Teams 'relied on me to chase', according to Valverde

By Monika Prell

Alejandro Valverde, who finished second in yesterday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, lamented about his lack of fortune after having finished second also in Wednesday's Flèche Wallone. According to Marca, he commented: "Today, like Wednesday, I had very good sensations throughout the day and in the Côte of Saint-Nicolas, I was really good."

But like the other day, "When Di Luca and Schleck attacked, the other teams relied on me to chase, but I could not do the entire job alone and bring everybody in front. When I realised that the pace was not sufficiently high and that it was not possible to catch them, I attacked in the last hectometres to try to get them alone and I finished very fast but not sufficient to catch Di Luca."

However, he was content about his performances in the three Ardennes Classics. "It is obvious that we came here with the intention of winning one of the three races, but I am happy with two second places and the sixth one in the Amstel Gold Race. Anyway, the balance is very positive. All of the team did a great job and personally, I think that I must be satisfied with because I was there fighting for the victory in each of the races and proved that my victories of last year were not due to chance."

Now that the Spring Classics are over, the Spaniard also gave an outlook on the next three months: "Now I will take some rest before concentrating on the Tour de France, which I will prepare by racing the Dauphiné Libéré."