Valverde made his return to the peloton during the Tour Down Under, the first race of the UCI World Tour season. He won the race's fifth stage – the queen stage of the event – by out-sprinting 's Simon Gerrans in a two-man sprint in Willunga, and finished second overall. He earned his first overall victory since his return, by winning February's Vuelta a Andalucía, as well as achieving a stage victory during the race. Valverde also finished third in Paris–Nice, and by winning stage 3 showed good form for the upcoming Tour de France. In the Tour de France he sat casually in the peloton until initiating a breakaway in stage 17, which he held onto after breaking away from the other 16 riders in the breakaway. almost chased him down, ending only 19 seconds adrift; it was Valverde's fourth Tour de France stage victory. Valverde entered the Vuelta a España as a lieutenant to the defending champion Juan José Cobo in the . However, Valverde would soon become the leader when it became apparent that Cobo was not in top form. His started off with a victory in the first stage, a team time trial. Valverde would take the lead of the general, points and combination classifications after winning Stage 3, in which he chased down repeated attacks from Alberto Contador and outsprinted Joaquim Rodríguez at the finishing line. He would subsequently lose the lead to Rodríguez, but won the eighth stage atop the Collada de la Gallina in Andorra. Contador broke away from the small lead group and looked like he was heading for the win, but Rodríguez and Valverde passed him with less than to go, with Valverde taking the win. Valverde ultimately finished the Vuelta in second position overall after being a constant threat for the leader, which was Rodríguez until stage 17 where Contador soloed to victory and grabbed the lead, which he would not relinquish. Valverde won both the points and combination classification jerseys on the final day from Rodríguez as a result of a sixth-place finish on the very last stage in Madrid. Valverde had to settle for a bronze medal in the World Championships in Valkenburg, as he was unable to reach Philippe Gilbert who attacked on the final climb of the Cauberg. He was the first of a group of 27 riders who had a five seconds deficit on the Belgian when crossing the line.