Miguel Ángel Lopez Discussion Thread

[Pantani Attacks]

The only positive to come out of this Giro. 3rd and the white jersey, onwards and upwards and with a bit of luck next time he can go better at the Vuelta. Bien hecho Angelito

 

[phil-i-am]

Miguel Angel Lopez on the GT podium for the first time! Whereas this is a great achivement, it's hard to pick less impressive podium ride in recent years. Barring one 4km attack, always in wheels, never bother to give a single pull over the entire course of 3000+ kms. Bad days of others let him climb up the GC. This shows, however, he's quite constistent, patient and has good recovery.

Hard to see him as a future winner, but he's still young and has a room to improve. Liked him more before the race, hope for more in vuelta.

 

[Eclipse]

I don't really know how to feel about his ride. It was not the excting MAL flying up mountains I'd hoped for but despite some really bad days he was consistent enough to be there right through to the finish and nabbed a podium after all. I guess I'll take the positives that he was there or thereabouts the whole race and hope that with better prep he'll be able to deliver more of those big days he's looked capable of

 

[DNP-Old]

3rd is an amazing achievement for someone his age, especially since he didn't look up to form all Giro. But unless he gets a MTF heavy GT and unless he works a whole offseason on his flaws, this is about as good as it's going to get. Those flaws will hurt him in basically every GT. From explosive finishes, to positioning, to time trailing. You can't make that up simply by outclimbing everyone. His first echelon stage is yet to come, and when it comes, I fear it's going to be a disaster.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Miguel Angel Lopez on the GT podium for the first time! Whereas this is a great achivement, it's hard to pick less impressive podium ride in recent years. Barring one 4km attack, always in wheels, never bother to give a single pull over the entire course of 3000+ kms. Bad days of others let him climb up the GC. This shows, however, he's quite constistent, patient and has good recovery.

Hard to see him as a future winner, but he's still young and has a room to improve. Liked him more before the race, hope for more in vuelta.

Let's put it this way. There were only 2 riders from the GC that didn't crack and Lopez was one of them. And taking into account that the couple of crashes slowed him down during the first week. This one was not an easy Giro and we saw how easy was for the climbers to crack. So to me that was impressive.
At the end when Pinot was gone there was nothing else for him to fight. Just defend. So just attack for the pleasure of forum members here is usually a recipe for disaster.

 

[AlexNYC]

Yeah, it is difficult to not be ambivalent about his performance in this Giro because he appeared to always be on his back foot or hanging from a thread except for one stage. On the other hand, he did prove his mettle in managing to overcome his awful start. I think he will take away a lot from this Giro that will make him a perennial GT podium contender. Hopefully he will continue to get better, not a sure thing despite his youth, and takes the next step.

 

[Pantani Attacks]

Think of the absurdness ahead of him and it really makes things look a lot better. And the only way is up from here tbh.

 

[slosada]

I'm happy for him, but I guess it would have been better if he and Carapaz (and Pinot of course) took some short half assed pulls yesterday. Allowing Dumoulin to recover and be glad with his workload.
- Better to reduce the difference with Froome or even challenging for the stage.
- Better for his image as racer.

 

[SafeBet]

Congrats on the podium, Superman.
Now please get back to your aggressive self and stop trying to look like a poor man Quintana.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

Congrats on the podium, Superman.
Now please get back to your aggressive self and stop trying to look like a poor man Quintana.

Other than Prato Nevoso, he never looked up to form. Being aggressive / attacking would not have made sense, nor would cooperating with Dumoulin and Pinot/Reichenbach. He got the maximum out of his Giro.

 

[yaco]

Posted halfway through the Giro there was a chance lopez could get on the podium - He hung on well without ever looking to be in top form, and was lucky in stage 19. because if Dumoulin/Pinot drilled the last km of Finestre, he would have finished in the Pozzovivo group.

 

[Gigs_98]

I was a bit disappointed by his overall performance and his 3rd place is more than you usually get with this kind of performance. I'm less positive in him ever winning a gt after this but but he can definitely be happy with this giro.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Posted halfway through the Giro there was a chance lopez could get on the podium - He hung on well without ever looking to be in top form, and was lucky in stage 19. because if Dumoulin/Pinot drilled the last km of Finestre, he would have finished in the Pozzovivo group.

Wasn't close to the last kilometer in Finestre when Pinot had a flat?
How were they going to drill it?
Even if they had the strength I don't know what stopped them having Froome within a minute. In fact they were drilling it before the puncture just because they needed to catch Froome. I just don't understand the comment.

 

[Escarabajo]

I think people are biasing the opinion because Froome won the Giro and he didn't help Dumoulin chase. But why help him? is not like he had anything to gain or he was his best friend you know!

I think he tried several times at different points in this race with his not 100% performance. Just not the last 2 days and I can understand it.

The opinions are just bias because Froome and Sky has so many dislikers!

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Posted halfway through the Giro there was a chance lopez could get on the podium - He hung on well without ever looking to be in top form, and was lucky in stage 19. because if Dumoulin/Pinot drilled the last km of Finestre, he would have finished in the Pozzovivo group.

Wasn't close to the last kilometer in Finestre when Pinot had a flat?
How were they going to drill it?
Even if they had the strength I don't know what stopped them having Froome within a minute. In fact they were drilling it before the puncture just because they needed to catch Froome. I just don't understand the comment.

Lopez was in trouble from before halfway through the climb - Riding a faster tempo would have dropped Lopez for good - And maybe if Carapaz helped he would have won the white jersey.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Posted halfway through the Giro there was a chance lopez could get on the podium - He hung on well without ever looking to be in top form, and was lucky in stage 19. because if Dumoulin/Pinot drilled the last km of Finestre, he would have finished in the Pozzovivo group.

Wasn't close to the last kilometer in Finestre when Pinot had a flat?
How were they going to drill it?
Even if they had the strength I don't know what stopped them having Froome within a minute. In fact they were drilling it before the puncture just because they needed to catch Froome. I just don't understand the comment.

Lopez was in trouble from before halfway through the climb - Riding a faster tempo would have dropped Lopez for good - And maybe if Carapaz helped he would have won the white jersey.

I agree with what you said here. But is different to what I am saying the answer to your first comment. If Dumo and Pinot had the strength to drill it they should have drilled it because nothing was stopping them. Additionally Pinot had a mechanical that Dumo decided to wait.

 

[movingtarget]

A lot of things had to go his way with Yates and Pinot but that's bike racing. i thought he would be top 5 or 6 at best. Great result.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

2 crashes first week and apparently ill for a few days during the second week, yet not having a single really bad day. IF he can improve his tt abilities and get a slightly higher level off of his climbing while keeping this recovery ability, I think he can be a very successful Giro rider. Don't think the short, steep hill stages of the Vuelta suit him very much and the tour usually got too much TT for him compared to the difficulties of the mountain stages.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

2 crashes first week and apparently ill for a few days during the second week, yet not having a single really bad day. IF he can improve his tt abilities and get a slightly higher level off of his climbing while keeping this recovery ability, I think he can be a very successful Giro rider. Don't think the short, steep hill stages of the Vuelta suit him very much and the tour usually got too much TT for him compared to the difficulties of the mountain stages.

No GT really has a lot of ITT nowadays.

The Giro is actually the most likely to go with 2 ITTs or one disaster length ITT for Lopez.

For the Vuelta his advantage should be in not coming off the Tour. His best performances in the Vuelta were better than anything he did this Giro, so this is definitely not his max.

 

[lartiste]

Re:

The only positive to come out of this Giro. 3rd and the white jersey, onwards and upwards and with a bit of luck next time he can go better at the Vuelta. Bien hecho Angelito

The really positive outcome of this Giro is that they did not cancel podium girls.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Posted halfway through the Giro there was a chance lopez could get on the podium - He hung on well without ever looking to be in top form, and was lucky in stage 19. because if Dumoulin/Pinot drilled the last km of Finestre, he would have finished in the Pozzovivo group.

Wasn't close to the last kilometer in Finestre when Pinot had a flat?
How were they going to drill it?
Even if they had the strength I don't know what stopped them having Froome within a minute. In fact they were drilling it before the puncture just because they needed to catch Froome. I just don't understand the comment.

Lopez was in trouble from before halfway through the climb - Riding a faster tempo would have dropped Lopez for good - And maybe if Carapaz helped he would have won the white jersey.

They rode the fastest tempo they could, they were chasing Froome, remember?

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

It's a shame that with such approach he is at podium.
It wasn't exciting Lopez, I'm so disappointed by his overall performance.
I'm not Movistar fan, but yesterday after Pinot's troubles, hoped Carapaz will be 3rd.

 

[Ruudz0r]

I think people are a bit too critical here, Lopez did try several attacks in this race, for example he attacked on Etna (twice I think) but had no legs, he attacked on Prato Nevoso and stayed away from the GC guys, he attacked on Jafferau and there were some other (small) attacks. I dont think he had the climbing level of the Vuelta 2017 (and/or the competition was harder) and thus it was less spectaculair, besides that he might have had a bit more wiggle room in the Vuelta than here in the Giro. I do think his race was fine though, not working in the finestre stage was very obvious for me especially with him just being able to hold on at finestre, and riding the last stage defensively with Pinot already gone was very logical as well.

 

[barmaher]

There was no reason from a GC perspective for Lopez to work with Dumoulin. His rival for the white jersey was in the group, and his rivals for a podium were in the group. His priority was defending white, and that is what he did.

That said, he won't be able to expect much of a dig out from Dumoulin in future races where he needs help. It is important to be popular in the peloton. Contador has benefitted from this a few times.

 

[staubsauger]

Re:

There was no reason from a GC perspective for Lopez to work with Dumoulin. His rival for the white jersey was in the group, and his rivals for a podium were in the group. His priority was defending white, and that is what he did.

That said, he won't be able to expect much of a dig out from Dumoulin in future races where he needs help. It is important to be popular in the peloton. Contador has benefitted from this a few times.

He nearly was left behind on the Finestre. If that ascend is just ~2 kilometers longer in fact he ends up in the Pozzovivo group after the descent unless he hangs onto Reichenbach. So of course he prefered to rest in the group where his big competitor for the white jersey was present to. Logically that resulted in Carapaz doing nothing as well, since he instantly looked better on the Finestre. So it wouldn't have been wise to spend energy compared to López by working with Dumoulin, Pinot and Reichenbach. I guess that's why Pinot was primarily angry with Lopez, since he was the one changing the groups dynamics in their disfavor!