Although he missed out on the last stages of the Tour de Suisse after abandoning because of a throat infection, Illes Balears' Alejandro Valverde has "good feelings about the Tour" according to Spanish newspaper AS. After stage four of the Swiss pre-Tour de France test, Valverde had a light fever. "It wasn't very important," he said, "but my team director Eusebio Unzué decided that it was better to take me out of the race. With my body working to fight off the infection, it was better not to make efforts that I might have paid for afterwards," Valverde explained.
The Spanish Tour de France hope has been getting back to training yesterday, and is hopeful his form will be satisfactory for July. "During the race, I felt better than I had actually hoped for. Of course, I still have to increase my level of fitness before the Tour de France," Valverde conveyed. "I thought that I would lack the rhythm of competition in Switzerland [season's break - ed.] but on Monday I found myself with the seven or eight best riders going flat out in front. I could have tried to win that stage, but there was a descent before the finish and I didn't want to risk anything. But being right inside the fight gave my the confidence that I'm doing well."
