Former World Tour pro road racer and current gravel pro Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team Gravel Squad) started La Quebrantahuesos, Spains’s most important amateur gran fondo, last Sunday as a guest of honor wearing bib #1. Five hours later, after decimating the peloton of 10,000 riders, a solo Valverde crossed the finish line smiling and grinning from ear-to-ear in 1st place, while also setting a new course record.

Participants and fans alike were not amused with Valverde’s behavior.

Unlike other great cycling stars who have participated in La Quebrantahuesos (Alberto Contador, Pedro Delgado, Miguel Induráin, Joseba Beloki, Ivan Basso, Fernando Escartín and Abraham Olano), Valverde was not satisfied with spending a day riding with fans.

He had a need to compete – against amateurs.

For 200 kilometers Valverde, 43, rode the event all out, seemingly with a goal of adding a gran fondo title to his already impressive 133 pro victories – including a World Road Race Championship. Primarily riding solo or towing the field, Valverde finished the race, with over 3500 meters of climbing, in 5:14:30 at an average speed of 38 k/hr. In addition, he pulverized the course record that stood for sixteen years by seven minutes.

For many of the 10,000 amateur cyclists who paid to participate (a guest of honor usually gets free entry), Valverde’s behavior was very questionable. Soon afterwards a firestorm of criticism on Twitter came raining down on the former world champion.

@AngelMendezR: “Bad VERY BAD, the cyclosportives are not to show off among fans, you run it YES, but you go up, you go down, you say hello, you push a little, you ease up…”

@Segismu26045381: “Very good Valverde, thanks for unnecessarily blowing up a 100% amateur test with a top level of professional. You’re going to be your own legend.”

@jose_jositox: ”I’m the number 1 fan of @alejanvalverde But this doesn’t work for me. La Quebrantahuesos is a cyclosportive that I myself, a miserable fan, have ridden. And my admired Bala, a few months ago you won pro events.”

@aaronbombardino: “Seriously Alejandro, if you want to continue competing, do it with athletes of your level [like 50 year-old Davide Rebellin]. Is it because there are no Pro teams that would be delighted for you to run with them? Why?”

@kujulen: “Pure and hard egocentrism… Valverde… you have gone too far and I have always been a Valverdista.”

Although Valverde seemed proud of the La Quebrantahuesos results, Team Movistar did not mention the amateur gran fondo win on social media – unlike his recent gravel pro/elite category victories

This is not the first time Valverde’s integrity and behavior has been questionable, as a pro road rider Valverde was linked by DNA evidence to the 2006 Operación Puerto drug doping ring, which implicated 40 pro riders. Subsequently, he was stripped of his #1 UCI world ranking and suspended for two years (2010-2011).

Photo Credit: Twitter/La Quebrantahuesos

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