Alejandro Valverde

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Alejandro Valverde
Personal information
Full name Alejandro Valverde Belmonte
Nickname The Green Bullet
Date of birth April 25, 1980 (age 26)
Country Flag of Spain Spain
Height 1.78 m
Weight 61 kg
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)
Infobox last updated on:
March 2, 2007

Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born April 25, 1980 in Las Lumbreras, Murcia) is a Spanish cyclist. At age 26, he is thought to be one of the most talented cyclists of his generation. Valverde is an exciting prospect since he is unusual in the way in which he combines all the areas of cycling: Valverde is an excellent climber and more than respectable time trial rider, thus making him a threat for the general classification for the big Tours (Giro, Tour de France and Vuelta). But Valverde has shown that he can ride the big single day events just as well, due to his good sprinting and strong overall riding, making him a candidate for becoming World Champion and winner of various classic races.

Valverde has been said to be a bit unlucky, as he had to drop out of the Tour de France twice while riding for a good position in the overall ranking.

His first name is sometimes spelt Alexandro or Alessandro in English language reports.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Valverde came from a cycling family: his father Valverde senior was an amateur bicycle racer when he was younger and turned his sons on to the sport. Alejandro's first race was in Jumilla in his region of Murcia and he finished second. That was the only race which he did not win for the rest of his competition while attending school.

[edit] 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. Perhaps due to the exhaustion from having to travel back and forth every weekend, his performance suffered while with the team.

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.

[edit] Professional career

Valverde turned professional in 2000 when he signed a contract with the Spanish team Kelme. He stayed with them until the end of the 2004 season. Since Kelme did not get a UCI ProTour license he joined Illes Balears in 2005.

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. He had also won the Majorca Challenge that year, and ended the season with a second place in the World Cycling Championship.

In the 2004 season he decided to stay with Kelme despite the team's financial woes and offers from other teams. He was injured in a crash in the Vuelta a España and had to downscale his ambitions in the race. He finally signed a contract with the Illes Balears team at the end of 2004.

In 2005 Valverde won the 10th stage of the Tour de France ahead of Lance Armstrong, whom he beat in the sprint into Courchevel in the Alps (2000m - 1st Category). 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. 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 Óscar Freire, who was the Spanish team captain, forced him to become the team leader, despite his lack of preparation. In the end he was able to be competitive and finished second to winner Tom Boonen.

In 2006, Valverde won a stage in the Vuelta al País 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 Liége-Bastogne-Liége. 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 big round 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 big round. At the age of 26, critics are sure many will follow. 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 ProTour 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.

He started 2007 strongly and won 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 a time trial.

[edit] Major achievements

Olympic medal record
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
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
Preceded by
Danilo Di Luca		 UCI ProTour Champion
2006		 Succeeded by
current

[edit] See also


Riders on Caisse d'Epargne

David Arroyo | Eric Berthou | Florent Brard | Vladimir Efimkin | Imanol Erviti | Marco Fertonani | José Vicente Garcia | Iván Gutiérrez | Joan Horrach | Vladimir Karpets | Pablo Lastras | David Lopez | Alberto Losado | Alexei Markov | Óscar Pereiro | Aitor Pérez | Francisco Perez | Mathieu Perget | Nicolas Portal | Sébastien Portal | Vicente Reynès | Joaquin Rodriguez | Luis León Sánchez | Alejandro Valverde | Constantino Zaballa |  Xabier Zandio
Manager
José Miguel Echavarri
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