Miguel Angel Lopez looks dazed and confused after an awful crash, but he is continuing in the Vuelta.
He may have come down in a very nasty crash on yesterday’s stage 3 of the Vuelta but young Miguel Angel Lopez of Astana is refusing to abandon.
The 22-year-old rising star, nicknamed Superman, remains in the race despite grazing his face in the crash as he broke three of his teeth.
The spill occurred in the final of Monday’s stage into Mirador de Ézaro, with the Colombian went over the handlebars.
He was clearly dazed and holding his mouth as he took a long time to remount and get to the finish.
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However, while he carried the weight of team leadership into the three week race he would lose 12 minutes to stage winner Alexandre Geniez (FDJ).
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It means his general classification challenge is over, but he may still be able to regroup and target stage wins; a goal well within his grasp considering he has won the Tour de Suisse already this year.
On today’s stage 4, which finished atop another very steep climb, he finished in a respectable 48th place, some 2:39 down on stage winner Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie)after 163.5km from Betanzos to San Andrés de Teixido.
Darwin Atapuma of BMC Racing Team was 2nd on the stage and took the race lead.
Tuesday's stage 4 highlights
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