Miguel Ángel López: "I can be satisfied with the form I could build to the start of the season"

At the Vuelta a Andalucia Astana played a crucial role in shaping the race, however they did not manage to obtain either a win or the general classification at the end despite their best efforts.

“Well, we tried our best and the guys did all they could during the stage and also in the final. Yevgeniy Fedorov made an excellent job today, pulling hardly in the peloton, while Harold Tejada and Alexey Lutsenko supported me at the climb before I launched my attack. Indeed, the climb turned out to be very fast and not as hard as we expected. At the end of the day I took a third place in the General Classification," Miguel Ángel López said after the final stage of the race. Astana pushed the pace on the final ascent to Chiclana de Segura but López was unable to attack race leader Wout Poels and had to settle for a place in the podium, being overtaken by TotalEnergies' Cristián Rodríguez in the process.

“We had quite a young team here and maybe we missed something to get a better result, but in general I can be satisfied with the form I could build to the start of the season and with the way I spent this week. I am looking forward to a small rest before my next and more important races," he indicated.

It is unclear what targets López will now have in the coming month, however it is possible that the Colombian will take a break from racing before focusing on what some of the main climbers in the peloton will replicate, which will be a Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double. For now, López is scheduled to return to competition at the Tour of the Alps in mid-April, but it is expected that he will lineup with the Astana Qazaqstan Team.