He didI thought he (Lopez) finished 3rd at La Vuelta in 2018.
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He didI thought he (Lopez) finished 3rd at La Vuelta in 2018.
I thought he (Lopez) finished 3rd at La Vuelta in 2018.
Without team dynamics Lopez doesn’t lose it. We have seen this before with this team. They are obviously Spanish centric. Quintana and Carapaz got out. Now Lopez gets cranky.I am embarrassed for Lopez on this and I think people laying this at the door of Movistar is ridiculous
Sure there be issues in the team dynamics but can someone tell me a team where there is not ?
Lopez missed the crucial move and let Haig and other leaders get away from him,,,his own fault
Without team dynamics Lopez doesn’t lose it. We have seen this before with this team. They are obviously Spanish centric. Quintana and Carapaz got out. Now Lopez gets cranky.
I think Lopez has a recovery problem which also explains the 2020 TdF. Lopez feeling flat after getting himself in a podium position and put under big pressure to chase on a tricky stage. But Movistar are the common denominator. Without Movistar weirdness Lopez doesn’t lose it.
I think you are correct that movistar is Spanish centric and MAL likely has a recovery problem. I think however he'll have issues wherever he rides and I don't think today's incident can be blamed on the team, unless they went above and beyond their regular questionable tactics. Basically he missed the move, did not have the legs/head to follow, and then was killing himself pulling in the group and not making any headway. Maybe the team provided him with a reality check?Without team dynamics Lopez doesn’t lose it. We have seen this before with this team. They are obviously Spanish centric. Quintana and Carapaz got out. Now Lopez gets cranky.
I think Lopez has a recovery problem which also explains the 2020 TdF. Lopez feeling flat after getting himself in a podium position and put under big pressure to chase on a tricky stage. But Movistar are the common denominator. Without Movistar weirdness Lopez doesn’t lose it.
Initially Haig didn't seem to realise Lopez was behind, a gap opened up between Haig and Mäder that Haig only closed after Poels got on the radio. It's not as if they went full gas immediately and it would've been impossible for Lopez to jump across early on.I've seen a lot of discussion about yesterday's stage 20 and almost everywhere they were saying Lopez had no chance to bring back the group after he missed the move. But...if I remember correctly, he started chasing on false flat when he was about 5-10s behind. But in front it was only Mader pulling so it was basically a one vs one. Or am I missing something? Did Haig also do some work at the front? If it was a situation only Mader vs Mal, if Lopez does one of his accelerations, he's right there immediately. Soon after, when the gap was still about 20-25s, they reached a climb. I'm sure there were also some 6% sections in there where Lopez usually indeed becomes Superman. But the gap was just getting bigger and bigger. So I have two possible conclusions. One, he was weak and on a very bad day...
Two, he understimated the situation and wasn't going full gas at all. He was more concerned about everyone else not working with him, than trying to go flat out to close the gap as soon as possible.
I don't believe anyone would told him to stop chasing, because it doesn't make sense at all.
The idea that MAL was told to stop because the chase was detrimental to Mas chances is something that MAL's coach made in his mind. In the interview from El Espectador he acknowledges that MAL was told to stop the chase several minutes after the split was made and he is just speculating about the reasons of the 'instruction'."el Movistar Team le pidieron que dejara de perseguir para no perjudicar a su compañero Enric Mas"
According to "El Tiempo" (Colombian Newspaper) Movistar DS asked MAL not to brigde to Enric Mas's group so he (Mas) could have a greater chance on the GC and a Stage Win.
If that's true, then MAL was right for pulling out in disgust by such nonsense.
I am embarrassed for Lopez on this and I think people laying this at the door of Movistar is ridiculous
Sure there be issues in the team dynamics but can someone tell me a team where there is not ?
Lopez missed the crucial move and let Haig and other leaders get away from him,,,his own fault
He chases for ages but the gap only grew to when it was up to 3 minutes
Then maybe Movistar suggested that his riding at the front by himself was not working and maybe stop and force others to chase like UAE
The gap was very high when his Movistar team mate caught up but it was too late to chase then and gap was over 7 minutes
So Lopez abandoned the race. I am sure he was upset as so many riders are in every race all the time when things dont go their way and the lose wins or podiums but they dont abandon GTs at the eleventh hour
And now he and his father in law and the Colombian press are throwing the blame the feet of the team and everyone else but they truth is he behaved unprofessionally and childishly and this just makes him look worse. Why cant he own his behavior
If he was upset and was overcome he could have still got back on his bike and finished the race and everyone would have understood
How many cyclists would give their right arm to race the Vuelta
I guess I know now even though he is a great climber why he will never win a GT
This pretty much sums up my feelings.
In contrast, look how Bernal, another Colombian, handled the same situation. He continued riding, praised his team, etc. I'm sure he was just as disappointed as Lopez but he rode hard to the end.
This is what most likely has happened, at least thats the only scenario I could see. Being told not to chase, sure, but once already impossible to bridge alone. We saw what happened in the valley. Kinda convenient to let that part out. Unless they are explaining what exactly happened in details and when and where he was told to stop, I dont believe Lopez, the colombian media and all of his amigos one bit.I’m not Spanish so no skin off my back. That’s the thing. Lopez chased the entire climb. Nobody ordered him to not follow. That is coming strictly from Colombian media.
Watch the video from Chris Horner. Lopez was likely told to wait for Rojas on the descent because he was 45 seconds off the leaders over the top of the climb and he was pulling all the way to the top. Rojas came up to Lopez but Padun had dropped back and was pulling the leaders with Mader. They had no chance of catching them.
He'd just responded to Bernal, and I wonder why he didn't jump onto say Mas' wheel when he closed. Any group with Roglic, Bahrain and Ineos is likely to stay away there.Yes, it was an absolutely insanely unlucky scenario - no allies, no teammates. It just doesnt happen often, but it did yesterday.. podium was probably lost either way, maybe not, but he could easily have salvaged a top 5 with a stage win in the queen stage (which would be a quite good Vuelta)