"Unfortunately, Miguel Ángel López had to abandon shortly after Stage 4 started," Astana Qazaqstan announced. "During the last few days he was suffering from a left hip injury. We will communicate about more info about rider statement as soon as we get more from team doctor."
This is the fourth Grand Tour in a row where López has taken to the start line, but failed to make it to the end.
“It is really sad to finish the Giro in this way after just four days due to an injury,” said López in a team statement. “The team staff did all possible to help me to recover during these days, but it was impossible in racing conditions. I was hoping day by day that it becomes better and I could pass it, but today I just could not push the pedals normally due to the pain in my thigh.”
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“I am really sorry to leave the race and my teammates, who came here to help me to fight for the General Classification, but that’s cycling. I wish all the guys good luck and I hope the team will do a strong race!”
In 2020 López, crashed out during the opening time trial of the Giro d'Italia. He crashed out of overall contention at the 2021 Tour de France and so quit the race before stage 19 to travel to Tokyo for the Olympic Games.
His decision to quit the 2021 Vuelta a España was far more controversial, with the Colombian climbing off during stage 20 after he missed a decisive split 55 kilometres from the finish.
He was said to be frustrated by his team’s orders not to chase even as his podium place slipped away because teammate Enric Mas was in the front group. López’s sudden abandon lead to a mid-season split from Movistar and a move back to Astana Qazaqstan for 2022.
López, who was on the GC podium for both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España back in 2018, was the Astana Qazaqstan team leader for the Giro d’Italia but that role will now fall to veteran Italian Vincenzo Nibali.
Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
