Miguel Angel López

Colombian-born Miguel Ángel López made an impression as “Superman” for his climbing ability as a rider that thrust him on the WorldTour stage in 2015. He has also had an eventful career filled with drama, on and off the bike. Born on February 4, 1994, López won Tour de l’Avenir as a 20-year-old, and landed him a contract for Astana the next season, where he raced for six years. 

In his first season with Astana, he finished seventh overall at the Tour de Suisse and used two stage wins, one a TTT, to finish fourth overall at Vuelta a Burgos. He won the Tour de Suisse in 2016 and used multiple attacks on the hilly closing sections of Milano-Tireno to grab the victory. In 2017 he won two stages and placed eighth overall at the Vuelta a España, a race he failed to finish in his first appearance the year before.

He was on the podium at both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España in 2018 and recorded top 10s at both in 2019, before marking his Tour de France debut in 2020 with victory on the queen stage atop Col de la Loze, although he lost his podium position after a disastrous final time trial. 

In 2021 López, sitting third overall, stopped mid-way through the penultimate stage of the Vuelta a España and stopped racing. The shock move led to Movistar terminating his time with the squad, and Netflix spotlighting the dramatic event in a team documentary series. That Vuelta drama far overshadowed his GC win at Ruta del Sol and win at Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge earlier in the year.

The 2022 season had a mix of results and led to the restart and end of a comeback with Astana. He won a stage at the Tour of the Alps to set up his Giro campaign, but abandoned the race in the first kilometres of stage 4 to Etna due to a reported left thigh injury. Hewas suspended for a time by Astana, with links to a drug trafficking case with a Spanish doctor, but in August returned to win the mountains classification at Vuelta a Burgos and then finish fourth overall at the Vuelta. 

He mixed in a ride at the 2022 UCI Gravel World Championships, finishing 28th, then rode to fourth at Giro del Veneto. However, he was let go by Astana Qazaqstan at the end of the year over his links to the Operation Ibex investigation that involved Spanish doctor, Marcos Maynar, who was arrested that year for crimes against public health, drug trafficking and money laundering. 

Back to South America for racing with Medellín-EPM in 2023, López took victories with the Continental team at Vuelta a San Juan, the Colombian ITT national championship, as well as the Vuelta a Colombia and eight of the race's nine stages. Then he was provisionally suspended by the UCI in July for an anti-doping rule violation that came to light by the International Testing Agency from the weeks prior to the 2022 Giro. The suspension ended his 2023 season. In September, López was kidnapped and robbed.

López's doping case continued to make news as he was surprised by doping controllers while on holiday at Disney World in December. Hopes that his case would be shelved ended in May when the UCI finally imposed a four-year ban for the use of Mentropin. He appealed his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and will be heard on November 21, 2024.

Key Results

2023

🥇 GC at Vuelta a San Juan

🥇 Colombian National Championships ITT

🥇Eight stages and  GC at Vuelta a Colombia

2022

🥇 Mountains classification at Vuelta a Burgos

🥈 One stage at Vuelta a España

🥉 One stage at Vuelta a España

Fourth on GC at Vuelta a España

2021

🥇 One stage at Vuelta a España

🥇 Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge

🥇 One stage and GC at Ruta del Sol

🥉 Two stages at Vuelta a España

2020

🥇 One stage at Tour de France

Sixth overall at Tour de France

2019

🥇 Youth classification at Giro d’Italia

🥇 One stage and GC at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya

🥈 One stage at Paris-Nice

🥈 Colombian National Championships ITT

2018

🥇 One stage and points classification at Vuelta a Burgos

🥇 One stage at Tour of the Alps

🥈 Milano-Torino

🥈 One stage at Giro d’Italia

🥈 One stage, mountains classification and GC at Vuelta a Burgos

🥈 Three stages at Vuelta a España

🥈 GC at Tour of Oman

🥉 GC at Giro d’Italia

🥉 GC at Vuelta a España

🥉 GC at Abu Dhabi Tour

2017

🥇 Two stages at Vuelta a España

🥇 One stage at Vuelta a Burgos

🥈 One stage and mountains classification Vuelta a España

🥉 GC at Tour of Austria

2016

🥇 GC at Tour de Suisse

🥇 Milano–Torino

🥉 GC at Tour de Langkawi