No, but I think the gist of our difference is largely semantics and the difference between stock (genetics, acomplishments) and flow (current form). It’s sad that we might not ever see the 3 of them close to their peak form simultaneously…but there’s a chance TdF 2022 gives us that, and I will expect that competition to end: Pogachar, Roglic and Bernal respectively.
Well, I suppose that is a reflection on you then, because it certainly does.
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Anyone read this…
Possibly the normal clickbait from cyclingnews (only read the first two paragraphs)
It pains me what passes for journalism these days.
I wonder if you can cancel a contract if a rider pulls out of race while having a mental break down? I mean riders pull out for all sorts of reasons - crashed, physical pain, didn’t make the time cut, etc…
I think if I were Lopez, that’s exactly what I would want. I don’t think he should have quit, but I’m betting we find out this is more on Movistar than Lopez. I could see them treating him like crap in that race situation and catering to their other leader who is Spanish. I just don’t understand why they would tell him not to chase and close the gap. Were they afraid of him bringing Bernal back? But at that time Bernal wasn’t a threat. But I guess not making sense is synonymous with Movistar.
It just doesn’t make sense that the team would tell him not to chase. He did chase … for a long time. There was no way he was going pull them back no matter what he did or what the team said. That was really clear from the tv coverage.
On The Cycling Podcast they went over this again. They spoke with the Movistar DS. He said that they later told Lopez that he could wait for another rider that was 1.5 minutes behind him. Not that this would have helped Lopez get back to the leaders but it would have relieved him from the frustration of chasing alone with no help.
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I agree with that part. You are assuming the point they told him to stop chasing was well after the time gap was minutes. And you may be right. But Lopez coach/father in law stated something making it sound like they told him not to close the gap just as it was created. There’s a lot of assumptions here, from myself too. It be nice to hear Lopez side of things. From my perspective he was more pissed how the team handled him compared to losing time.
He’s given a couple statements, basically being apologetic to the team that he quit and that it was a tough spot to be in, and he didn’t react in the best way.
From my perception of him, the situation on the road, and what movistar has said, I’m inclined to believe that he got dropped and the discussion was they had riders back to see him through the stage.
If movistar ordered him to not attack to protect mas, why didn’t they order him to not attack on the queen stage and take more time out of mas. Also if it’s so important to have mas finish above lopez, tell lopez to go easy on the TT. Honestly it feels like people in Lopez’s camp are trying to use movistar’s past sins against them and fabricate a scenario.
Final point which is the thesis for my Ph. D in Armchair Psychology, Lopez is a champ, he exhibits a lot of alpha male personality tendencies, and to just accept the DS’s call to lose the wheel, doesn’t jive with that.
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Yes they are. That’s what’s coming out of the Lopez camp.
“They gave him the order not to chase,” an unconfirmed source purported to be close to López told El Tiempo . “They didn’t want him to keep pursuing and he didn’t like that.” That claim has also been speculated by his coach / father in law.
If you watch the replay, it seems pretty clear. Lopez’ wife makes it sound like the team told him immediately not to chase. But he chased hard on the remaining part of the climb and at the top was 30-40 seconds behind. Bahrain had two guys pulling on the down hill and they took more time. Then on the rolling flats after the decent Lopez is just losing more and more time at a fast rate until he’s minutes behind.
I’ve watched it a few times now and I never saw the team car come up alongside him.
What Lopez’ wife said sounds like a big fat lie. It’s hard to interpret it any other way.
The BS claim was that they didn’t want him to bring Bernal back because he was a threat to Mas in the TT. Yeah, right!
Exactly!
I think he was just pissed at having gotten dropped and then watching his podium spot ride up the road. I was listening to The Cycling Podcast rider diaries episode and Sivakov said that Lopez was really pissed at Bernal for not pulling through. On the replay though, it doesn’t really look like Bernal blocked him. It was probably more than Bernal basically said (figuratively), ‘screw you, I’m going to sit on your wheel while my team mate rides into your podium spot’.
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Maybe Colombian journalists just make this stuff up? Unconfirmed source, my a**! Italian and French sports journalists are also known to add some local color to articles.
Nah, it sounds like every game of telephone ever. Lopez called his partner, who relayed some info to her father (who’s also Lopez’s coach), who relayed the info to the Colombian press. I think between the heat of the moment, a rush to relay info, and always a chance of something being lost in translation, the truth exists, but it’s been warped.
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They do have radios right? But I’m not arguing either way. I feel there may be more to the story. Is my doubt because of Movistar’s history, absolutely. And also some of the stuff coming out of Lopez camp. Also how harshly Movistar is talking about Lopez. Time will tell whether statements by Lopez family is truthful or not. @AJS914 and @pcort you make compelling cases that i can’t argue with, other than to say i haven’t come down on either side of the fence yet.
Whether or not Movistar told Lopez to not chase, that wouldn’t have mattered in the end. Lopez was bleeding time chasing, and would have cooked himself. Given the situation on the road, there is no way Lopez was keeping his 3rd place.
Personally, and with zero info but what I saw, I think Lopez was just mad that 1). he missed the critical move and therefore was losing his 3rd place; 2). he had zero Movistar helpers to rectify the missed move, plus nobody in his group was working with him. So I think he just lost it
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Agreed 100%.
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Always willing to give a 
to people who agree with my zero factually based positions 
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His coach speculated that was the case, “Acevedo told Colombian newspaper El Espectador, “but it was more dangerous that Miguel Ángel might do well against the clock [on Sunday’s stage 21 ITT] and take second place from Mas, but hey, I think I’m speculating. López’s coach explains the tricky situation behind his Vuelta withdrawal - CyclingTips
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This year I ended up watching NBC / Olympic Channel coverage of the Vuelta. Not a big fan of Bob R, however when Lopez missed the critical move with ~57km left IIRC, have to give Bob credit for saying “Lopez is watching his podium finish ride off up the road” and from that point on I watched Lopez fall down the virtual GC on Tour Tracker app.
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Of course they have radios but Lopez’ wife was quoted as saying the team car came up beside him for some conversation.
Also, my understanding is that the radios are one to many, meaning that the whole team would have heard the orders. (I could be wrong about this.)
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She could be lying. But I wouldn’t expect a spouse to get those tiny details on how it was communicated 100% correct. She could also get mixed up with a different time where they did drive up to him after the split happened. So her statement and the replay showing no car in that moment does not prove that she is lying.