Alejandro Valverde returns to the podium of the Tour de France

Almost a month of competition in the hardest race of the international calendar has concluded for Alejandro Valverde and his teammates in Movistar Team from the top of the podium in Paris. One more year, after getting it in 2015 and 2016, the Spanish team climbed up to the box of the winners of the Tour de France, thanks to the good level of the whole team during 21 stages.

The Murcian cyclist finished the Tour a year after the hard fall suffered in the prologue of Dusseldorf, which kept him away from the competition for more than half a year. He did it by completing a good race, supporting his teammates and attacking from far away both in the Alps and in the Pyrenees, looking for movements that would benefit the interests of Movistar Team.

Quotes: I was one of three designated leaders at the start, but honestly, everyone knew I wasn’t – it was Mikel and Nairo who were leading the team. I had got eleven victories and four GC wins before the Tour, so I came here to support them. We attacked from afar in order to help them out, we left everything on the road. I had fun, I suffered – there was lots of different things in this Tour. In the end, we won a stage, we got Mikel and Nairo into the top ten, we’re going to win the team prize – I feel it’s a great result for us. Now it’s some rest for me, enjoying some holiday and then thinking about the Vuelta – which will all be about the World Championships.