La Vuelta 2019: Miguel Angel Lopez leads strong Astana team

Updated 19/08/2019 at 14:35 GMT

Astana named a team full of experienced riders for La Vuelta, led by Miguel Angel Lopez.

Team Astana rider Colombia's Miguel Angel Lopez (L), wearing the white jersey of the leader of the young rider rides during the stage seventeen of the 102nd Giro d'Italia - Tour of Italy - cycle race, 181kms from Commezzadura to Anterselva/Antholz on May

Image credit: Getty Images

Lopez will lead a squad containing a number of experienced riders. He finished third in 2018.

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Jakob Fuglsang and Luis Leon Sanchez are two veterans coming to support Lopez, and they have eight stage victories in total for the current year between them.

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Colombian Lopez has had a strong season so far, winning the Colombia 2.1 and the Vuelta a Catalyuna in Spain, and was the best young rider at the Giro d'Italia.

The 25-year-old rider has two podium finishes on the Grand Tours and five top 10 finishes.

While he will lead the Astana team, Fuglsang could provide a stern challenge in the Vuelta. He was ninth in the Tour de France before his race was cut short on Stage 16 after crashing out.

He also won Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Criterium du Dauphine in the build-up to the Tour de France, and the Vuelta a Andalucia. He also finished in the top three at La Fleche Wallonne, Strade Bianche.

Meanwhile Sanchez has already competed nine times at the Vuelta, and was King of the Mountains in the 2013 edition. This campaign he has won the Vuelta a Murcia, and also won a stage at the Tour de Suisse.

Italians Dario Cataldo and Mauele Boara, Spaniards Omar Fraile and brothers Ion and Gorka Izagirre complete a side with four riders from Spain named for their home Tour.

The 2019 Vuelta has plenty of climbs and 12 uphill finishes, so the Astana team have a team with plenty of climbers.

Full Astana Team