Alejandro Valverde has revealed his ideal race programme for the 2018 season, indicating that he will skip the Tour de France in favour of riding the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España ahead of the World Championships in Austria.
The Spaniard was due to ride the Tour, Vuelta and Worlds this year, but his season was abruptly ended by a crash on the opening day of the Tour in which he broke his left kneecap and talus bone.
With his recovery progressing quicker than expected, Valverde has resisted the temptation to return to racing this season but is already raring to get stuck into the 2018 campaign. In an interview in Monday's edition of Spanish newspaper El País, he described himself as "impatient", and even asked Movistar boss Eusebio Unzué to let him ride last week's Milano-Torino.
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"It's because I'm feeling good. I'm doing 700 kilometres a week. In my training group, people who've known me forever, they say I'm at least as strong as before," Valverde said. "I'm eager to confirm it in a race."
Valverde said that when the season does roll around, he likely won't return to the schedule he had planned for this season, explaining that Movistar's signing of Mikel Landa from Team Sky has put him off going to the Tour. With Nairo Quintana also there, the team have three riders capable of winning Grand Tours.
"You can't write anything off in life, but with the signings the team has made this year, with Landa, with Nairo there…I don't want to do the Tour," Valverde told El País.
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