Despite Nairo Quintana’s announcement not to run the Vuelta a Españawhich starts this Friday with a 23 km team time trial in Utrecht (The Netherlands), Colombia has a good chance of fighting for the podium.
Quintana decided not to compete, to dedicate himself to his defense, after being disqualified from the Tour de Francebecause in his doping control analyzes the substance tramadol was found.
(Nairo Quintana: the arguments he would have to save himself from the sanction in the TAS)
(Vuelta a España 2022: what are Colombians going for? Analysis)
This is not a case of doping, since tramadol is not on the list of the World Anti-Doping Agency, but it is on the UCI list.
In the end there will be seven riders from the country taking part in this test, and among them Miguel Angel ‘Superman’ Lopez and Sergio Higuita They are emerging as those who will have that opportunity to go for the general classification.
And the option is latent, because in the batch of favorites there are no giants like Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, that are two steps above the others. and the favorite is Primoz Roglic, which is a big unknown.
Roglic withdrew from the Tour de France at the start of last week. It was said that the blow he received on the pavé day, in the first week, affected two vertebrae, but his team, Jumbo Visma, never confirmed it.
His real condition is not known and if those 33 days without competing could play tricks on him, but these category cyclists face great challenges to win and not just to participate.
‘Superman’, to fly
López comes from overcoming a problem with his team, which separated him for a few days while the issue of his connection to the Ilex operation in Spain, for trafficking prohibited drugs.
Superman has experience, he comes to the race with the precedent of last year, when he retired on matchday 20 without the endorsement of the sports directors, which ended in a great scandal and with the breaking of his contract, which linked him by two years more to that group.
Your story here is good. He has won three stages (2017, twice, and last year) and, in addition, he was third overall in 2018, surpassed by Chris Froome, champion, and Vincenzo Nibali, second, since that year he hasn’t been on the podium in a big one.
He is an excellent climber, he always goes on the offensive and after abandoning the past Italy spin Due to a muscular problem in his right leg, he arrives at the Vuelta with the desire to remove the nail.
Higuita to confirm her great year
Higuita has been the most regular Colombian of the year. Harvest five victories: stage in the Tour of the Algarve, Tour of Romandie, Tour of PolandNational Route and title in the Tour of Catalonia.
For him, running the Vuelta is special, as it was his first major in his career and he won stage 18 of 2019.
He is a good climber, he knows how to position himself in the pack, he fights against the best and has improved in the effort against the clock.
Buitrago is the card of Bahrain. A week ago the Spanish cyclist Mikel Landa, the leader of that group, warned that he did not feel that he would arrive with options to fight for the general, so the way is open for the Colombian.
They worked for him in the last Vuelta a Burgos, in which he won the first stage, he was the leader, but at the end of the race he did not respond.
Buitrago has gained confidence and ranks within Bahrain, after his 12th place in the Giro d’Italia and the stage victory that ended in Lavarone.
He is an excellent climber, a long-distance runner, because in that Giro he not only sought partial victory, but also did his job as a domestique to help Landa get on the third podium spot.
The EF team will have Rigoberto Urán and Esteban Chaves, two riders with experience and wanting to do a good job. Urán did not have a good Tour, he crashed in the first days and finished 23rd, so he has the opportunity to recover the good feelings.
He will do his seventh Vuelta, a competition in which he has not done well compared to his performances in the Giro and in the Tour. Urán’s best performance in Spain has been seventh place overall in 2017 and he hasn’t won any stages.
Chaves has had a good year. He is not the winning runner of previous seasons, but he has given him up. He was second in the road nationals individual time trial and second in the distance test.
In his first year with the EF in Europe he finished ninth in the Tour of Norway, second on the climb to the Mont Ventoux and seventh in the Critérium Dauphiné.
Then come Juan Sebastián Molano, who will work for the partial triumphs of the packer Pascal Ackermann at the UAE Emirates, and Harold Tejada, Lopez’s right hand man at Astana.
The clock, the key
It is clear that the mountainous route favors the interests of Colombian cycling, but it is also evident that nothing is discovered that those 30 km to the clock on the first day of the second week are the Achilles’ heel.
The key will be to reduce and increase differences in the mountains, there are eight high finishes for that, and minimize losses on that crucial day.
Colombians will also have to deal with Richard Carapaz, who will be the leader of Ineos, alongside Pavel Sivakov. The Ecuadorian, everything indicates, will make his last big with the British group.
Jai Hindley, champion of the Giro d’Italia, It could be another of the Bora de Higuita cards. He arrives without pressure, with enough time to have prepared the Vuelta, after his title in the Giro.
Joao Almeida can be another letter. The Portuguese from the UAE Emirates warned that he has not been able to recover the pedal stroke to face the Vuelta, but it should not be ruled out.
The Vuelta is the three-week race that has given Colombia the most wins and that loot may increase this time. It will not be easy, but there is a lot of choice and you have to take advantage of it.
(Miguel ‘Angel ‘Supermán’ López does not lie before the Vuelta a España)
(Nairo Quintana’s father, after sanction: ‘Europeans have us as drug addicts’)
Lisandro Rengifo
editor of TIME
@lisandroabel
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