2015 UCI WorldTour winner Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) begins the most varied and complex Classics campaigns of his lengthy career on Saturday at this weekend’s Strade Bianche, before continuing with a debut at the Tour of Flanders and concluding, as ever, in the Ardennes in April.
Subject to final confirmation of the spring race programs for Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky), the triple Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner is currently the only top rider who will straddle the increasingly broad divide between the cobbled one-day race specialists and those gunning for the hilly Classics.
First up is Saturday’s Strade Bianche, a race where Valverde finished third last year and in 2014, and which he starts following a devastating overall win in February’s Vuelta a Andalucia, which he took for a fourth time after a stunning lone attack on the hardest single climb of the race.
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As ever, prior to the Italian race, Valverde shows no hesitation in flinging down the gauntlet, telling Cyclingnews: “I’m in good form and Strade Bianche is a race I really like. I like that kind of racing on dirt roads, the only bad news is that they say it’s going to rain and the earth is going to turn to mud! It’ll be a really hard race.
“There are a heck of a lot of tough rivals too this year, [Peter] Sagan (Tinkoff), [Greg] Van Avermaet (BMC Racing), Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo), [Zdenek] Stybar (Etixx-Quickstep). There’s a long, long list of contenders. But after what I saw on Saturday watching the Belgian Classics, Van Avermaet is going to be the man to beat.”
Valverde was impressed, too, by another Strade Bianche participant, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne winner Jesper Stuyven, saying: “That young Belgian kid who won on Sunday, he’s another one to watch out for, too.”
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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