Miguel Angel Lopez finished the 2019 Giro d`Italia in Verona with mixed emotions. On one hand, the Colombian had defended his white jersey as the race`s best young rider, and the team had taken three stage wins along the way, thanks to his Astana teammates Pello Bilbao and Dario Cataldo. But on the other, Lopez`s seventh place overall was some way off his third place of last year. Bad luck was to blame for that, according to both Lopez and Astana team manager Alexandr Vinokourov. Following a very promising fourth place in the opening time trial in Bologna, Lopez kept pace with the other race favourites through the first week, but his woes started during the race`s second time trial - stage 9 from Riccione to San Marino - with the 25-year-old getting a puncture soon after the start of the stage. After that, Lopez never really got back into his rhythm, finishing down in 42nd place, 3:45 behind then leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma).ADVERTISEMENT A disappointed Lopez nevertheless went on to have a strong second half of the race, capturing the white jersey that he`d won at last year`s Giro on stage 16 of this year`s race to Ponte di Legno, where he moved up on the GC from 10th to seventh. The biggest talking point of Lopez`s Giro, however, came late in the race, on the race`s penultimate stage: stage 20 from Feltre to the top of the Croce d`Aune. It was on the final climb to the finish that an overenthusiastic spectator managed to knock Lopez off his bike, which provoked a flurry of punches from the shocked and angry Lopez, before he remounted and rejoined the race, but lost almost two minutes to the group of overall contenders.
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