Juan Pedro López fights to give Giro d'Italia a perfect ending: "Keeping the jersey will be a daily challenge"
Cycling
Juan Pedro López lost 2:43 minutes to the peloton yesterday at the Giro d'Italia despite the best efforts of Trek - Segafredo to bring him back, a costly mistake however one that may no be deadly to his ambitions in the closing of the race.
“Keeping the jersey will be a daily challenge. Today was a complicated day, I lost some precious time but that’s part of the game," the leader of Trek - Segafredo said at the end of the stage yesterday. The flat stage into Treviso was on paper a day to recover towards the final mountain stages, however it became the opposite as the Spaniard was caught behind a split and, with the peloton on full speed trying to catch the breakaway, lost important time.
López found himself in the unexpected position of being back in the lead of the youth classification after João Almeida tested positive for Covid-19 and abandoned before the start of stage 18. This is now the main goal for the Spaniard, who admits it won't be easy to keep: "I have to accept this and turn the page. Until Verona it will be a daily fight.”
The three remaining stages of the race will all be challenging. López is on great form and is sitting in ninth place at the start of the ninth stage. Despite yesterday's loss, he still has a buffer of five minutes over Santiago Buitrago - his most direct competitor.
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- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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#Giro Across the line to start the final local lap. Bunch is 1min to break. 2nd group (with our team) is 1'15 behind the bunch! 😬
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