Miguel Angel Lopez first slumped over the handlebars, then donned his winter gear and chugged his recovery drink.

Amid the noise of the crowd, the police whistles, and the high-pitched voice of the race commentator, the small cloud of silence that surrounded the Colombians at the Los Machucos finish told the story of what had just happened.

When Astana formed the lead group with 30km to go in stage 13 of the Vuelta a España and set a furious pace that cut the breakaway's advantage from eight minutes to less than three minutes by the base of Los Machucos, Lopez's intention to attack on the climb was clear.

However, it all went awry. After riding in the lead group for more than half of the final, ultra-steep climb, Lopez was eliminated by a breakaway of Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates).

At the summit, Lopez finished in seventh place, 61 seconds ahead of the Slovenian duo.

However, being dropped from third to fourth behind Pogachar and losing the best young rider jersey on a day when it looked like he would attack was definitely a blow that was hard to handle and even harder to discuss with the media.

"It was a very hard day at the end of the stage," Lopez told the television and radio journalists packed around him. I couldn't use my legs the way I wanted to and then I just had to give it my all until the finish."

"But Miguel Angel, there is still a lot of racing left," the Colombian radio journalist fired back, clearly trying to boost his compatriot's morale.

"Yes, it's not over until Madrid, one day at a time," Lopez replied in the same ultra-flat tone as before.

Teammates such as Ion Izaguirre stopped to commiserate with Lopez before pedaling off on the downhill to the team bus a few kilometers away.

Not only did "Superman" lose time to Pogachar and Roglic, but Movistar's two GC candidates, leader Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde, were nearly 30 seconds ahead of the Colombian.

Lopez, who looked like the most dangerous competitor among the top candidates, is now visibly struggling.

It remains to be seen whether this is just a one-day slump or the beginning of a more serious dip in form that will follow his early breakthrough, team time trial win, and third consecutive red star. But the upcoming Asturian mountains will soon give us the answer to that particular question.