Miguel Ángel López (cyclist)
Miguel Ángel López Moreno (born February 4, 1994) is a Colombian cyclist who currently ride for UCI WorldTeam . In 2016, López won his first World Tour stage race at the Tour de Suisse and achieved his maiden grand tour stage victory the following season on Stage 11 of the Vuelta a España, followed by another victory on Stage 15. He was the overall winner of the Tour Colombia and the Volta a Catalunya in 2019. In 2020, he won the "Queen" stage of the Tour de France. Career. López was born in Pesca. López celebrated success  in 2014, winning multiple stage races while still an amateur. In August he won the Tour de l'Avenir, the most prestigious under 23 cycling race. López also won the U23 version of the Vuelta a Colombia. Astana (2015–20). 2015. Following his success in 2014, López was granted a contract with , a UCI WorldTeam. His success in stage races continued, finishing 4th overall and winning a stage at the Vuelta a Burgos and 7th overall in the Tour de Suisse. 2016. 2016 was López's breakthrough season. He finished 4th in the Tour de San Luis, the first race of his  season, winning Stage 6 and taking the young rider classification. One month later, López finished third and won a stage at the Tour de Langkawi, an eight-day race held in Malaysia. The biggest win yet of his career came at the Tour de Suisse, where he won the general classification ahead of Ion Izagirre and Warren Barguil. Following these successes, López was one of five riders selected to represent Colombia in the road race at the Olympics. López started his first grand tour at the Vuelta a España where he was the chosen team leader but he was forced  to abandon the race on Stage 6 following a crash on Stage 3. 2017. López was named on the start list for the Vuelta a España in a strong Astana line-up alongside former race winner Fabio Aru. On Stage 11, he took his first grand tour stage victory, distancing himself from race favourites Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali and Wilco Kelderman in the last of the first-category climb up to the Calar Alto Observatory. López's fine form in the mountains continued on Stage 14 to Sierra de la Pandera where he once again distanced the race leaders to  finish second to Rafał Majka on the first "especial" category climb of the race. He went on to win the following Stage 15 after a solo escape on the summit finish, yet again distancing the race favorites for his second Vuelta stage victory. 2018. In May 2018, he was named in the startlist for the Giro d'Italia; he finished in third place overall, behind Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin. He also made the podium in the 2018 Vuelta a España. 2019. López won stage 4 and the general classification in the Volta a Catalunya in March. López competed in the  Giro d'Italia, finishing seventh overall and winning the young rider classification for a second time in a row. During stage 20 of the race, López was brought down in an incident with a fan about from the finish. He proceeded to hit the spectator four times, including knocking the hat off his head. While the regulations of the sport's governing body, the "Union Cycliste Internationale" (UCI), call for disqualification of a rider who assaults someone during a race, the race jury decided against applying a punishment to López. He later apologised for the incident, but stated that riders should  receive more respect from the crowd. One day later, after the Giro had ended, the UCI announced that they were investigating the lack of a penalty for his behaviour. 2020. In August 2020, he was named in the startlist for the 2020 Tour de France. López won stage 17, the queen stage, finishing atop the Col de la Loze. Near the end of the stage and the steepest part of the climb, which was about a 24% grade, López and Sepp Kuss caught the final breakaway rider Richard Carapaz. López was eventually on his own headed for the finish and  while both GC favorites Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič attempted to chase him down they were unable to do so. Movistar Team. After six years with , López signed a one-year contract with the , for the 2021 season. In August, Movistar Team extended his contract to the end of 2023. During the 2021 Vuelta a España he rode strongly early in the race and was right there among the other GC contenders of Roglič, Yates, Bernal and his own teammate Enric Mas. He once again won the Queen Stage of a Grand Tour on stage 18, and was in a  strong position to claim a podium position at the end of the race. The next day, during the penultimate stage, he missed a move among the other GC contenders and found himself stuck in a group that had fallen behind. Lopez abandoned the race a few kilometers later. Hours later, Movistar Team and Lopez issued a statement in which Lopez apologized for his abandon. On September 18th, the team announced the rescission of the rider's contract as of October 1st 2021. Return to Astana. For the 2022 season López will once again ride for Team Astana. Upon signing with  the Astana Qazaqstan Team he said of his former team, "It was a pleasure gentlemen".