"I didn't get scratched or anything, but I fractured my hand" - Nairo Quintana left rueing more bad luck after Tour de Suisse crash

Bad luck has not taken long to appear for Movistar Team in the 2024 Tour de Suisse. On Tuesday, June 11, before the start of stage 3, the team announced the withdrawal from the race of Nairo Quintana, one of its main riders in the Swiss race, due to an injury suffered after being part of a massive crash in stage 2 on Monday.

At first, it seemed that Quintana had come out of the crash relatively unscathed. The rider went to the grass and then was able to continue, although it is true that in the final stretch of the stage he was unable to keep up with the pace of the peloton. Tests on the Colombian rider confirmed a fractured hand, which forced him to abandon from the race immediately.

Before the start of the third stage of the Tour de Suisse, where he has not taken the start, Quintana offered a few words for all the fans who have shown their concern for the condition of the 34-year-old veteran cyclist. In those statements, he began by explaining the accident and how he suffered the fracture: "Yesterday I had the fall. I tried to get free and in the end I fell on the grass. I didn't get scratched or anything, but something hit my bone and I fractured my hand, so I'm out of competition."

"Now it's time to train hard again to be able to compete in the upcoming races. Before I leave Switzerland I'll accompany all my teammates from the car, so I'll have to watch another race from the director's cars," concluded a Nairo Quintana who already knows what it's like to suffer a fall this season after crashing in the Volta a Catalunya.

Quintana's injury could not have come at a worse time. The Movistar Team rider was coming from a great Giro d'Italia, where he played the role of stage-hunter because he was not in good enough shape to compete for the general classification after the aforementioned crash in the Volta a Catalunya. His best result, in the latest Grand Tour was a 2nd place on the queen stage of the Corsa Rosa, in Livigno, when the Colombian was part of the breakaway until the end, but finally was caught by an unstoppable Tadej Pogacar 2 kilometers from the finish.