Valverde to hold Vuelta form until Worlds

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After 79 days of competition this season and having raced Tour de France, the Olympic Games and the Vuelta a España this summer, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is still motivated to hold his form another two weeks to participate in the World Championships in Valkenburg, the Netherlands. The Spaniard, who just finished second overall at the Vuelta, is looking forward to some well-deserved rest this week, but remains excited about the Worlds road race course and the opportunities it may offer to the Spanish team.

"It may sound untrue, but I finished this Vuelta still feeling eager to race, and I'm going to the Worlds with a lot of ambition," the Movistar rider told Bicicilismo. "After all these hard days, I still want more and I think I can do well in the Netherlands. To win will be difficult, but I think I have the legs."

An Ardennes Classics specialist, Valverde knows the roads of the Worlds course well from having finished on the podium of Amstel Gold Race once, in 2008. Together with Vuelta winner Alberto Contador, overall third-placed Joaquim Rodriguez and triple world champion Oscar Freire, Spain will have a strong contingent in Valkenburg two weeks from now.

"But this week will all be about total recovery," the 32-year-old meanwhile admitted. "It's better to rest well and to do good training rides on the week of the Championships, than to continue to strain the body right away."