There are plenty of cliches out there about nothing lasting forever, but five years represent an eternity in the intense world of Classics racing. So when Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) failed to triumph in La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday for the fifth April in a row, it represented a shocking defeat with a capital S. But if Valverde was disappointed, he did not show it too much, pointing out afterwards that he had been the rider that ran Alaphilippe the closest and promised to return to the fray in the years to come. At the same time, as Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Soudal), the other rider on the Flèche Wallonne podium pointed out, from the moment the race had tackled the Mur for the first time, and the attacks began to rain down on Movistar, `it had felt different to other years.ADVERTISEMENT `For the first time in five years, it was as if we all realised that to beat Valverde; we had to put him under pressure well before the finish.` Sitting in the press conference, where - to his immense credit - Valverde seemed as happy to answer questions after finishing second as he had done when he won, the Movistar leader recognised that it had been a higher-pressure race than other years. `Everybody raced hard against me, but it was clear that I was the man to beat, and that`s normal. At the start of the race, I was the big favourite. But I`m still going away feeling pleased with how I raced because I did everything I could.
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