Colombian cycling star Miguel Angel Lopez may join the continental team Medellín-EPM, according to several Colombian media reports.

Lopez was dismissed from the Astana Cazacustan team in December 2022. This was due to what the team called "new evidence" of an alleged relationship with Dr. Marcos Maynar, a Spanish university professor and physician who is currently under investigation for alleged membership in a drug trafficking organization.

Lopez was suspended by Astana Kazakstan last summer, but was reinstated for "lack of evidence" before leaving the team in December.

According to a recent report in the Colombian edition of the sports newspaper AS (opens in new tab), Lopez is now close to signing with the continental-level Medellín-EPM team. Another South American cycling newspaper, revistamundociclistico (opens in new tab), also reports that he has signed with a Colombian team, but does not reveal which team.

A gifted climber, with stage wins and podium finishes in Grand Tours, the 28-year-old Lopez is one of the last major athletes in the sport without a contract for 2023.

And in what could be the latest development in the Lopez saga, if a contract with a strong Colombian continental team is confirmed, Lopez will overlap with ultra-veteran Spaniard Oscar Sevilla, who turned pro in 1998, four years after Lopez was born.

Sevilla, a 2001 Vuelta a España podium finisher, former Tour de France best young rider, and longtime Colombia-based rider, has been part of the Medellín-EPM lineup since its inception in 2017. Another top veteran name on the team is Colombian Fabio Duarte, a former U23 world champion who raced for Geox and ProContinental squad Colombia in the early 2010s.

Medellín-EPM will not stop López from competing from Sevilla in the early season Vuelta a San Juan stage race in Argentina. If he does, he will cross paths with his former European teams, Movistar and Astana Cazacustan.

More realistically, given the contract paperwork with the new player, the possibility that Lopez will debut in Medellín colors at the Colombian Championship on February 2 cannot be ruled out, reports revistamundociclistico.

Last season, Medellín-EPM competed in the Vuelta a Colombia, the Vuelta al Ecuador, and the Maryland Cycling Classic, as well as in Romania's Trur Romanii. If Lopez joins the Colombian team, his chances of competing with his former World Tour rivals will likely be severely limited.

Meanwhile, Spain's anti-doping investigation (codenamed Ilex) continues, with various witnesses scheduled to be deposed in a courtroom in Extremadura, western Spain, in early January.