2005-2020: Illes / Caisse / Movistar Team
2002-2004: Kelme
Simply the best
FROM AN INJURY, TO A RAINBOW DREAM. Seven months after his brutal crash in the 2017 Tour de France, and following many long weeks of recovery, Valverde was able to win again -2018 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana- when many had called his career over. Ironically, that was his best season ever, with pure class and commitment leading him to 14 victories, a palmarès crowned with the success he had always dreamt of and aimed for: becoming world champion in Innsbruck (30 September 2018).
THE LAST DANCE? Even though you never known with ‘Bala’, it really seems like 2021, his nineteenth season as a pro, will be the last, after a difficult 2020 where the long pandemic stop took its toll on Alejandro. He showed again great regularity in both the Tour (12th) and La Vuelta (10th), yet was left without any victories, with a 2nd place from the winter, back in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, as best result. Seeking to improve from that bitter taste -he already went on long-range moves in La Vuelta (3rd in Villanueva de Valdegovía) to make up for it- and getting some wins in his allegedly last season will be a big goal.
THE LAST BIG CHALLENGE: TOKYO. He will seek in 2021 to compete in what will be his fifth and final Olympic Games, the highest point of his season. At La Vuelta, where he obtained last year his twentieth overall top-ten result last year, will finish, barring any surprise, the GT appearances of Valverde, who signed with Abarca Sports as an ambassador through the end of 2024 as part of his last contract back in 2019.
His biggest passion remains his family, who joins him at the finish of many races. His wife is Natalia; his five kids are called Iván, Alex (twins), Pablo, Natalia and the recently born -during the 2020 La Vuelta- Alessandra. A man loyal to his roots, he’s been born, raised and lives in Murcia, and admits that, even if people around the world tries to make him comfortable wherever he goes, he wouldn’t feel as good in any other place rather than home.
His rivals’ parents when he was a young child called him ‘El Imbatido’ (‘The Unbeaten One’) because of his voracious character on the bike. He started racing at age 9, and from 11 to 14 years old he snatched 50 consecutive victories. The nickname he likes the most is a word game with his last name: ‘Balaverde’.
His endless palmarès doesn’t include the day he enjoyed the most on a bike. He always recalls his first Worlds appearance, in Hamilton (Canada), where he took silver behind compatriot Igor Astarloa. “It was really the achievement I hold dearest because of everything around that race”, he remembers.
