Cycling: Although February is the shortest month of the year with only 28 days, the pros presented us with some exciting races. We have selected the three cycling highlights of February. Also present: Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and the teams Quick-Step Floors and Astana.
Valverde also makes a top comeback from injury at 37
Coming back from an injury and getting back to your old self is hard enough. At the age of 37 as an athlete, it is all the more difficult. But this doesn't seem to be a problem for Alejandro Valverde. The captain of Team Movistar broke his kneecap and ankle when he fell in the prologue of the 2017 Tour de France. Before that, he had started a season more successfully than ever before. Suddenly the end of his career threatened. But Alejandro Valverde came back – and how! At the Tour of Valencia he won two stages and the general classification. He also secured the Abu Dhabi Tour with his Victory on the last stage. As usual, the Spaniard impressed us with his irresistible acceleration, which almost seems like a sprint uphill. We can be curious to see what Valverde can achieve in the Ardennes classics and what role he will play in the Tour de France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FPAUP-cT7E
Quick-Step Floors is once again driving everything into the ground in cycling
The Quick-Step Floors team racked up an unbelievable 56 victories last season. However, since three well-known professionals left the team in winter with Marcel Kittel, Matteo Trentin and Daniel Martin, one could not necessarily count on a repetition. But the team is already well on the way there again. It's the end of February and we've already seen twelve successes from Quick-Step Floors in 2018. In this month alone, the team was allowed to celebrate nine times. At the Tour of Colombia they won the first four stages. Eli Viviani won the Appreciation of the Dubai Tour and two stages against well-known competitors. And also the one-day race Le Samyn went impressively to Quick-Step Floors with first and second place. You can't win much more in February cycling. The decisive phase of the cycling season is yet to come. As a self-proclaimed classic team, the months of March and April will be particularly important. In any case, the team is already in good shape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pkX2W88sgc
Astana gets the maximum out of the squad of drivers
As an exception, we listed two teams in our Top 3 in February. Because in addition to the Quick-Step Floors team, the Kazakh team Astana is also absolutely convincing. Although Astana suffers from financial problems, it doesn't seem to have any performance impact. The team was able to win six victories in February, some of them not insignificant. Michael Valgren won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Alexey Lutsenko secured the overall ranking of the Tour of Oman. Particularly impressive: on the fifth stage, Astana completely destroyed the field, at times the three of them were in front. In the end there was a double victory by Miguel Angel Lopez and Alexey Lutsenko. Furthermore, newcomer Magnus Cort Nielsen won the fourth stage of the Tour of Oman, Moreno Moser the Trofeo Laigueglia and Luis Leon Sanchez the Vuelta a Murcia. We shouldn't forget that Team Astana also lost their undisputed captain in Fabio Aru in the winter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFaapB8MaLg