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From your room at the Cedar Court Hotel in Harrogate, you can see large gardens that simulate a safety cord to stop the hustle and bustle of a city taken by the hordes of cyclists. Alejandro Valverde is isolated from an environmental pressure that for others can be overwhelming. To him, and under few circumstances can alter the mood. He is a survivor of a cycling of another time, but with an improper vitality of his 39 years. Fighting kids who could be their children motivates him. The unequal intergenerational battle causes an incredible sensation, an extra energy recharge.

The owner of the rainbow jersey suspects that he only has one night left to continue wearing the precious garment, but he is not distressed. Revalidating the title harvested in Innsbruck seems very complicated in a softer circuit than the Austrian event. In the rainy Harrogate, the Murcia hurries the previous World Cup wrapped by a compact group of gregarious.

Bala is not afraid of the traps of the route that runs through Yorkshire County. Unlike most Spanish runners, he doesn't feel uncomfortable with the cold and the water, but he fears the weather and the orography of a track without rest. About 300 hell kilometers.

"It will be very difficult"

“There will be wind and it will rain, the roads are narrow and it will be difficult to eat. It is a World Cup less conducive to me than the previous one, because in the final section there is less slope, but I will try to be there. You have to be realistic, repeating victory will be very difficult. I can go through everything, but it doesn't overwhelm me to lose the throne ”, he says while he attends a group of special envoys to Harrogate in a crowded lobby of a hotel where the Italian team, one of the main adversaries, with Diego Ulissi, is also concentrated, Matteo Trentin and Sonny Colbrelli with leading exponents. The enemy at home.

The list of rivals is wide, but the Murcian highlights veterans: «There will be Sagan, Matthews, Van Avermaet, Alaphilippe, Gilbert ... and some young people, such as Van der Poel or Evenepoel, but I think it will be a championship for people with much experience. It motivates me and I like to compete with the kids who are now aiming strong, but I think this is not their time. It will be a World Cup of much wear, imposed by travel and bad weather. I believe that it will not be necessary to attack ».

Tokyo's dream

The champion recognizes that this year will be unforgettable, because he has worn a garment that he had been chasing since childhood. Despite this, it does not set limits. «Revalidating the World Cup title would be amazing, that has been achieved by few runners, including Sagan, but if I had to choose I would prefer a gold in the Olympic Games. That would be impressive, but until that we have to wait a year, now we are going to think about what we have ahead of us on Sunday ».

Valverde is the undisputed leader of a team designed by the coach Pascual Momparler (debutante in a World Cup), which summoned runners who currently militate in the Movistar (Rojas, Erviti and Soler) who were in the formation of Unzué in a recent time ( the brothers Izagirre, Castroviejo or Luis León Sánchez).

The exception is the Spaniard Iván García Cortina (23 years old), the hidden letter of the coach and whom Valverde sees with options: «Iván is young, but he has a lot of experience, I think he will endure until the end. He is one of the calls to take a step forward in the generational change ».

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