Tour of Spain 2019: Analysis of Colombian faces and their performance – Cycling – Sports

The Colombian cycling came in search of one more title in one of the big three: the Vuelta a España, but in the end it reached for the fourth place of Nairo Quintana and his stage victory, the partial victory of Sergio Higuita and the fifth place in the general of Miguel Ángel López, results that will remain for the story. Here, the conclusions.

1. Two more stage wins. Benidorm and Calpe was the second stage. Primoz Roglic, the champion, came from losing 40’s in team time on the first day and had to recover. With his attack on the second day he brought several favorites, including Nairo Quintana.

3 km from the end of the day, the boyacense left the group, went in search of a victory that in the end could celebrate, the second in his resume in La Vuelta and 33 of Colombian cycling.

Then Sergio Higuita, in his debut in a big one, won the stage between Colmenar Viejo and Becerril de la Sierra, confirming that at 22 he can give much more than a general has to fight with. Triumph 34 of Colombia in the competition.

2. Some of lime and others of sand. Although the stage wins were important, the accident of Rigoberto Urán and the performance of Fernando Gavira was not good.

Urán fell in stage 6 and went to the hospital, where he has not left, after the fracture of the left clavicle, of the shoulder blade and two ribs that compromised his lung, leaving behind the possibility of fighting for the podium.

Gaviria arrived with the illusion of winning stages, but left blank. The fall of the UAE Emirates team in the first stage gave him hard, he could not recover and, in addition, he did not have the physical capacity to obtain a partial victory, in a season for oblivion.

3. Without bread and without cheese. Nairo reached the penultimate stage in the third drawer of the podium and his compatriot Miguel Ángel López in the fourth. The fight for the podium was Colombian, but on that day the attack by Tadej Pogacar, which was fifth, and the passivity of the two runners broke up in order to finish on the podium.

Once Pogacar left, Movistar and Nairo tried to chase, but found no alliance. Astana, from López, who was interested, since Slovenian was dangerous when fighting for the first place in the youth classification, he did not give relief, and in a single day the work of the previous three weeks was lost.

Neither podium nor shirt of a better young man, in a day to forget about Colombian cycling.

4. Lopez, to talk with the legs. Miguel Ángel López came to the Tour as the second favorite in the title, after Roglic, but did not respond. Although he was combative, he always attacked, he lacked strength at the end and lost the podium, the best young shirt and was fifth.

He also raised controversies with his statements. They are "dumb and stupid" He told his Movistar colleagues, after the acceleration of the Spanish squad after a massive fall.

He treated Alejandro Valverde badly, in a clear lack of respect. Sure, then he retracted, apologized, but the evil was done.

He promised strong, decisive attacks, but he did not jump. In cycling, the best climber is not the one who attacks the most times, but the one who does it decisively and at the right time.

And when he had to fight for the podium and defend the white shirt of the best young man he did not appear, his forces were not with him, his team did not help chase Pogacar, escaped and enemy, and lost all options.

"Nothing happens. We are calm because we try from beginning to end. Things did not happen. That is another story. We always prepare to come one hundred percent. We are calm We were a good group. We have much more great laps left, "Lopez said.

In the Tour of Italy he also came as a favorite and finished seventh. And he also starred in a controversial event, when an amateur knocked him down, he stood up and hit his fist.

Negative image of Lopez, who must concentrate more on pedaling, prepare better and not be the protagonist of controversial events. The falls and the punctures were his enemies, but he must learn to react with the hot blood, the great champions do so.

5. Nairo, did anyone expect more from him? Nairo Quintana lost the podium on the penultimate day, like his compatriot Lopez. In the end, he placed fourth in the general and won a stage, in a performance, for some, disappointing.

The last triumph of Quintana in a classification dates from 2017 and the last time he was on a big podium was in that same year, statistics that tell us that two years ago it is not good, that its performance has dropped and is not the same cyclist who is the most winning Colombian in history.

Therefore, Quintana was not favorite to the title of the Tour. While your poster still exists, you have not confirmed it, and in the Tour that was what happened.

It shows that he does not have the forces of before to fight for the victory in the general of a great. It is not the same on the mountain, they release it easily, so the fourth place is normal.

A change of equipment is coming that should come in handy, with which you can regain confidence. From there onwards it will be difficult to know if he will recover his form with which he won the Giro, the Vuelta and was three times the Tour podium.

It is not finished, but it does not have the same rope as before. The problem here is not the equipment, it is the current conditions of Nairo that must be taken for good served with that fourth place in the Spanish competition.

Lisandro Rengifo
EL Tiempo editor
@lisandroabel