Cycling: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) has left veteran Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) behind in an uphill finish on the second stage of the Tour of Valencia. As a result, the Slovenian also takes the lead in the overall standings.
Pogacar conquers the uphill king
applied for over a decade Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) as the king of uphill sprints. The Spaniard now seems to be slowly but surely losing this monopoly. In the past he had trouble against Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) now and again Tadej pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) another competitor to focus on. 18 years separate Tadej Pogacar and Alejandro Valverde. The Slovenian had the upper hand after 181,0 kilometers from Torrent to Cullera. At the same time, he also takes the lead in the overall standings. The places behind went to the same time Dylan teuns (Bahrain-McLaren), Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott).
Valverde will retire at the end of 2021
Even before today's second stage of the Tour of Valencia Alejandro Valverde expressed about his future. The Spaniard stated that he wanted to remain loyal to cycling as a professional rider until the end of 2021. After that - he reported to the sports newspaper AS - he will switch to the management of Movistar. Valverde has been riding for the Spanish team since 2005. But before he hangs up his bike, he still wants to win a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. He has already tried this in four participations – in vain.
Alejandro Valverde:
"I want to complete two more seasons at the highest level and then retire."
Don't remember the last time I saw Valverde losing an uphill sprint like this after getting it handed to him on a silver platter. It's a new world... pic.twitter.com/t70muQwQuM
— Mikkel Condé v2.0 (@mrconde) February 6, 2020