Alejandro Valverde looking positive to get back on track at the Tour de France 2012
Alejandro Valverde of Team Movistar struggled at the opening prologue of the Tour de France and is optimistic to find his form during the coming stages of the race.
Team Movistar Manager Eusebio Unzue was expecting better results from the team leader, “Alejandro didn’t do a good prologue, that’s obvious,” he voiced.
However, he was also confident that the Spaniard will justify his selection during the upcoming stages of the Tour.
Unzue briefed that Valverde was only six seconds down the race leader Fabian Cancellara and he is pretty much capable of cutting down the gap for the overall classifications.
“Today he will be hoping to take advantage of the opportunity that this first uphill finish gives him, just as Gilbert, Simon, Sagan and even Evans will,” he noted before the start of the stage 1.
“There’s going to be quite a few riders who fancy their chances today. We will be working to make sure that he’s got the chance to take advantage of this opportunity”.
“He will have Imanol [Erviti] and [José Joaquín] Rojas with him trying to make sure that he’s in the right position”.
The 32-year-old is having a god season with couple of tremendous performances during the first half of the year.
He secured the first overall position at the Vuelta a Andalucia, second overall at the Santos Tour Under and occupied the third overall position during the Paris-Nice 2012.
Alejandro won stages at all the mentioned events including the point’s classifications and a combination classifications victory at the Vuelta a Andalucia 2012.
He came up with an improved performance during the 198 kilometre stage 1 of the Tour de France and finished at the sixth position.
Peter Sagan of Team Liquigas-Cannondale grabbed the top position with the prologue winner Fabian Cancellara of Team RadioShack-Nissan finishing second.
Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky Procycling, Philippe Gilbert of Team BMC and Bauke Mollema of Team Rabobank occupied the third, the fourth and the fifth positions respectively.
Team Movistar cyclist is currently holding the 39th overall position after the stage 1 classifications.
He is 35 second behind the race leader Fabian Cancellara and is a definite podium contender after the final general classifications.
Tags: