'Rookie error' hurts López's Giro d'Italia white jersey hopes

Juan Pedro López moved into the white jersey after Almeida's abandon on stage 18
Juan Pedro López moved into the white jersey after Almeida's abandon on stage 18 (Image credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Juan Pedro López inherited the best young rider's white jersey before stage 18 after João Almeida was struck by COVID-19 and left the race, but he and his Trek-Segafredo teammates were not happy post-stage after the young Spaniard was caught behind a split in the peloton in the final kilometres and lost 2:37 to rival Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).

Team manager Luca Guercilena described it as a rookie error and was clearly unhappy that the time loss could mean López is unable to win the white jersey in Verona on Sunday to close the Giro d'Italia.

Stephen Farrand
Head of News

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.