"I can do well in this race" - Nairo Quintana sets eyes on overall win at La Route d'Occitanie
Cycling
Ahead of the Tour de France, Nairo Quintana will be testing his legs at La Route d'Occitanie. After a training camp in the Pyrenees, the Arkéa Samsic leader will be looking for the win in the overall classification.
“I feel good physically, I have recovered perfectly from my crash during the Tour of Turkey. The Route d’Occitanie is a race that I know well and that I like a lot. I have already won it twice, so I am confident that I can do well in this race," Quintana said in a press release anticipating the race. With wins at the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var and Tour de la Provence earlier in the year, aswell as fifth at Paris-Nice, the Colombian has reasons to aim high in another French stage-race he's set to tackle.
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He was the outright favourite to the win at the Tour of Turkey but a sequence of crashes saw him pull out of the race, aswell as the Vuelta a Asturias as he looked to recover and prepare for the heavy second half of the season. He returns to competition this week at La Route d'Occitanie where he will be one of the main favourites.
There will be a great Arkéa-Samsic team on the roads of Occitanie, which is motivated. These few days spent in the South-West and in the Pyrenean passes will allow us to work well and to prepare the 2022 Tour de France," he said. He has won the race twice in the past and will be looking for a third win in the race's mountainous stages.
"I am motivated by the fact that I will take part in this competition again, the general profile appeals to me with in particular a mountain stage proposed by the organizers, which will be able to serve me as an adaptation to the big climbs in view of the Tour de France, and also as a test, hoping of course to have good sensations on that day to be able to do well," Quintana concluded.
Team Arkéa Samsic for La Route d'Occitanie: Nairo Quintana, Dayer Quintana, Michel Ries, Alessandro Verre, Winner Anacona, Nicolas Edet and Laurent Pichon.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- He lives in Monaco
Rafionain-Glas03-11-2026 - It's also highly significant for Lorenzo Finn as he won there last year. Also Mateo Ramírez and Henrique Bravo if they goRafionain-Glas03-11-2026
- This is a phenomenal course design. I do wish that they'd stretch these tours for the women to at least 2 weeks.RidesHills03-11-2026
- This is an amazing route, honestly. Let's hope that it attracts riders to make it a compelling and competitive race. Side bar amusement: going to Slovenia and passing pretty close to Pogačar's house. I wonder if they were tempting him to get all 3 jerseys at once after winning the Tour and Vuelta. After all, only a very few have ever had all three at the same time (Froome being the last).RidesHills03-11-2026
- He was a child two years agoRafionain-Glas03-11-2026
- A great route aswell. Col d'Arpy is a toughieRafionain-Glas03-11-2026
- Let Torito have a shot at itRafionain-Glas03-11-2026
- A great route, much more exciting than the Tour de France. Monte Livata is an interesting one, because they experimented with it at the 2026 Baby Giro, and it was fantastic. 4 km at 10%, then 10 km at 6.5% made for a great spectacle. The stage 16 is horrible. Montaner is also used in the U23s, in Giro del BelvedereRafionain-Glas03-11-2026
- I remember when Mark went through that. He was really experiencing lows and thought about quiting many times. It took him a long time to recover. I, like many others were overjoyed when he came back. I hope Lafay has been tested. I wish him the best.Paggss03-11-2026
- That sucks for him. I've always wondered what guys like him do after retiring from cycling - go back to uni? He's still a very young manCrashjames03-11-2026
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