VALVERDE Alejandro

Type of rider
Puncheur, Climber (SportsDeskOnline, 20 Jul 2016)

General
RETIREMENT PLANS
He intends to retire at the end of the 2021 season, when he will be age 41. "I want to do two seasons [2020 and 2021] at the highest level and leave. In the end [age] just a number because the dream of cycling remains intact. Of course, I must also be realistic and know that time is passing, that I accumulate a lot of wear and tear because of age and always fighting in races. If I didn't feel at my best with the option of competing and aiming for more victories I would have stopped by now. Although it's a law of life and normal to be beaten by people of 35 or 25, it's hard to accept it and adapt to being beaten in competitions where you usually perform well because of your condition. But what can we do?" (cyclingnews.com, 05 Feb 2020)

HOPES FOR TOKYO
He has finished on the podium at all three Grand Tours, won spring Classics in Belgium and also claimed his first world title in 2018, but he is yet to win a medal in four previous appearances at the Olympic Games. "I'm missing that medal on my resume. It would be the cherry on top of my fifth Olympics participation [in 2020 in Tokyo]." (cyclingnews.com, 05 Feb 2020)

SANCTION
In June 2010 he had to return his prize money won during that season, and was also banned retroactively from 01 January until the start of the 2012 season, after a request for sanctions by the International Cycling Union [UCI] and World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA]. Although Valverde had never tested positive for a banned substance, he was linked by DNA evidence to the Madrid clinic of doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, which was the centre of the Spanish doping investigation Operation Puerto. "I have been punished. I do not know if it was fair or not, but I did my two years and that's it. I've already forgotten about it. Because of that sanction I made a new life as a cyclist and I am really enjoying myself," he said in 2016. (elespanol.com, 20 Jun 2016; theguardian.com, 01 Jun 2010)

At age 38 years and 158 days he became the second oldest male rider to have won the road race at the world championships by claiming victory in 2018 in Innsbruck, Austria. The only rider older than him to have won the event is Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk, who triumphed in 1985 at age 38 years and 272 days. (SportsDeskOnline, 27 Feb 2020; marca.com, 30 Sep 2018)

He has won a medal in the road race at the world championships on seven occasions during his career. He claimed gold in 2018, silver in 2003 and 2005, and bronze in 2006, 2012, 2013, and 2014. No other male rider has finished on the podium more than four times at the tournament. He also holds the record - 15 years - for the cyclist with the longest period of time between their first medal and their most recent medal. (SportsDeskOnline, 27 Feb 2020; marca.com, 30 Sep 2018)

After coming third in the 2016 Giro d'Italia, he became only the fifth Spanish cyclist to have finished on the podium at all three Grand Tours. He also came third at the 2015 Tour de France, and has finished on the podium a total of six times at the Vuelta a Espana. He won the Spanish race in 2009. (SportsDeskOnline, 27 Feb 2020; alejandrovalverde.es, 15 Sep 2019; laopiniondemurcia.es, 05 Jun 2016)