• Data.The figures of the toughest World Cup of this century: 18 liters per square meter and 76.5% of abandonments
  • Valverde: Abandonment in the Yorkshire Flood
  • Champion: the unknown Pedersen dethrones Valverde

Natalia grabs Alejandro Valverde by the waist, kisses him and pulls him to take him to the restaurant, but the emaciated cyclist is narrating calamities to his friends from Murcia , who have moved to Harrogate. "I had never gotten into such large puddles, the bottom was not visible and, in some, the water covered half the wheel." "It was so cold that I couldn't even pee, and that was bursting." The former world champion claudicated in the Yorkshire Flood, but now he closes the page and opens a new chapter.

“With sunshine and good weather, everything would have been different. The water and the cold altered everything », warns the 49-year-old runner shortly before verifying that Monday dawns radiant in Harrogate. "There are no clouds, as in Spain," says an employee of a modern Italian restaurant in the city of hot springs. Valverde curses his misfortune by the capricious weather: «None of the first three of the World Cup appeared in the pools, most of the favorites did not even manage to finish. Van der Poel could not eat and remained empty ».

At 39, the Murcia says he has not been marked with this setback: «This is not my last World Cup, I have already seen the 2020, in Switzerland, which has more unevenness. Also, my next goal is the Tokyo Olympics, so I'll be 40, but I'm going to put everything to a letter. Getting a gold would be amazing. I have been told that it will be a very hard test, with a lot of mountains. I already noticed it before the Yorkshire championship: I prefer an Olympic title than a second World Cup. Those of Tokyo will be my fifth Games, and that for a cyclist is a lot ». A gold would be an incomparable climax for the most versatile Spanish runner. He has said he will retire in 2021, but few believe it. His new competitive appointment, the classic Il Lombardía, on the 12th of this month.

"Extreme cycling"

In the hotel of Harrogate, next to Valverde, walks Eusebio Unzue , the head of Movistar, who insists that the Murcia has not closed his world cycle: «He is always looking forward and if he wants the coach, he will continue». The director looks to the future, but also fuels the fire against the ICU for the Yorkshire election: «Sunday is extreme cycling, and not only because of the rain and cold, but also because of the prohibition of pinganillos, because most of the drivers of the teams are used to driving on the right ... Many things have to be reconsidered ». Safety issues that your pupil also assessed before throwing in the towel.

«The worst thing was to take off my raincoat, I saw that many runners were taking it off and I did the same; From that moment I was frozen, the cold got in my bones. Then I understood that everything was lost, I continued, but I could no longer. There were no podium options and I preferred to retire so as not to prolong the agony. If he continued, he could only find falls and injuries, ”the dethroned champion strikes.

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