Miguel Ángel Lopez Discussion Thread

[Escarabajo]

Lopez to Trek would be very nice!

 

[DNP-Old]

will he really do Tour of Hellas after this? New Mexico to Crete in 1 1/2 days sounds like quite a trip.

He just crashed out after basically the whole peloton started to inspect the road from up-close. Race has been neutralised.

 

[carton]

Lopez just won his second bunch kick of the Vuelta a Colombia, this time after having been in the break earlier in the stage.

Surely doesn't say much about Colombian sprint fields, but still.

 

[Rackham]

Lopez just won his second bunch kick of the Vuelta a Colombia, this time after having been in the break earlier in the stage.

Surely doesn't say much about Colombian sprint fields, but still.

Maybe I'm crazy but I always had a soft spot for this rider. He's one of the best (or maybe actually literally the best) high altitude climbers in pro cycling.

So good to see he hasn't fallen into a pit of despair or something & he's smashing these guys like a champ.

 

[Tim Cahill]

At >2000m the best in cycling I think, he is in the Top 100 for points without having done a single race in Europe all season.

Let's hope it was just a year out on the naughty step rather than something more permanent. I think QS will be in need of someone like him or Quintana if Evenepoel is planning on doing The Tour next season, very few riders available who have the qualities to be there at the very end.

 

[Salvarani]

At >2000m the best in cycling I think, he is in the Top 100 for points without having done a single race in Europe all season.

Let's hope it was just a year out on the naughty step rather than something more permanent. I think QS will be in need of someone like him or Quintana if Evenepoel is planning on doing The Tour next season, very few riders available who have the qualities to be there at the very end.

MAL should be a leader and I dont think he would do very well as a domestic. Not in his nature.

 

[OlavEH]

Right now he is the most winning rider in 2023. And he will probably rack up more wins for the rest of Vuelta a Colombia.

 

[Tim Cahill]

MAL should be a leader and I dont think he would do very well as a domestic. Not in his nature.

Of course I'd love to see him lead, unfortunately I think his options are narrowed by recent events. Movistar would've been an option if there wasn't a past and Lefevere does seem like the type to roll the dice and try and get a talented black sheep in on the cheap.

 

[Red Rick]

Right now he is the most winning rider in 2023. And he will probably rack up more wins for the rest of Vuelta a Colombia.

Same amount as Pog. Both at 12 I think.

.Nat races generally don't count.

 

[Lequack]

I'm sure Astana is glad they fired him, with all the many wins they're now racking up.

 

[tobydawq]

I'm sure Astana is glad they fired him, with all the many wins they're now racking up.

I don't think they expected to gain a sporting advantage by firing him...

 

[SHAD0W93]

Same amount as Pog. Both at 12 I think.

.Nat races generally don't count.

But only 3 wins counts as pro wins. https://www.procyclingstats.com/rid...ter&id=miguel-angel-lopez&p=statistics&s=wins

It’s crazy that the pro teams let MAL fall down so low considering he can still win and bring good editors to the team.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

In days of yore he would have been perfect for an Italian ProConti team, those guys used to love picking up guys on the cheap because of history making them unattractive to the top level, and there were a couple of teams who were home to many South Americans too.

The real disaster for him was that this happened at a time when Scinto's mob are gone and Savio's had to drop down a level, because otherwise he'd have done the Italian calendar with one of those two, instead he's beating up on the domestic and wider America Tour péloton and being ridiculously out of place and overpowered for that level.

 

[Mayomaniac]

In days of yore he would have been perfect for an Italian ProConti team, those guys used to love picking up guys on the cheap because of history making them unattractive to the top level, and there were a couple of teams who were home to many South Americans too.

The real disaster for him was that this happened at a time when Scinto's mob are gone and Savio's had to drop down a level, because otherwise he'd have done the Italian calendar with one of those two, instead he's beating up on the domestic and wider America Tour péloton and being ridiculously out of place and overpowered for that level.

I could see Savio managing to get bigger sponsors from Colombia for a PCT team next year, if he has a deal with him and/or Quintana in place.

 

[ppanther92]

What the hell is actually going on? Why does he win every stage (ok, got second on one), even if its 100+ guy mass sprints?

 

[SHAD0W93]

What the hell is actually going on? Why does he win every stage (ok, got second on one), even if its 100+ guy mass sprints?

Lopez is a world tour rider, the others are not even PCT. Like Libertine said, he’s beating up on the riders at this level. It would be the same if am athlete in their prime such as a;
tennis player in the top 10 all of a sudden started playing players in the top 200,
a MLB player dropping down to AA division,
NFL player down to the AFL or arena football, etc.

In the long run a waste of a year for him but he can still show the pro teams he can compete. The issue is his attitude and unfortunately the clinic side.

 

[ppanther92]

Lopez is a world tour rider, the others are not even PCT. Like Libertine said, he’s beating up on the riders at this level. It would be the same if am athlete in their prime such as a;
tennis player in the top 10 all of a sudden started playing players in the top 200,
a MLB player dropping down to AA division,
NFL player down to the AFL or arena football, etc.

In the long run a waste of a year for him but he can still show the pro teams he can compete. The issue is his attitude and unfortunately the clinic side.

Still surprised since he was never an explosive guy. Usually he would rather lose time un short uphill finishes in GTs. But yes, apparently the difference is so huge that he can even win sprints.

 

[gunara]

Lopez is a world tour rider, the others are not even PCT. Like Libertine said, he’s beating up on the riders at this level. It would be the same if am athlete in their prime such as a;
tennis player in the top 10 all of a sudden started playing players in the top 200,
a MLB player dropping down to AA division,
NFL player down to the AFL or arena football, etc.

In the long run a waste of a year for him but he can still show the pro teams he can compete. The issue is his attitude and unfortunately the clinic side.

A world circuit doubles specialist, in badminton, who hardly ever played singles on that level, once demolished everyone by near bagel in a regional
singles championship in my town, at 41.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Still surprised since he was never an explosive guy. Usually he would rather lose time un short uphill finishes in GTs. But yes, apparently the difference is so huge that he can even win sprints.

On the other side of the coin, I wouldn’t be surprised if a WT sprinter could keep up in hills and mountains. The pace being lower than Lopez is used to probably helps a lot as well with the same shape as he’d be in at the WT meaning he’d have more energy at the end compared to others on top of everything else.

 

[Koronin]

What the hell is actually going on? Why does he win every stage (ok, got second on one), even if its 100+ guy mass sprints?

Same reason Valverde's won the gravel races he's done this year. The level of competition is no where near good enough to compete with a top WT rider.

 

[carton]

Same reason Valverde's won the gravel races he's done this year. The level of competition is no where near good enough to compete with a top WT rider.

+1. There are big leaps between WT, ProTour, and ProConti, and additionally at the World Tour between journeymen and top riders. But he also has a few advantages in this Vuelta in particular. The Colombian sprint field is particularly weak this year, the only other win was by a 19-year-old. That has a second-order effect in that there are no real sprint trains, so an experienced rider with good timing and positioning skills, as well as a certain degree of respect in the peloton, has a better chance. The first bunch kick he won he did so Gaviria-style anticipating the sprint, and in the second one he got led out spectacularly by the third-placed rider. And finally, a lot of finales in the Vuelta a Colombia are slightly uphill, which always helps a climber like Lopez.

Of course I'd love to see him lead, unfortunately I think his options are narrowed by recent events. Movistar would've been an option if there wasn't a past and Lefevere does seem like the type to roll the dice and try and get a talented black sheep in on the cheap.

Yeah, I think in a normal situation he could get an Adam-Yates-like role in some team, superdom with his own chances on some races. I think he did a fair bit of domestique work for Valverde with no issues, even for Mas on occasion, but he just couldn't stand Enric. From the outside it seems that Vino thought he would get a little more loyalty after picking him back up so he blew his lid when Lopez wouldn't carry on at the Giro and got him back when he got the chance to trade him for Cavendish. But he couldn't have been that bad a teammate at Astana or Movistar, otherwise, they wouldn't have renewed him and picked him back up, respectively. But as things stand my guess is that he would welcome a second crack at the World Tour even if that meant doing the Sepp Kuss thing at the Tour de France, at least for a couple of seasons. If nothing else comes up clinic-wise, I really hope he gets it, be it at Soudal Quickstep or elsewhere.

 

[hfer07]

As many folks already highlighted, the question isn't really about MAL's fitness or qualities as a rider, but the real question comes down to whether he'd be "allowed" to return to the Pro-Tour level by the powers that be AKA UCI, grand Tour & race organizers, DSP, etc.

my understanding is that MAL is a bit like Quintana - both have burnt bridges with their former teams & appeared not to be too friendly with the rest of the peloton (perhaps language speaking limitation, etc) so I'm not sure how MAL will be able to land a decent Pro-Tour contract in a near future - and given the market season is just around the corner once the Tour de France is over....

 

[Lequack]

Astana need a GC guy, maybe they can sign him.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Astana need a GC guy, maybe they can sign him.

Could use a new sprinter at the end of the year as well.

 

[KZD]

With 13 wins this season so far, Lopez is now the most victorious rider surpassing Pogačar.

Even knowing that he is riding some weak field races that is still impressive.