If you are familiar with cycling, or at least if you follow events such as Le Tour de France or La Vuelta de España, it’s very likely that you have heard the name Alejandro Valverde at least a few times.

Alejandro Valverde, from “The Unbeaten” to “The Bullet”

Valverde took the cycling world by surprise a few years ago. However, the only ones that were not surprised by his successsare his parents. When he was 9 years old, he received his first bicycle from his father, and during his first outing he cycled 100 km (62 miles).

It didn’t take long for him to receive his first nickname. When Valverde was 9 years old he won the second race he participated in. From that moment on, his colleagues started referring to him as “The unbeaten” and the parents of his competitors begged him to participate in less races, so that other kids could win sometimes.

Alejandro Valverde winning the Fleche Wallonne

He debuted as professional cyclist on 2002 with the team Kelme-Costa Blanca after briefly cycling with the team Banesto. From that moment on, it became very frequent to see Valverde in the highest positions of the podium in most of the competitions he participates in. Naming all his achievements (which gave him the nickname of “The Bullet”) can take a long time, and although a lot of people think that he wins easily, Valverde claims that he is under a lot of pressure, both from the fans and also the press.

Valverde, however, is still being humble and says that winning is not easy as it not only depends on him, but also on many other different elements.

“Winning is difficult. Many times not only you need to be good, but also lucky, strong and keep a positive mentality”.

The Tour de France, the pending challenge for Alejandro Valverde

After competing in his first Tour de France where competitors such as Lance Armstrong were impressed he hasn’t stopped adding victories to his track record: on 2006 he won the Flèche Wallonne and the Lieja-Bastogne-Lieja; and on 2008 La Vuelta a Murcia, París-Camembert and The Clásica de San Sebastián en 2008.

After his temporary suspension, Valverde sign with the team Movistar, winning the Vuelta a Andalucía. Watching Valverde scoring high at the end of every stage in a big race has become a routine already, but we had to wait until 2015 to see him accomplishing one of his biggest dreams: to climb the podium at The Tour de France, where he ended up in third position.

Alejandro Valverde, first on the right

Valverde had a really good start this year. He won the Vuelta a Andalucía, the Vuelta a Castilla y León and on April 2016 he won his fourth Flèche Wallonne, being the first cyclist to accomplish this. Will Valverde finally climb the podium as winner of the Tour de France this year?

Below, a list of the most important victories of Alejandro Valverde. If you want to see the (impressive) complete list, you can do it on his website.

2016

1st of the overall classification of the Vuelta a Andalucía
1st Vuelta a Castilla y León
1st of the Flèche Wallonne

2015

1st of the Serra de Tramuntana Trophy (Challenge Mallorca)
1st of the Flèche Wallonne
1st of Liège-Bastogne-Liège
1st of the Road Spanish Championship
3rd of the final individual classification of the Tour de France
1st of the final teams classification of the Tour de France
1st of the overall points classification of the Vuelta a España

2014

1st of the Vuelta a Murcia1st of the final general classification of the Vuelta a Andalusia
1st of Roma Maxima
1st G.P. Miguel Indurain
1st of the Flèche Wallonne
1st of the Spanish Championship ITT
1st of the Clásica of San Sebastián
3rd of the final general classification of the Vuelta a España

2013