Miguel Ángel López: "I didn’t dope, my biological passport is intact"

Miguel Ángel López is keen on his defense from the accusations that have been made against him. Although the Colombian has not been suspended he's been fired from Astana Qazaqstan Team due to the situation, and he's now commented on it.

“I didn’t dope, my biological passport is intact. It had just been a bad moment that happened, a misunderstanding," López said in an interview with ADN Cycling. "I have nothing to repent about because I’m not doped, my biological passport is clean. Then from one moment to another it was as the ground had gone from underneath me. It was very hard, suddenly I found had no team, it was December 15th, almost Christmas.”

López had been interrogated in early August, and upon finding new connections, López was fired from the Kazakh team with immediate effect, a move very costly for both sides.

Astana has lost it's main leader in a time where they could no longer replace the Colombian - although there is work to bring Mark Cavendish and Cees Bol onboard. As for López, he remains in the peloton, but now at Continental level, with the Colombian Team Medellín - EPM.

"It’s a new experience, I’m motivated, I’m looking forward to a new season with beautiful experiences. It’s a bit different to what I expected, but I’m sure I’ll feel the support of the supporters here. This is the best team here in Colombia," he continued.

“Something nice after what happened, and sometimes you have to take a small step back to take a major leap forward," López explained. "With the support of my friends and family I could get through. The key thing is there are no issues, so I decided I’d have to race in a none-WorldTour team and hope things go back to normal.”

The Colombian was rumoured to have taken Menotropin before the start of the Giro d'Italia, and a reaction may have led to his abandon. There is no evidence to prove that however, and there's also no public evidence connecting him to Dr. Marcos Maynar, the leader of a now-dismantled doping ring in Spain, but the connections were enough to see him away from top competition.

“For me these have been various complicated years. Movistar wasn’t great for me either, so neither 2021 and 2022 have been easy and staying focussd has been hard. But I’m 28, going on 29, so I can still see myself doing battle in the World Tour. Nobody’s perfect, everybody makes mistakes, so you have to get over them, keep going and move on," he concluded.