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Heroes also treasure moments of fragility. Alejandro Valverde , the inexhaustible runner, the fireproof idol, went through a critical moment in 2012 for the sanction of the 'Operation Port'. Eufemiano Fuentes and bad companies. The Murcia appeared on the list of Canarian patients, with the code name Val Piti . In 2010 he was punished by the UCI with two years of sanction. That moment of weakness generated by the consequences of the doping penalty is commented on in the documentary A Year of Rainbows , produced by Movistar and which will air on Wednesday in Vamos (9:45 p.m.). The en route world champion took the opportunity this Monday to send a message to athletes to go to specialists when they are in similar trances.

"They see us as stars but in the end we are human, the lows are there, they are in any area of ​​life and it happened to me. I had achieved everything, but sometimes the body fails and the mind fails , they are hard times and you have to go to a specialist, "he said at the presentation of the program.

"I went to the psychologist for an hour and it seemed that I had been 10. It was worse, that did not convince me, I soon understood that I should be treated by a psychiatrist. We all suffer from this type of problems in any area of ​​life, but a person exposed to the public has more pressure. What has happened to Iniesta has been told, but surely there are many more they have or have had. Everything has a solution, "explained the Movistar cyclist.

The second classified in the Tour of Spain also recognized his difficulties in driving, the insecurity he had when getting in front of the wheel of the car: "On roads with more or less curves I defended myself, but on highways, at speed and on long straight lines I felt very much fear, real phobia . "

Now, Valverde is "relieved and released" after having recognized that moment of gloom. A situation that overcame and that left no sequels in its sports performance. After the sanction of two years he won again races, as he had done before, even with better results, winning the World Cup on the road and achieving successes in the classics and podiums in the Tour and Tour. Now, his next challenge is the reconquest of the World Road Fund, which will be held on September 29 in Yorkshire. His farewell to professionalism could be at the end of the 2020 Olympic Games. "Getting a medal in Tokyo can be a very good finish for me and my sports career," concluded the 39-year-old cyclist.

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