Alejandro Valverde: records, medal collection and five world tours in 21 formidable years

• Lombardy Pogacar, escorted by a superb Enric Mas, wins Valverde's farewell

-Can you live without cycling after spending 20 years embracing the bicycle?

-I'll try.

It's time to say goodbye and I want to spend more time with my family.

Alejandro Valverde

(1980, Murcia) closes the stage and cycling feels like an orphan.

He leaves the oldest in the World Tour peloton (42 years old) and the Spanish record holder for victories: 133. ''He has so many trophies that he can't fit at home'', says

a gregarious in the last 17 years.

's house

in Murcia is a museum and a gym.

,

and

, the children of his second marriage ,

run around there .

From the first link are the twins

and

, teenagers who have taken to football.

Alejandro has signed for Levante, Iván plays for Murcia Promesas.

could have gone to live in Andorra, as many others did, but he preferred to stay on his land with his parents and his brother,

, who sometimes accompanies him in training with a

which is already part of the ecosystem of Murcia.

When Valverde leaves home, he is already waiting for a large number of fans who escort him along the roads.

He feels loved by people with whom he has shared countless experiences.

Some, like

, are already intimate with the champion and accompany him on his trips, especially in World Cups.

Alejandro El Grande

assures that he has always been lucky: ''I enjoy racing and training.

Even though I'm retired, I'll still go out with the

.

For me, cycling is not a job, it's a passion.

Ideal excuse to delay retirement.

The contractual relationship with Movistar extends until 2014, until then he will continue in the team

.

Impossible to find a public relations with better reception.

His optimistic spirit and his passion for cycling have captivated the public, riders, technicians and sponsors.

'' Alejandro stays with us to do what he feels most comfortable with.

No pressure, let him find his place.

He has always been a great professional, with a good character, a great facilitator, collaborating in anything you proposed to him”, emphasizes

, manager of Movistar.

NO SHAPE PEAKS

"I'm lucky that I like what I do," he says.

The illusion as a flag of a guy who has postponed the withdrawal without losing ambition.

Until the last day he has fought with the best, as he did on Saturday in the Giro de Lombardía.

''I would have liked to continue, but it's fine.

My idea was to have retired earlier, but

because I wanted to feel the warmth of the public on the roads... Some suggested that I continue as team manager, but now I don't see myself as a coach, although that doesn't mean that every once in a while I sit in the car with the directors.

.

If as a runner he was away from home 180 days, as a director he would be 220 '', he said in an interview with this newspaper on the eve of the start of the last Vuelta a España.

''Alejandro has been unique, from the beginning to the end of the season he was ready to win.

He didn't have peaks of form, like most.

He was always fine.

He enjoys the bike '', says Unzué.

That attitude has given him

.

An inexhaustible machine.

In two decades he has been in competition 1,313 days and has added 219,841 kilometers in the race.

That is, he has completed more than five times around the Earth (40,075 is his circumference).

A physical marvel, a specialist in long-distance exercises.

In his 16 participations in the Vuelta a España he has covered 48,000 kilometres.

In 14 Tour de France, 41,000.

Some staggering figures that could have been higher if he had not been punished with a one-year suspension (2011) for

.

He never tested positive, but it was shown that he was a client of Dr.

.

The blood bag labeled

i gave him away.

Alejandro Valverde's numbers

After the suspension he came back even stronger, with wins and podiums in the three big rounds and in the classics.

His peak was reached in 2018,

.

''It was the victory that made me most excited.

After four bronzes and two silvers, he needed the gold.

He knew that this was the last chance to get it.

Everything came together in my favour: I arrived in great form, the track was ideal for me and the team helped me a lot''.

He also won five Fleche-Walloon (record),

, 12 stages in the big three and the 2009 Vuelta a España.

Valverde has been a rider with incomparable regularity.

Since he was a child he broke records, sweeping all categories thanks to a

that made him easily overtake climbers and beat sprinters in ramp finishes and short finishes.

It didn't take long for the Undefeated

to excel in professionals.

He made his debut with Kelme in 2002 and a year later he broke out like a hurricane: he won the Mallorca Challenge, the Basque Country, the Klasika Primavera, the Agostinho Trophy, the Ordizia and Aragón Clásica before facing a Vuelta España plethoric: he finished third, after

and

, scoring two stages and qualifying for the Combinada.

At the age of 22 he was selected by

for the Hamilton Road World Championship.

In his debut he surprised with the achievement of the silver medal.

The gold, for

.

In his World Cup baptism he never separated from

, two-time world champion.

There was born a relationship with ups and downs.

served as a splendid pitcher at the 2004 Verona World Cup, in which Freire added his third and last gold.

They shared World Cups six times, the last in 2012, in Valkenburg, in which Valverde won bronze and which was a disappointing farewell for Freire, who was looking for his fourth title and finished tenth.

The Cantabrian said that in the last ascent of the Cauberg he did not feel supported by the national team.

He did not say it, but he pointed to Valverde.

He also pointed out

in the World Cup the following year, in Florence, which he blamed for not getting gold.

And it is that in 20 years of his career there were also tears.

The doping wound took time to heal.

Unforgettable his steps through the operating room due to falls in Düsseldorf at the start of the 2017 Tour de France and in the 2021 Vuelta a España.

THE MOST COMPLETE RUNNER

Setbacks that did not prevent him from adorning a luxurious record of 133 victories.

Record in Spanish cycling.

According to Pro Cycling Stats, the second on this list would be the sprinters

, with 125, and

, 124. The world record belongs to

, with 286. The second,

, 166.

Eusebio Unzué says that he has never had such a complete runner, and that people like

and

have passed through his squad .

''Valverde is very versatile, with options for victory on all grounds.

There was nothing to distract him.

He was always careful with his diet and never stopped training”, explains the Movistar manager.

Eddy Merckx has said that the one who most resembled him was Alejandro because from the beginning to the end of the campaign he fought for victories in all scenarios.

His service record includes conquests in large and medium rounds, in one-day tests, in the mountains, in time trials, sprints, in classics and World Championships.

He enters the list of the best Spanish cyclists in history, along with Indurain,

,

, Delgado and

.

Purito Rodríguez goes further: ''In terms of results, he is in the top 5 in the world, only surpassed by Merckx, Indurain,

and

.

He was always a very difficult opponent to beat because of that incredible top speed.

''He has been active for so long because he enjoyed riding the bike.

He has reached the end of the season in great shape.

I have a bet with a friend and I say that he still hasn't folded.

I advise you to enjoy now, that everything that has happened has not been easy, with many days away from home, experiencing misery,'' explains Purito.

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