 - 25 March) but will probably not start Liège-Bastogne-Liège (23 April).
Most értettem meg, hogy miért ragaszkodott az Armstrong rajongói topic kedves házigazdája ahhoz, hogy ide is tegyem be a következő, az el mundo újság mai számában talált fényképet.:-)
A cikk azt feszegeti, hogy az is előfordulhat, hogy a 3 GT hamarosan a PT része lehet, mivel a körversenyek már jelezték , hogy hajlandóak kompomisszumot kötni.Február elején várható, hogy a "rebellisekkel" tárgyalásokat kezdenek.
A 20 profi csapat és szponzoraik Genfben tartottak kétnapos ülést, amelynek lényegét a Gerolsteiner csapatfőnöke, Michael Holczer a következőképpen foglalta össze:Egyetlen Pro Tor csapatot sem zárhatnak ki a nagy körversenyekről. A "Grand Tour"-t illetően pedig nagy az egyetértés: nem hagyják magukat a felajánlott 2 millió eurós díjjal elcsábítani.
Egyébiránt nem szerenének konfrontálódni a körvesenyekkel, megegyezésre törekszenek.A 20 csapat között a PT első évében nagyon jó közösségi szellem alakult ki, mivel mindeki rájött, hogy a PT sorozaton keresztül megerősödött a kerékpársport.
