Recently un-retired Alejandro Valverde wins his first race back

Alejandro Valverde is back, and has won his first race back, La Indomable. Valverde, who recently announced he’d be returning to competition after just retiring in 2022, took the 105 km race in Berja, Spain on Sunday. He finished almost five minutes ahead of Ismael Esteban Agüero (Logos Energía). In third was British CX champion Cameron Mason (Trinity Racing). Mason cheekily wrote about Valverde on Twitter.

“I rode smooth almost caught 2nd place by the line. here was no catching the winner, apparently he used to be a good bike rider.”

3rd in the first UCI Gravel World Series of the year at La Indomable. 2.5hr of straight climbing from the start then a flat out descent to the finish 🤯 I rode smooth almost caught 2nd place by the line. There was no catching the winner, apparently he used to be a good bike rider pic.twitter.com/fG4TMzOOtm

— Cameron Mason (@camerooney_) April 23, 2023

Valverde broke away in the first 2 km and kept increasing his lead, including up the biggest climb of the day, a 25 km ascent. This was the first of 16 events of the Trek UCI Gravel World Series calendar.
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The Spaniard, who rode for Movistar for 12 years, is now part of its new gravel team. The kit is similar to the WorldTour team, except for brown shorts. Because gravel.

💙 Muy contento por cómo ha ido todo el fin de semana de debut en gravel. Gracias a la organización de La Indomable y a @Movistar_Team por su trabajo en este nuevo #MovistarTeamGravelSquad.

📷 José Luis Arce pic.twitter.com/VZ2YUqXRyX

— alejandro valverde (@alejanvalverde) April 23, 2023