Many fans of Alejandro Valverde wondered why the 43-year-old Murcian, despite showing strength in gravel competitions, did not return to the road?
“I won’t lie, I seriously considered a comeback. My passion was riding a bike and being competitive. I missed venting and feeling useful,” he said. Valverde admits in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País.
“I still felt like a cyclist, and when the cyclists got on the bus after suffering, I always wanted to be there. 2023 was a bit for me to adapt, to lose more of the competition bug, which at first was very difficult.”
“I didn’t want to go to the races because I felt like a cyclist. I wanted to stop on a high, but the next year, the preseason started, and then the season, and you still feel good. So I wondered if I had stopped too early.”
Retirement in October 2022
Doubts arose as the Spaniard maintained a high level and the same motivation to train. After many years as a professional, he decided that 2022 would be his last on the road.
In the end, he returned to competition but on a different side of the sport, off-road. In fact, he finished fourth in the Gravel World Championship and will likely continue to wear the team colors in 2024, perhaps in Mountain Biking.
“It would be fun to ride mountain bike with Mathieu van der Poel. At 42, it’s certainly not too early, and as the year went by, I felt calmer, better, and less eager to participate. In the end, I never regretted stopping.”
“I took my foot off the gas a bit, and I’m not as strict anymore. I still train, and I still keep my weight a bit low. It’s not the weight I had when I competed, of course, but I’m fine. Since I started looking a bit fatter, I tell myself that I’m exaggerating,” concludes Alejandro Valverde.