Any doubts about Alejandro Valverde's continuing enthusiasm for racing after six months of recovering from a crash at the Tour de France will surely evaporate now that his programme for the 2018 season has been revealed.
The Movistar veteran says he plans to race from January through to October, starting with the Mallorca Challenge and finishing at Il Lombardia, taking on the Ardennes Classics, the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España and the World Championships. At 37, and following a serious injury last July at the Tour, that’s quite a schedule.
"I'll do a couple of days in Mallorca, then Valencia, Murcia, Abu Dhabi or Andalucia – in principle, I'm not doing Andalucia, but I'm hoping I will go in the end, because I like it a lot," Valverde told a small group of reporters at the Vuelta a España presentation on Saturday.
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"Then maybe Strade Bianche, the Volta a Catalunya, the Ardennes, the Dauphiné, the Tour, San Sebastian, the Vuelta a España and Il Lombardia."
The big question mark, Valverde said, is whether his condition will be as good as it was before he wrecked one of his kneecaps in a highspeed crash on the opening day of the 2017 Tour de France.
"I'm feeling fine, but you never know until you race," Valverde said. "I trained hard this winter to see what my maximum peak of form could be and I deliberately eased back afterwards. Although I'm coming back up again, I'm not as good as I was this winter yet. But that's the plan, I didn't want to be in 100 per cent condition so early in the season."
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