Prior to his Worlds win, he already held the record for most medals won at World Championships - he twice collected the silver medal in the World Championships, in 2003 and 2005, as well as the bronze four times in 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
As of 2019, Valverde has placed in the Top 10 of a Grand Tour nineteen times.
Valverde is rare in combining different specialities in road bicycle racing, being a strong climbing specialist, sprinter and a good time-trialist.
The online database Cycling Ranking ranks him as the 4th best cyclist of all time.
After a lengthy court battle, he was suspended for two years as part of the Operación Puerto blood doping investigation, but he returned to competition in 2012 upon completion of the ban.
All his results from 2010 were stripped, including the overall win in the 2010 Tour de Romandie, and he did not compete in 2011.