Valverde: Anything can happen in Tour de France

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Alejandro Valverde has come out of the Tour de Suisse with confidence for the Tour de France. “We will go for the overall title” in France, the Movistar rider said. He said that while he was impressed with Fränk Schleck in Switzerland, Bradley Wiggins remains the favourite to win, and he does not discount defending champion Cadel Evans.

For the Spaniard to win the Tour “will be difficult, especially because the course is not the best for my talents, but you have to go with high aspirations,” he told marca.com.  “Because anything can happen.”

Because of the many time trial kilometers in the Tour, “I see Wiggins and Evans. This year the Englishman won't fail, but the Tour is unlike any other race and Evans has extensive experience.”

Valverde was astonished by Schleck's performance in the Tour de Suisse.  “To follow him was impossible.  He rode very easily, the strongest by far, but I think he is too good too soon.”

The Spaniard is skipping this weekend's national championships, in which he was to ride both the road race and the time trial.  The Tour de Suisse “was very hard and now it is essential to recover well before the Tour.  The trouble is not the championships but the travelling.”