Miguel Ángel Lopez Discussion Thread

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Lopes could easily lose 3+ minutes to Dumoulin in the two ITT's.

But he could also easily win a lot of time back on the climbs.

It's still a big gap to get back in the mountains.

 

[Escarabajo]

Does Astana suck in TTT?

 

[Eclipse]

Where are the legs? Rather disappointed so far =(

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

not great so far no. Astana are great at rest days though, so 2nd and 3rd week hopefully will be better.

 

[SafeBet]

He will strike next weekend, mark my words.

 

[yaco]

Can definitely win a stage if he finds his legs - Not beyond the realms of possibility that he could end up top 4.

 

[Climber123]

Superman to win at least 2 stages and top 5

 

[Valv.Piti]

Well, he just needs to find his Vuelta legs. He was equally bad in the first week in that race, but admittedly, I had expected more on a stage like this. I still think he can win, but it will be extremely hard now, I think.

 

[Pantani_lives]

He's probably suffering from his two crashes.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Hm. I don't know. I think we might overestimate people based on Vuelta's, where a lot of riders are a lot less fresh after a long season and a fresh, in form rider can really stand out.

I think the tough thing about the Giro is that almost everybody is relatively fresh. So it's harder to stand out or make a difference. We're seeing that for a couple of years in a row now.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Well, he just needs to find his Vuelta legs. He was equally bad in the first week in that race, but admittedly, I had expected more on a stage like this. I still think he can win, but it will be extremely hard now, I think.

Win a stage not the race. Aru the same. Maybe even Froome.But Froome probably has more room for some sort of fight back as we have seen it before but unless the riders in front of him have a bad day it's not looking likely at the moment.

 

[Jspear]

Re:

He's probably suffering from his two crashes.

This. He’s doing better than Froome. He’s still in the fight. Climbing wise Lopez, Pozzovivo, and Pinot all look very similar. We shall see what happens....

 

[Escarabajo]

He is not out yet. This is only the first week.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Hm. I don't know. I think we might overestimate people based on Vuelta's, where a lot of riders are a lot less fresh after a long season and a fresh, in form rider can really stand out.

I think the tough thing about the Giro is that almost everybody is relatively fresh. So it's harder to stand out or make a difference. We're seeing that for a couple of years in a row now.

People being fresher in Giro than Vuelta is one thing, but Lopez possibly not being in optimal form is other thing (and clear one IMHO); and it has nothing to do with others being fresher.

 

[staubsauger]

He can still win the white jersey given Carapaz might have a bad day in the high mountains. Everything is still possible. It's only that everyone expected him to fight for the overall victory rather than a stage win plus the youth classification. Maybe his laurels indeed hang a bit too high to get reaped!

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

He can still win the white jersey given Carapaz might have a bad day in the high mountains. Everything is still possible. It's only that everyone expected him to fight for the overall victory rather than a stage win plus the youth classification. Maybe his laurels indeed hang a bit too high to get reaped!

He needs to work on his positioning in the group. Among other details that add up at the end of the day.

 

[Gigs_98]

Lopez might still end up being the best climber of the race but looking at the current gc that might easily not even be enough for a podium. As long as he loses so much time in TT's and hilly stages he just can't win gt's (except if he is absolutely dominant in the climbs but so far it hasn't looked like that's the case either) so he has to massively improve in that aspect

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

He can still win the white jersey given Carapaz might have a bad day in the high mountains. Everything is still possible. It's only that everyone expected him to fight for the overall victory rather than a stage win plus the youth classification. Maybe his laurels indeed hang a bit too high to get reaped!

He doesn't need to rely on Carapaz to have a bad day - most likely he will win the jersey regardless. The stages that are coming up now doesn't require positional skills, nor explosivity, but pure and proper endurance climbing in high mountains. In other words, stages where he excels. I definitely also think that the decreased freshness plays in his favour, he strikes me as a rider with great recovery alá Kruijswijk. You got 4 of those stages, a mono climb stage to Nevoso and a 45 min FTP test. Thats fine.

Honestly, I would be surprised if he DOESNT podium still. But maybe Im overrating him.

 

[Cinemaniak]

Is it possible that this is just his level? Yates, Dumoulin, Pinot are simply better and Lopez isn't a talent like Quintana or Bernal. More like Uran or Chaves. Excellent on one day, terrible on the next.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Is it possible that this is just his level? Yates, Dumoulin, Pinot are simply better and Lopez isn't a talent like Quintana or Bernal. More like Uran or Chaves. Excellent on one day, terrible on the next.

Lopez has been consistently bad in the first week, even on stages which should suit him decently.. He certainly isn't the talent like Bernal, maybe not Quintana either. Its becoming evident that Lopez is super one dimensional, but as long as that one dimension is top-3 in the world, he can win a GT under the right circumstances.

Differently put, I dont think he is super inconsistent and such, but he has flaws: bad positioning, no real explosiveness on short climbs, crashes, diesel motor (which is an advantage later in GTs obviously).

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Is it possible that this is just his level? Yates, Dumoulin, Pinot are simply better and Lopez isn't a talent like Quintana or Bernal. More like Uran or Chaves. Excellent on one day, terrible on the next.

We simply don't have enough evidence to conclude this. It may very well be but just don't have that information. The final mountain stages will tell us more unless he keeps crashing. Then we will have enough evidence that he won't be a GT rider because of his bad bike skills.

 

[WheelofGear]

Lopéz is the worst puncheurs of all the climbers. He is worse than Aru.

He has been bleeding on these hilly stages but was fine on Etna. We have to wait for the high mountains to see his true form.

 

[Cookster15]

Re: Re:

Is it possible that this is just his level? Yates, Dumoulin, Pinot are simply better and Lopez isn't a talent like Quintana or Bernal. More like Uran or Chaves. Excellent on one day, terrible on the next.

Lopez has been consistently bad in the first week, even on stages which should suit him decently.. He certainly isn't the talent like Bernal, maybe not Quintana either. Its becoming evident that Lopez is super one dimensional, but as long as that one dimension is top-3 in the world, he can win a GT under the right circumstances.

Differently put, I dont think he is super inconsistent and such, but he has flaws: bad positioning, no real explosiveness on short climbs, crashes, diesel motor (which is an advantage later in GTs obviously).

I think these "right circumstances" to win a Grand Tour are extremely remote over three weeks of racing. Lopez needs to improve hugely end of story.

 

[fauniera]

Lets wait for Zoncolan, shall we?

 

[Netserk]

He will conquer the Zonc