After days of rumors and assumptions, on Sunday Team Medellín, a Colombian continental team, officially announced that Miguel Ángel López will be part of its roster for the 2023 season. What races will “Superman” be able to compete in? Will they be your new companions?
Miguel Ángel López, an international cycling figure, has a new team. Upon being confirmed as a new member of Team Medellín, the Colombian team in the continental category hit the table in the national and American markets.
López, who left the Astana team a week ago after witnessing the Maynar case, signed a one-year contract with the Antioquia team, so that after eight seasons he will leave the UCI World Tour, after being in the Kazakh team between 2015 and 2020 and then in 2022 and in Movistar in 2021.
López, winner of the Tour de l’Avenir 2014, the Milan-Torino 2016, the Tour of Switzerland 2016, the Tour of Catalonia 2019, the Tour Colombia 2019, the Tour of Andalusia 2021, of stages in the Tour of Spain and the Tour of France and overall podium in both the Vuelta and the Giro, will have a new calendar, in which it will combine international competitions with several of the Colombian season.
It should be remembered that Team Medellín, the most important in the country in recent years, is a squad in the UCI Continental category, that is, it is part of the third division of cycling (behind the World Tour teams and the ProTeams), in the one that for Colombia is also Colombia Pact for Sport and the recently created GW Shimano Sidermec.
What races could Miguel Ángel López compete in?
The Antioquia team and therefore López will be able to compete in all the races of the UCI continental circuit, giving priority to the competitions of the UCI America Tour, although it can compete in events on other continents in the same category, as has happened with the Tour de Rwanda or the Vuelta a Asturias Julio Álvarez. He will also be able to contest UCI ProSeries races in which he is invited.
The current season of the UCI America Tour began in October 2022 with the Tour of Guatemala and in 2023 includes competitions such as the Tour of Táchira (Venezuela), the Vuelta al Porvenir de San Luis (Argentina), the Tour of Chile, the Tour of Gila and the Joe Martin Stage Race, both in the United States, the same Tour of Colombia and the Tour of Ecuador, among others.
In addition, Team Medellín has been invited in the past to races of the UCI ProSeries, such as the Vuelta a San Juan (Argentina), a competition in which the cast confirmed their participation in the 2023 edition and which will probably be López’s first competition in year.
Likewise, “Superman” will be able to compete on the national calendar, so it could be in the National Road Championship, which will take place in February, in the Tour of Colombia or in the RCN Classic, among other races.
Neither López nor Team Medellín will be able to run any of the UCI World Tour races, including the three big ones of the season.
The new companions of “Superman”
To date, Miguel Ángel López will have as teammates the multi-champion Oscar Sevilla, Fabio Duarte, the climber Javier Jamaica, the experienced Robigzon Oyola and Aldemar Reyes, the current national, Bolivarian, South American and Pan-American time trial champion Walter Vargas, accompanied by Jaime Chacón, Mateo Mondragón, Víctor Ocampo, Danny Osorio, Yeison Reyes and Brayan Sánchez.
Source: www.colombiasports.net