Colombia’s Miguel Angel Lopez won the Vuelta a San Juan following Sunday’s seventh and final stage claimed by Australian Sam Welsford in a sprint finish. Lopez held onto the advantage he gained in Friday’s queen stage when he won the only mountain finish in the Argentine tour. It was a hugely satisfying victory for the 28-year-old Lopez, now riding for the Colombian Medellin-EPM team on the Continental Tour after he was dumped by Astana last year over alleged connections to a doctor suspected of doping links. He claimed victory by 30 seconds from Italian Filippo Ganna of the British Ineos Grenadiers team, with fellow Colombian Sergio Higuita of Bora-Hansgrohe third at 44 seconds.

“This is a priceless victory. It’s one of those things that you don’t imagine is going to happen, but when everything is gray and it seems that the world is ending, you see that light,” Lopez told ESPN.

“It’s something beautiful, that comes at a good time and I feel that we deserve it.”

Welsford of the DSM team claimed his second straight stage honors after also winning the sprint finish on Saturday’s sixth stage.

VUELTA A SAN JUAN STAGE 7 RESULTS

1	WELSFORD Sam	Team DSM	2:23:41
2	JAKOBSEN Fabio	Soudal – Quick Step	0:00
3	NIZZOLO Giacomo	Israel – Premier Tech	0:00
4	GIDICH Yevgeniy	Astana Qazaqstan Team	0:00
5	VAN POPPEL Danny	BORA – hansgrohe	0:00
6	VIVIANI Attilio	Team Corratec	0:00
7	LONARDI Giovanni	EOLO-Kometa	0:00
8	SAGAN Peter	TotalEnergies	0:00
9	ABERASTURI Jon	Trek – Segafredo	0:00
10	ZANONCELLO Enrico	Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè	0:00

 

OVERALL STANDINGS

1	LÓPEZ Miguel Ángel	Team Medellin – EPM	25:40:57
2	GANNA Filippo	INEOS Grenadiers	0:30
3	HIGUITA Sergio	BORA – hansgrohe	0:44
4	RUBIO Einer Augusto	Movistar Team	0:50
5	RIVERA Brandon Smith	INEOS Grenadiers	1:01
6	PAREDES César Nicolás	Sindicato de Empleados Públicos of San Juan	1:19
7	EVENEPOEL Remco	Soudal – Quick Step	1:19
8	VERMAERKE Kevin	Team DSM	1:30
9	RICCITELLO Matthew	Israel – Premier Tech	1:41
10	SIMMONS Quinn	Trek – Segafredo	1:46

 

RBA/AFP Photo: Sprint Cycling