Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Valls happy about 2010, ready for 2011 challenge

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Parent Category: Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Category: News 2010

Published on Thursday, 28 October 2010 10:04

Written by Luca Salvatelli

Spaniard Rafael Valls became one of the biggest revelations in Spanish cycling during the 2010 season as he completed a sensational Tour de France, with many stages into dangerous breakways and a second place in the stage up to Les Rousses. Those merits took him into a plane to Paris in order to attend the 2011 route presentation with the rest of the FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI expedition. Valls declares to feel “proud on taking a seat in Paris within the very best in the international peloton and counting on consideration from Tour organisers. I was surprised to get invited, i could have never expected it. I wanted to meet Denis Menchov and both Carlos Sastre and him brought me a good impression," he said.

The rider from Cocentaina, now recovered from physical exhaustion that took him out of the Vuelta a España, is starting to train on normality. His sudden season end was the final point for a year full of ups and downs: “It was a shame, because 2010, the season I went pro in, was the very first year I went into injuries. In general it was a season of contrast: it started off well, with the victory in San Luis, but then the injury in Langkawi and the hit in Romandy took me hard to recover until the Tour de Suisse. There, I felt myself well and I could race the Tour on top condition, but everything went bad at the end of the year and I think I could have do more.” For Valls, “even more than the win in San Luis or the breaks in France, the best moment of the season for me was the day when I knew I would be racing the Tour, and specially when I arrived into Rotterdm with all the atmosphere before and during the race. Those were beautiful days."

Next season-wise, the new, important goals and the knowledge by veteran teammates are on the young Spaniard's focus: “It's obvious that Denis and Carlos are really experienced riders, and I'll have to profit and learn as much as possible from them in this new season. The objective is to shine in the one-week stageraces right from the start of the spring, such as Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico, and then fighting for a place into the Tour de France lineup. My goal there will be first helping Sastre and Menchov, and then trying to show my real condition as a free rider."