Valverde arrives at the head of the selection

Mathieu Warnier, Media365, published on Thursday January 23, 2025 at 7:10 p.m.

Two years after hanging up his bike, Alejandro Valverde has agreed to take the position of coach of the Spanish road Cycling team.

Alejandro Valverde will return to business. The former world champion ended his career in 2022 and launched into gravel, a discipline in which he took fourth place in the world championships in 2023 and in which he is vice-champion of Spain. But the native of Murcia has always kept an eye on a discipline that has punctuated his life for more than 20 years and he intends to put his experience at the service of the younger generation. Indeed, Alejandro Valverde has agreed to take charge of the Spanish road cycling selection, thus succeeding Pascual Momparler, in office since 2019. While the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) has not communicated on this subject, the the interested party confirmed with the daily As that everything was in place for a contract covering the next four seasons, until the end of 2028. For Alejandro Valverde, an arrival at the head of the national team was “a question of time” but certain obstacles had to be removed.

Valverde banks on his experience

There is in particular that of the former rider's contract with the Movistar team, whose colors he wears in gravel events. “We didn't want to rush either, because at the end of the day, it's the national team, but there was also the question of Movistar,” he confided in the columns of the daily As. Well, finally we're going to see it all through, and I'm thrilled. » An appointment that the Murcian sees as “a great challenge”, ensuring that his experience made the difference. “The fact of not only winning the world championship, but also being the most decorated rider in history, that also means something,” added Alejandro Valverde. Being a runner is not the same thing as being a national team coach, but it is similar. » While the French team has enjoyed a plethora of success under the orders of Thomas Voeckler since 2019, Spain will hope to be able to do the same with its new coach.