With the victory in the Vuelta a San Juan, Miguel Ángel López vindicates himself, but just enough
The Tour of San Juan has already been dispatched with the victory of Miguel Ángel López, something that was part of the forecast, because for him the Tour de France itself was here.
I understand that cycling is due to the entire globe, that taking it to all corners is necessary, but sometimes excessive and uncontrolled globalization can end up being harmful.
I understand that the organization and the people of San Juan have done their best to get this race back on the calendar with a good handful of figures, but some of the things we’ve seen, honestly, are hard to swallowsuch as dangerous arrivals, interruptions in the performance and the shooting of cameras at certain moments of the race.
This is no longer like a few years ago, having a race signal could be good, now it is no longer seeing or knowing about the race, now the fan wants a reliable situation how things are and where each one is goingthat the sprints look good and stuff.
This in the Argentine race has not happened.
The thing about López must be even radioactive.
— Gonzalo Vicente (@TzaloVS) January 28, 2023
In the competitive aspect, the fight for the general of the Vuelta a San Juan was summed up in the ascent to 2600 meters of the Alto del Colorado and the accurate and winning attack by Miguel Ángel López.
As I said at the beginning, I don’t know how many races López will have to coincide with teams and World Tour figures throughout the yearTherefore, hitting hard here was essential.
He did it, without nuance, he was far superior to his rivals, recalling the features of the runner that I have always liked so much.
You have to put things in contextHis rivals were a Remco who committed harakiri on the climb, Egan Bernal, who is rediscovering himself, Sergio Higuita, who is blown away by these endings, and Filippo Ganna, new to these stages.
He has beaten them well, by the hand, without cracks, which is not easy, but the context must also be taken into account.
Having said all this, we are left to wonder why Miguel Ángel López is still out of the orbit of the best teams in the world.
I don’t know if it can be as hard as in the tweet that we put up there, but it gives all the sensation.
Nobody loves him or nobody takes him into accounteven being a very valuable cyclist in achieving results for any team.
He left as he left Astana before going to Movistar, then the chapter with the blues and finally Vinokourov’s kick back in Astana.
The Kazakh, who is an example of few things beyond the great cyclist he was, clung to the relationship with a doctor to give him a door, without further explanation or argument, trampling again on the cyclist’s presumption of innocence.
Three teams in as many yearswith so much controversy, so nebulous, even having certain reasons in its favor, it is not the best business card in a sport that often imposes penalties without a written word or explained reason, they just stop counting on you.
I repeat, I want to see Miguel Ángel López again in the WT, this victory in the Vuelta a San Juan, with all the asterisks you want, is another reason in his favor, but right now the kid looks like that, radioactive, and those tags are sooooo hard to remove.
Image: FB Tour San Juan
