By Antonio J. Salmerón
Victor Cordero, the general manager of Vuelta a España organizer Unipublic, has summed up the race. Cordero told Cyclingnews that there weren't any riders that could animate the race. He analysed that the race had two phases. "The first one was marked by physical exploits, until the Pyrenees. The second part was more tactical, where the same riders would start the races very relaxed. Although the last week was excellent," the manager added to indicate that it wasn't too passive at all times.
There were times for spectacle, and it was very apparent when Luis Pérez attacked en route to his stage win in Ávila. "That even shook up the overall," Cordero showed himself content with adding the popular stage finish on the cobbled rises into the old town with its ancient walls that always make for a spectacular finish. Cordero also said "the Abantos played out well and we need to repeat that [in the future]," but recognized that "we are at the end of the season," when everybody is a bit tired.
When the subject of Alejandro Valverde and the UCI's attempts to exclude him from the Worlds came up, Cordero indicated that he would not have excluded anybody from the race. "We simply asked the teams to comply with the Code of Ethics and then those [the teams] decide who will come." The race manager also clarified that they aren't judges.
Cordero is looking forward to this week, as it will be an important one, not only because it will be known if Valverde can race or not. "We will also know what the UCI does with us [the Grand Tours, Giro, Tour and Vuelta]. And we will know if what they do with us is correct or not." At this point he wasn't sure how serious the offer of the UCI to let the Grand Tours leave the ProTour was. "The UCI made proposals to each of the three organizers, that aren't valid for all Grand Tours. We have told them [the UCI] what kind of cycling we want and why we aren't OK with the ProTour. The UCI already told us that the director of the committee will make a decision in the subject matter and not just empty talk."
Cordero revealed that it is very difficult to explain to people outside Spain that even though Operación Puerto happened in Spain, "we are more limited than anybody to make decisions because unfortunately we have a very rigid legislation, and the CSD, the reigning party in the government right now, needs to defend its citizens without identifying them."
