Alejandro Valverde, Spanish cyclist
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Movistar Team. Valverde's biggest wins have been the Vuelta a España in 2009, Critérium du Dauphiné in 2008 and 2009, Tour of the Basque Country in 2017, Volta a Catalunya in 2009, 2017 and 2018, Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2006, 2008, 2015 and 2017, La Flèche Wallonne in 2006, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, the Clásica de San Sebastián in 2008 and 2014, the 2006 and 2008 UCI ProTours, the 2014 and 2015 UCI World Tours, and the road race in the 2018 World Championships.
Overall, Valverde has 131 professional wins. Prior to his Worlds win, he already held the record for most medals won at World Championships – he twice collected the silver medal in the World Championships, in 2003 and 2005, as well as the bronze four times in 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2014. As of 2021, Valverde has entered thirty grand tours, finished twenty-five of them and placed in the Top 10 of a grand tour on twenty occasions. He also shares the record for most wins in the Points Competition in Vuelta history with Sean Kelly and Laurent Jalabert.
Valverde is rare in combining different specialties in road bicycle racing, being a strong climbing specialist, sprinter and a good time-trialist. The online database Cycling Ranking ranks him as the 4th most successful cyclist of all time.