Alejandro Valverde

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Alejandro Valverde

Valverde at the 2005 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name	Alejandro Valverde Belmonte
Nickname	Bala Verde (The Green Bullet) El Imbatido (The Unbeatable)
Date of birth	April 25, 1980 (1980-04-25) (age 28)
Country	Spain
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	61 kg (130 lb/9.6 st)
Team information
Current team	Caisse d'Epargne
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Professional team(s)
2002–2004 2005–	Comunitat Valenciana/Kelme Caisse d'Epargne
Major wins
UCI ProTour (2006) Tour de France, 1 stage Vuelta a España, 3 stages La Flèche Wallonne (2006) Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2006, 2008)
Infobox last updated on:
December 28, 2007

Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born April 25, 1980 in Las Lumbreras, Murcia) is a Spanish road racing cyclist for UCI ProTeam Caisse d'Epargne. Valverde's biggest wins have been Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2006, 2008 and 2006 UCI ProTour series championship. He has twice collected the silver medal in the UCI Road World Championships, in 2003 and 2005. Valverde is rare in combining different specialisms in road bicycle racing, being a strong climber, time trialist and sprinter.

  Biography

Valverde came from a cycling family, his father Juan was a late amateur bicycle racer and bought him a bike when he was six years old.^[1] His brother Juan Francisco was also an amateur road racing cyclist. Valverde's first race was in Jumilla, in his region of Murcia, and he finished second. On the following week he won his second race in Yecla.^[2] He allegedly took more than fifty consecutive victories between 11 and 13 years old, earning him the nickname El Imbatido (The Unbeatable).^[3]

  Amateur career

Due to his winning ways, Valverde was offered to ride for the elite amateur team Banesto based in Navarra, some distance away from his home in Murcia. Perhaps due to the exhaustion from having to travel back and forth every weekend, his performance suffered while with the team.^[3]

He moved to the development team of the Kelme professional squad and was coached by Francisco Moya, whom he credited with helping him become a better cyclist. Kelme also promised to allow him to move to the professional squad if he showed good performance. At the end of his first season with the Kelme amateur squad, they offered to move him to the professional squad.^[3]

  Kelme (2002–2004)

Valverde turned professional in 2002 when he signed a contract with the Spanish team Kelme, with whom he stayed until the end of the 2004 season. During his time with Kelme he had a breakthrough year in 2003 Vuelta a España, where he won two stages and finished third in the General classification. That year he also won the Vuelta a Mallorca and a stage in Vuelta al Pa�s Vasco and other Spanish races like GP Primavera and GP Villafranca de Ordizia. He ended the season with a second place in the 2003 UCI Road World Championships behind Igor Astarloa after winning the sprint ahead of Peter Van Petegem and Paolo Bettini.^[4]

In the 2004 season he decided to stay with Kelme despite the team's financial woes and offers from other teams. He went on to win the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, the Vuelta a Murcia, a stage in the Vuelta al Pa�s Vasco, the Vuelta a Burgos and taking fourth in the 2004 Vuelta a España. Although he won a stage in the Vuelta, he was injured in a crash that forced him to downscale his ambitions in the overall classification.^[5] He also participated in the 2004 Summer Olympics.

 Caisse d'Epargne (2005–)

 

Valverde riding behind Mancebo and Casarrubios at the 2005 Cl�sica a los Puertos.

Valverde joined the UCI ProTeam Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne in 2005.^[6] He won the last stage in Paris-Nice and finished second overall behind Bobby Julich. He also took two stages in the Vuelta al Pa�s Vasco. In his first ever appearance at the Tour de France, he won the 10th stage of the Tour de France ahead of Lance Armstrong, whom he beat in the sprint into Courchevel at the end of a mountain stage in the Alps.^[7] After Stage 12, he was in 5th place on GC, 3 minutes and 16 seconds behind Lance Armstrong. He was also leading in the Young Rider Classification (white jersey), with a 3 minute and 9 second lead on Armstrong teammate Yaroslav Popovych.^[8] However, Valverde was forced to withdraw from the Tour during the 13th stage because of a knee injury. Valverde recovered barely in time for the UCI World Cycling Championship in Madrid, Spain. The injury of �scar Freire, who was the Spanish team captain, forced him to become the team leader, despite having had only one day of competition before the World's. At the end he was able to be competitive and finished second to winner Tom Boonen.^[9]

  2006

In 2006, Valverde won a stage in the Vuelta al Pa�s Vasco, finishing 2nd overall and capturing the points competition. He then completed a prestigious double in the Spring classics, winning La Flèche Wallonne and taking victory four days later at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Valverde subsequently won a stage in the Tour de Romandie finishing 3rd overall. Valverde planned to challenge at the 2006 Tour de France, and has stated that he hopes to win in the future. He went to the Pinarello bicycle factory in Treviso, Italy, to optimize his time-trialing performance. In fact he started among the favourites for the Tour after the withdrawal of Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso due to a doping investigation. However, on the third stage of the 2006 Tour de France, Valverde crashed, and had to abandon the Tour with a fractured right collarbone. His ambition to win a Grand Tour shifted to the Vuelta, later that year.

Valverde entered the 2006 Vuelta as the top favorite. Since he did not ride a full Tour de France he was in better condition then some of the other candidates for the victory: Menchov (title defender) and Sastre both ended in the top 10 of the 2006 Tour de France and were expected to be somewhat fatigued. Valverde won the 7th stage and dominated mountain stages, earning him the gold leader jersey after stage 9. Valverde lost the jersey however due to the aggressive climbing and attacking of Alexander Vinokourov. In the last time trial, Valverde again lost time on Vinokourov and had to settle for the 2nd place in the overall standings, his second podium finish in a Grand Tour. Following his impressive performance in the Vuelta Valverde won yet another major title, winning the 2006 UCI ProTour with several major races still left on the calendar as his point lead had reached unassailable levels. At the 2006 World Championship, Valverde was considered one of the favorites for the title. Although he did not win, he was able to finish 3rd and claim a bronze medal.

 2007

He started 2007 by winning the overall classification at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and Vuelta a Murcia. In stage 4 of the Vuelta a Murcia, Valverde accomplished his first win in an individual time trial.^[10] He also finished third in the Crit�rium International and fifth in Vuelta al Pa�s Vasco. In the Ardennes classics he took second place in both La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, unable to repeat the double victory of 2006 season. In the 2007 Tour de France, Valverde was seen as one of the favorites for the yellow jersey until he had a disastrous individual time trial that diminished his chances of fighting for the overall classification. He subsequently finished sixth overall, eleven minutes behind, and thus finished his first Tour de France after being unable to complete the race in 2005 and 2006. He decided not to race the Vuelta a España in order to prepare for the 2007 UCI Road World Championships.^[11] On August 29, 2007, the UCI announced that they prevented Valverde from riding the 2007 UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart because of his possible implication in the Operaci�n Puerto doping investigation to safeguard the atmosphere and reputation of the World Championships.^[12] The UCI also called upon the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to open disciplinary proceedings against the rider, but RFEC refused to comply with the UCI's request, saying there was no new evidence against him. RFEC also included Valverde in its squad for the World Championships.^[13] The matter was taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which authorised Valverde to participate in the 2007 UCI Road World Championships.^[14]

  2008

In 2008, Valverde showed strong in the spring. After winning the Vuelta a Murcia, Valverde was focused on training. He announced his readiness with a podium finish in the Klasika Primavera and a triumph at the Paris-Camembert. These successes foreshadowed excellent results in the Ardennes classics: a podium at the Amstel Gold and victory in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

• Campe�n de España en ruta

He hopes to perform well in the 2008 Tour de France.

  Major achievements

Medal record
Competitor for  Spain
Road bicycle racing
UCI Road World Championships
Silver	2005 Madrid	Elite Men's Road Race
Silver	2003 Hamilton	Elite Men's Road Race
Bronze	2006 Salzburg	Elite Men's Road Race

 External links

• Alejandro Valverde profile at the Cycling Website
• Palmarès at Trap-Friis.dk
  

References