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Miguel Ángel Lopez Discussion Thread

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Skijumper Roglic fan

Aug 28, 2021
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That is very, very disappointing. Bernal crashed, Quintana and MAL got fired. A bad year for the top Colombian GC riders.

Astana and MAL has been a success story from the beginning, so I hope MAL will return to Astana soon, and spend a third period there. The door at Astana will always be open for him. I‘m sure MAL will be cleared and declared „not guilty“, and then we‘ll see him back at his best. All we need is patience now.

Linked to Marcos Maynar, what does that mean? Would I be linked to Marcos Maynar if I breathed molecules of air that Marcos Maynar exhaled? Is Maynar the devil, or what?

No, he is not, IMHO. All they issue are rumours. You cannot believe this.
 
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Apparently MAL delivered a package of medicine to another person. That seems to be the most problematic thing now.

We don‘t know what was in the package. Maybe Aspirin or vitamines or similar stuff.

We repeatedly heard that Astana doesn‘t pay their riders in time, or doesn‘t pay all they have to pay according to rider contracts.

So my idea: maybe MAL repeatedly got paid too late and too less, by Astana. So MAL had to look for side jobs. One of these side jobs was delivering packages. One of his employers was Marcos Maynar. Astana now felt ashamed that their best paid rider has to deliver packages as his side job. Astana feared this would become public, and terminated MAL‘s contract.

What do you guys think about this scenario? Sounds realistic, doesn‘t it?…
 
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Berflamand

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Skijumper Roglic fan said:
Apparently MAL delivered a package of medicine to another person. That seems to be the most problematic thing now.

We don‘t know what was in the package. Maybe Aspirin or vitamines or similar stuff.

We repeatedly heard that Astana doesn‘t pay their riders in time, or doesn‘t pay all they have to pay according to rider contracts.

So my idea: maybe MAL repeatedly got paid too late and too less, by Astana. So MAL had to look for side jobs. One of these side jobs was delivering packages. One of his employers was Marcos Maynar. Astana now felt ashamed that their best paid rider has to deliver packages as his side job. Astana feared this would become public, and terminated MAL‘s contract.

What do you guys think about this scenario? Sounds realistic, doesn‘t it?…
Click to expand...

Yes, that seems to be the most plausible scenario.
 
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Bolder said:
In the grand scheme of cycling, that's not a bad tradeoff.

Astana could use some good publicity right now.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and it would be a quite funny end to a long story: I remember these days when T-Mobile became Stapleton‘s Columbia, who then worked hard to become this super clean team with best reputation (2008). Astana in 2008 was considered a team of villains, who weren‘t even allowed to ride the TdF that year (2008).

Columbia is long gone, Bob Stapleton left pro cycling, but Vino and Astana are still there. And Cav has made all the way from Columbia to finally Astana.

So, will he now win a record TdF stage #35 in Astana colours? The team who wasn‘t allowed to ride in 2008? It would be an epic story, IMHO. But a good story, also.

I like these stories. :) And I would like to see Cav riding for Astana. He would continue riding the biggest races, then!… :)
 
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Unchained

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I feel pretty disappointed by what looks like a disruption in momentum of Columbian cycling. Froome and others very encouraged by public support, quality of roads and terrain for early season feeder races..if the main draws are going to be debilitated from drug use and major accidents, don't know if public interest would remain or increase.
In the US.. when the popularity of the Tour of California caught some traction.. European based teams basically pushed out any chance to see domestic talent.. didn't seem that way in Columbia and getting a chance for South America talent to race against European racers,certainly gave credibility to Columbian races and racers..2 drug related issues is just too many given the total number of racers from the country..if big teams can't put systems in place to avoid drug problems.. Little tiny cycling federations like Columbia don't have a chance.. But the UCI needs to take some responsibility for allowing so many dopers to still play a role in the sport.. How Vino could be holding a moral compass is absolutely ridiculous.. If he is the guy telling you that your drug dealer doctor association is just too much for the team.. Wow how low can you go? Where to now Mr Lopez?
 
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Kaptain Kool

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Colombian cycling will be fine no matter what happens with Quintana or MAL. At the highest level, the country had 2 of the top 15 ranked riders. Both younger than NQ or MAL. At the local level, Vuelta a Colombia and Clasico RCN are bigger events and get better national coverage than any US race ever had... despite often only being NE races.
 
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Cookster15

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Unchained said:
I feel pretty disappointed by what looks like a disruption in momentum of Columbian cycling. Froome and others very encouraged by public support, quality of roads and terrain for early season feeder races..if the main draws are going to be debilitated from drug use and major accidents, don't know if public interest would remain or increase.
In the US.. when the popularity of the Tour of California caught some traction.. European based teams basically pushed out any chance to see domestic talent.. didn't seem that way in Columbia and getting a chance for South America talent to race against European racers,certainly gave credibility to Columbian races and racers..2 drug related issues is just too many given the total number of racers from the country..if big teams can't put systems in place to avoid drug problems.. Little tiny cycling federations like Columbia don't have a chance.. But the UCI needs to take some responsibility for allowing so many dopers to still play a role in the sport.. How Vino could be holding a moral compass is absolutely ridiculous.. If he is the guy telling you that your drug dealer doctor association is just too much for the team.. Wow how low can you go? Where to now Mr Lopez?
Click to expand...
Agree about Vino - hypocrite. But as for the fortunes of Colombian cycling what about Egan Bernal ? He’s Colombian and by what I read last week is looking promising ?
 
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Skijumper Roglic fan

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Skijumper Roglic fan said:
Apparently MAL delivered a package of medicine to another person. That seems to be the most problematic thing now.

We don‘t know what was in the package. Maybe Aspirin or vitamines or similar stuff.

We repeatedly heard that Astana doesn‘t pay their riders in time, or doesn‘t pay all they have to pay according to rider contracts.

So my idea: maybe MAL repeatedly got paid too late and too less, by Astana. So MAL had to look for side jobs. One of these side jobs was delivering packages. One of his employers was Marcos Maynar. Astana now felt ashamed that their best paid rider has to deliver packages as his side job. Astana feared this would become public, and terminated MAL‘s contract.

What do you guys think about this scenario? Sounds realistic, doesn‘t it?…
Click to expand...

I absolutely appreciate the many (13 at the moment) laughing reactions - makes me even proud a little bit… :) So, thank you to you guys!… :)

I just again started to think a little bit about the MAL „case“, and this package delivery.

First of all, I trust the word of the athlete, and am certain he did not transport anything illegal.

In fact, this really sounds totally weird. Most interesting question would then be: WHOM did MAL give this package? This has to be either a road pro who is even better than MAL, or an athlete from another sports, where they are more famous and earn more than cycling pros.

Someone like MAL (status, fame, income, success, and so on) would normally not transport a package for someone else. That is not something a top end world class pro athlete would do. He normally would not even deliver packages to his own teammates.

Someone like MAL would at the maximum transport/deliver packages to his close family.

This story is weird.

The thing is, MAL is a really interesting rider and person. His nickname, Vuelta abandon, apparent package delivery and so on have made him something like a „living legend“… :)

I hope his story continues. He‘s good for cycling, IMHO…
 
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mrgmyers

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Unchained said:
I feel pretty disappointed by what looks like a disruption in momentum of Columbian cycling. Froome and others very encouraged by public support, quality of roads and terrain for early season feeder races..if the main draws are going to be debilitated from drug use and major accidents, don't know if public interest would remain or increase.
In the US.. when the popularity of the Tour of California caught some traction.. European based teams basically pushed out any chance to see domestic talent.. didn't seem that way in Columbia and getting a chance for South America talent to race against European racers,certainly gave credibility to Columbian races and racers..2 drug related issues is just too many given the total number of racers from the country..if big teams can't put systems in place to avoid drug problems.. Little tiny cycling federations like Columbia don't have a chance.. But the UCI needs to take some responsibility for allowing so many dopers to still play a role in the sport.. How Vino could be holding a moral compass is absolutely ridiculous.. If he is the guy telling you that your drug dealer doctor association is just too much for the team.. Wow how low can you go? Where to now Mr Lopez?
Click to expand...

Vino and ALL the other dopers should NOT be allowed to hold positions in cycling once they have served their bans and hung up their pedals. the rules NEED to be changed that might send out a message.
 
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