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Miguel Ángel Lopez Discussion Thread

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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.
The climbing part is usually the least weak in certain ct level races, because reasons.
Get him and Team Medellin to the Volta a Portugal! They invited Team Vorarlberg of all teams.
 
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.
I agree with this up to a point. Usually quality gets your foot in the door. And yeah, maybe the climate in teams has changed a lot since Simon Yates' and Chris Froome's issues, but it would seem that there may still be a place for a quality rider when the allegations against them are not at all solid.
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....
So I MAL definitely burnt his bridges but he seemed to be fairly well-liked in the peloton. Over his first year at Movistar all you heard from them is what a good guy he was. Sevilla and the EPM boys all post stories where either they are all fantastic actors or the team chemistry has been pretty good. And again, he got picked back up by Astana. But sure, in his case, you could say he's not a rider who has reacted well to certain issues, particularly with what happened with Movistar. He did man up and apologize afterward. And with the Astana thing, I think a fair bit of that is definitely on Vino.

On the other hand, Nairo has really never had any issues as a rider or teammate that I'm aware of. The Movistar trident didn't work all that well but he didn't really even complain when he was chased down by his own team for no reason at the Tour. He appears to still be on very good terms with everyone there -he was just out riding with Carlos Verona yesterday-. He had just renewed with Arkea when the news came out. Management there really kicked the door behind him as soon as the news came, but this was what they put out a couple of weeks before [google translate]: "A demanding leader, Nairo is also a man with strong human values. He is simply the image of our team. He is a leader capable of transmitting, which thus allows the whole group to go to the next level."

So I do think they're fairly well-regarded riders and teammates within the peloton. I mean both of them are camera-shy, no-nonsense, rather stoic family guys who don't speak a lick of English, which, to be fair, hardly endears them to English-language journalists. But there's also the fact that they are Colombian which does seem to also have some impact in the very different press coverage they have gotten, rather than say, Katerina Nash, in the Anglo and European press. But that's a topic for another forum.
 
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Y'all joking, but the Vuelta a Colombia actually has a better level than most continental races elsewhere despite it's classification.

It's the Grand Tour of the South American racing circuit.

Of course López is heads and shoulders above his competitors. Nevertheless this amount of winning is impressive!

This forum is probably one of the few places the other Vuelta is taken seriously. It's an outrageous week from Superman
 
Y'all joking, but the Vuelta a Colombia actually has a better level than most continental races elsewhere despite it's classification.

It's the Grand Tour of the South American racing circuit.

Of course López is heads and shoulders above his competitors. Nevertheless this amount of winning is impressive!
And then some. Level rating of the race aside being 2.2, I’m sure the majority thought he would win the overall and some stages. I don’t think any thought he’d win all the stages but one and finish second in that one. I think it’d be nice if the race went to a 2.1 without losing the charm or have the 2.2 and a 2.1 event. I’m not sure how many pros though would want to come to South America, which if California or other US event were still going on they could be around the same time.
 
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That Tour of Colombia 2.1 that they held early season a few times was brilliant, used to love listening to the Spanish commentary with the guy going crazy every time Quintana attacked and not understanding a word, Froome getting the early season training in setting the pace for Bernal. Don't remember why it stopped (covid?)
 
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And then some. Level rating of the race aside being 2.2, I’m sure the majority thought he would win the overall and some stages. I don’t think any thought he’d win all the stages but one and finish second in that one. I think it’d be nice if the race went to a 2.1 without losing the charm or have the 2.2 and a 2.1 event. I’m not sure how many pros though would want to come to South America, which if California or other US event were still going on they could be around the same time.
The problem is deeper than that. As someone already posted, it can't go higher otherwise a lot of the Colombian a South American teams can't compete.

At one point there was a possibility to re-start de Tour Colombia at the beginning of the season but the Federation do not want to concede the rights to any international firm, so they have to look for the funding and they can't get it. So stupid. Several international firms have offered to split the earnings because they see a big market in Colombia but the Federation, which is as corrupt as they can get, have not conceded to split the earnings. There is a full show on "Fuera de Limite" Podcast discussing this topic, you can look it up.

Anyway, I hope someone makes sense of this and the Tour of Colombia comeback and can watch the big guns at the beginning of the year. Many teams have gone to Colombia because it is convenient because of the altitude training.
 
That Tour of Colombia 2.1 that they held early season a few times was brilliant, used to love listening to the Spanish commentary with the guy going crazy every time Quintana attacked and not understanding a word, Froome getting the early season training in setting the pace for Bernal. Don't remember why it stopped (covid?)
I think you are confusing the Tour Colombia with Vuelta a Colombia
 

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