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Miguel Angel López sticks it with the WorldTour teams with a sizzler solo at the high-altitude centerpiece of the Vuelta a San Juan.
López attacked early on Friday’s Alto del Colorado mountaintop finish and held off pursuers for his first major win with his lowly Medellin EPM team.
Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished second and third, with Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) finishing fourth in a close mojo-boosting start to the season for the returning star.
World champion and pre-race favorite Remko Evenpoel (Soudal Quick-Step) was gutted by what he called a “silly move” after he only flew in big style in the 18km Colorado grinder and lost more than a minute before Hit to end.
Lopez: ‘I don’t see it as revenge’
López and his Conti-level Medellin team weren’t shy about the stacked peloton alongside the WorldTour squads in San Juan’s “Queen’s Stage”.
The Colombian contingent set the tone on a marathon-length summit finish before López launched himself to victory around eight kilometers from the line.
The solo move gives the controversial climber a seven-second GC lead on the cane in the two final runner-friendly stages of the Tour of Argentina.
López insisted there was no deeper symbolism behind his controversial exit from Astana after his first elite-level victory since last spring and links to a drug-trafficking gang.
“I have to say thank you to Team Medellin for their trust and the great work they did today. I’m coming from a difficult phase, but I’m in the running so I have to thank the team for this opportunity and reward them as much as I can.” Should do,” Lopez said.
“I don’t see it as revenge. I just like to attack, give a fight and here I am. Since the new year I’ve been focusing on this completely Colombian project, I’ve trained well and I am trying to enjoy every race, the results come accordingly.
Evenpoel: ‘I made a stupid move’
Defending San Juan champion Evenpoel was back on the classification at 1:19, after a full-gas attack, accelerating about 10 km from the line.
“I made a stupid move, because in the end, I went on full gas for a minute and then I tried to keep high speed. But I was alone, so I should have stopped riding immediately,” he said.
Evenpoel only went to the front for two kilometers before the wheels gave out, marking the start of one of the 23-year-old’s elite bomber solos.
The group of Lopez and co. Came up to the leader wearing the rainbow jersey and immediately spit him on the back.
“In the end, it’s better to make a mistake like this now than at the Giro,” Evenepoel said, referring to his A-race grand tour of the year.
Friday’s stage to Alto del Colorado also – perhaps fittingly – saw three American riders in 9th, 10th and 11th places. Kevin Vermaerke (DSM), Quinn Simmons (Trek Segafredo), and Matthew Riccitiello (Israel Premier Tech) hit the line about 70–90 seconds back on Lopez.
The Vuelta a San Juan restarted on Saturday with a flat finish at the Velodromo Vicente Chanse.
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