Astana announced today that Miguel Angel Lopez would not be defending his Milano-Torino title, instead he is calling an end to a "short but very intense season".
The Colombian had a delayed start to the season after fracturing his left tibia in an off-season crash last November and suffering lingering effects of the injury in the early part of this year. When he got underway in the Tour de Suisse in June, he showed solid form, and followed up that race with a stage win and third overall in the Tour of Austria. He won another mountain stage in the Vuelta a Burgos, and went on to win two stages in the Vuelta a España and finished eighth overall.
Astana's sports manager Dmitriy Fofonov was supportive in his press release comments, saying in his three months of racing this year Lopez "was able to show his great climbing talent".
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"I think, there is no any doubt, Lopez proved his big potential in the Grand Tours, too. He has a great future ahead of him," Fofonov said. "Indeed, the season was short, but very intense. [Which is] why after the Vuelta we decided to give him some time for rest and [to] regain forces at home."
Fofonov's other comments seem to indicate that Lopez has struggled with the transition from Colombia to Europe, something which has plagued other top riders from his country like Carlos Betancur, who split with AG2R La Mondiale after he went home following the 2015 Giro d'Italia and then refused to return for his scheduled races later in the summer.
Lopez, the team says, will have time during his break "to decide some other questions, which could help him in future. For example, he has time to think and to solve the question about living in Europe during the racing season. By my opinion, this is very important."
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