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.