Alejandro Valverde expects the best results at the UCI Gravel World Championship, but one aspect of his earlier long career flies in the ointment on Sunday

Valverde has been training in Italy for the World Championship since Tuesday after taking a gravel race for his longtime Movistar team after he retired from the road.

However, despite the success in multiple gravel races in Spain, Valverde recently told the newspaper that he fears that the lack of speed in dealing with a machine born for many years to repair a punk and have the next team car on the road to do that particular task for him could be a problem .

While tipping Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) as the top favorite, Valverde estimated that his chances of success in his own world were only 20 to 1. But, as he said in an interview, "That 5% chance is still there."The good thing is that I still enjoy cycling and I want people to enjoy cycling," he said. "At the end of the day, you see a race like the European Gravel Championship and you see how many good riders are coming of the road race It will be the same kind of scenario, or perhaps even more so in the world.

Speaking before the final countdown round of training began, Valverde said his feelings were "good, but I'm realistic too." One thing is competing in general and the other is competing with all the pros who are still racing. Any World Championship is fast paced and very difficult. It will look like Strade Bianche, but there are more off-road sections."

Valverde has conscientiously prepared his material for the gravel world, he said, with a build-up of more than two weeks. But he admitted that keeping his bike out of trouble would form an important factor to stay in the competition: something true for any athlete, as Valverde sees it, is more important for him, as a former roadie, than any other rival.

"My aim is to do the best I can and not cause corruption or crashes.

As Valverde told the as, some rivals may have problems such as punctures, but "they are standing up again and moving away.""When it comes to repairing punctures at high speed, Valverde said, "It will take a little more time because I have little idea how to do it."

As for the switch from road to gravel, Valverde said that the general technical factor was the one that caused him the most problems, Especially in descending order and single track. He said he was improving in those areas, but when it came to his chance on Sunday, in his opinion, especially road racers had already stood their heads and shoulders above the rest of the field.

"I like Van Aalto the most," Valverde said. "It is impossible to be more ready than him. I think he will win.

"Of course there is what happens in the race itself, but if he has no problems and strange things don't happenち there's nothing he can't do well.

"I have my own expectations, but as you know, I should not be too bad if I'm competitive and without problems. But you have to be realistic and there is a 95% chance that I won't...It leaves a percentage of 5%."

Now 43, after such a long career, it was like a standing joke that Valverde's continued on gravel could herald a comeback on the road. But he denied that it was the case, despite having some doubts when he first cut the wheels on his road.

"It was hard at first - I said to myself, I'm doing well here. But when you weigh the pros and cons, you see that there may be many disadvantages."

"You will see that it will be harder to win for one thing. And you realize that there are seven or eight riders who are really monopolizing it all and winning all the most important races, anyway."