Spaniards have won the last two runnings of the Tour de France and there are plenty of reasons for thinking that Valverde can make it a hat-trick this year.
The 'Green Bullet' has a cracking CV - Classics wins in the La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege showing one dimension and second, third and fourth place finishes in the Vuelta a Espana another.
He also heads into this year's race as the man in form too after an impressive success in the Dauphine Libere, the big warm-up race for the Tour de France.
But success in the Tour itself has largely proved elusive.
When he blazed to victory on the climb to Courchevel in 2005 ahead of Lance Armstrong anything looked possible but within a week he was out of the race with tendonitis and the following year a broken collarbone meant he never got further than stage three.
However things started to change last year as he completed for the first time with a sixth-placed finish and it could have been so much better but for a shocking time trial in Albi.
So this year's route, with just two-time trials (and only 82km in distance) should favour Valverde more than most.
His preparation couldn't have gone much better either - early on he won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege for a second time, as well as finishing in front in the Tour of Murcia and Paris-Camembert.
But it was his victory in the Dauphine Libere which suggested everything is in place for a sustained attack on the yellow jersey.
That was underlined by the fact that it was the time trial - an area of weakness in the recent past - which saw him vault to the top of the standings.
The slight question mark against him is whether he can maintain his form into the third week of the race but this year's route looks to have given him a great chance.
