Juan Pedro Lopez comes of age in the Giro d'Italia on day namesake Miguel Angel Lopez hits fresh low

It looked rather ominous: just a few kilometres into the first summit finish of the Giro and Miguel Angel Lopez was already off the back of the peloton. The Colombian was in deep discussion with his Astana directeur sportif and alongside his compatriot and team-mate Harold Tejeda.

If Tejeda feared a long day in the service of his ailing team leader, then he was graciously spared that plight – albeit only to be redeployed as a crutch for the team’s Plan B (more on which later). Ad/> After a brief game of cat and mouse with the pursuing ambulance, Lopez clambered off his bike and called it a day.

His team later said that an injury to his left hip was to blame. Less than two years after his opening time trial nightmare in Palermo, that’s a second Sicilian DNF for Lopez in his previous two Giri — confirmation of the island’s apparent kryptonite qualities towards the man one can now surely only ironically call ‘Superman’.

/> Giro d'ItaliaDumoulin ‘finding it hard to get out of GC persona’ — LloydAN HOUR AGO Since winning on the Col de la Loze in the 2020 Tour de France, Lopez has been more like a regular Clark Kent than his famous alter-ego: four DNFs in five, including that extraordinary meltdown which saw him sacked by Movistar and on the first plane back to Astana. Kamna wins atop Etna on Stage 4 as Lopez takes pink and big names struggle Giro d'Italia Stage 4 as it happened — Van der Poel loses pink after Kamna wins on Etna Where the 28-year-old goes from here is anyone’s guess – but it’s the last time yours truly picks Lopez for any fantasy cycling team.