Valverde’s brilliance intact! First 2022 win in Mallorca
January 29th, 2022
Spanish ‘campionissimo’ – well supported by Blue team-mates all day – crowns excellent start to the season with 131st career victory with unstoppable sprint on slopes of Mon Port
The best possible way to crown a splendid first week of racing in 2022 for Alejandro Valverde and the Movistar Team came on Saturday at the Trofeo Pollença – Port d’Andratx, the fourth race of the Challenge Mallorca, with ‘Bala’ winning on the tough slopes of the Mon Port hill to open the Telefónica-backed squad’s account of this season.
Fully aware of the strong chances by Alejandro -already 6th, on Wednesday, and 2nd, on Friday, their two 2022 appearances to date- over a finish with 2km at 8% average gradient, the roster here directed by Patxi Vila worked for Valverde from start to finish. The early pacing from Matteo Jorgenson and Lluís Mas and the efforts from Serrano -who sustained a crash, with no big consequences, near the end- and Rubio, going after every move before the decisive climb, were completed by an excellent Enric Mas and Iván Sosa. While the Spaniard forced other teams to chase with some moves before the climb, both Enric and Iván would drive the pace on the final slopes for ‘Bala’ to do what he loves: finishing things off.
Outsprinting Brandon McNulty (UAD, 2nd) and Alexander Vlasov (BOH, 3rd), Alejandro notched up the 131st victory of his career and got the Movistar Team to just four wins short of 1,000 with their professional squads since 1980. A success achieved almost two decades after his pro victory, which confirms – if there was any sort of doubt about it – he will retire on top of his game
REACTION / Alejandro Valverde:
“The whole team was excellent today. We tried to keep the race always as much under control as possible, and the team worked perfectly well. We had to tackle this Andratx climb at a strong pace to try and drop those faster legs still into the group. We succeeded at distancing Matthews, the strongest sprinter in the group, but I saw him trying to come back with 250, 300 meters to go, and that’s where I launched my sprint before he bridged back – and I could manage to take it.
“To me, every race will be a tribute already. I’m really thankful to the organisers for the recognition they gave me this morning at the start – I hope I was able to pay them back and thank them enough with this win. It’s the best way to bid farewell to this race, with two podiums, one victory – and now I’m already thinking about Valencia, the next one!
“More than age, for me the key thing is that it’s already 20 years for me at the highest level in the pro peloton. It’s something so difficult to achieve, both physically and especially on the psychological standpoint, I’m really surprised to continue doing well. When I was younger, I stated that I thought I wouldn’t be in the peloton when I reached 34 – now I’m turning 42 in April, and I’m still racing, and winning.
“I want to offer this victory to two really important men. The first one is Egan Bernal. All of my support goes out to him, hoping that his recovery goes well and we can see him doing fine as soon as possible. And then, to Juan Carlos Unzué. His example of strength, optimism, fighting spirit over the last few months has been invaluable, to everyone in this team particularly. A big hug goes to both, hoping that we can see each other soon.”
