The abandonment of Miguel Ángel López (Astana) from the Giro d’Italia leaves Colombian cycling, to the Astana team and to the same race ‘seeing a spark plug’.
He came to the competition looking to shake off that bad fortune that has haunted him in recent years in the big three (Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España), who have seen him walk out the back door four times in the last two years.
It may interest you: (Miguel Ángel ‘Supermán’ López: his long and painful history of misfortunes)
López has dropped out of the Giro in 2019 and 2020, the Tour and the Vuelta in 2021leaving a tremendous gap and without meeting the objectives.
Very complicated
Of those withdrawals, since the one from the Tour was due to an order from the Movistar team and the one from the Vuelta due to a ‘chiripiorca’ of his, when he decided to get off the bike without the endorsement of the technical directors of the group. The other abandonments, those of the Giro, were due to medical problems.
Health and hot-headed decisions have gone against your goals, to confirm the good cyclist he is, to put the signature to an excellent 2018 when he was on the podium in the Giro and in the Vuelta.
It is clear that since that year he has not been the same, at least in the matter of fighting for the generals of the most important races.
Colombia is orphaned in the Italian race, just in the fourth stage, because the runner left who, of the six who started last Friday in Hungary, he was the only one who had options to fight to get on the podium, in Rome.
López was a candidate for the title, to win stages, to be the protagonist, and without him, the Colombians who remain in competition have to search for it.
There remains the option of winning final stages with Fernando Gaviria (UAE Emirates) and perhaps one with a high mountain goal with Iván Sosa (Movistar), that can fight to be in the ‘top’ 10 of the general, but no more.
And the general?
Gaviria –you can see– has improved, and was already third in last Sunday’s stage. Is near. Sosa the tour suits him. If he is good and runs smart, he can win a fraction, but reaching the final podium seems very complicated, almost impossible.
Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain) is the best Colombian overall, he has completed the course, but he is conditioned because it is support for Mikel Landa and Pello Bilbao to fight in the general classification.
López’s new retirement is hard for him, for Colombia and for an Astana that in the fourth stage was ruined with his abandonment and Vincenzo Nibali’s loss of time.
It may interest you: (Miguel ‘Supermán’ López: what comes after his retirement from the Giro d’Italia?)
Lisandro Rengifo
Editor of THE TIME
@lisandroabel
#Miguel #Ángel #López #Giro #options #Colombia