Nairo Quintana is acting as Einer Rubio's luxury support rider so far in the Giro d'Italia. The former Corsa Rosa winner in 2014 is aware that he has not arrived in form and that his role, at least until he feels better, must be to be by his talented compatriot's side in the mountain stages. However, during stage 10 he put on what was perhaps the best performance of his season and there are positive signs of improvement.
The Colombian tried getting in the breakaway on stage 8 but didn't find himself in the right move. On the summit finish to Bocca della Selva Quintana was in the peloton and supporting Rubio who would end up right behind Tadej Pogacar in the results sheet. Notably, he stayed with the GC group all the way into the final couple kilometers.
"It was a very important test, we couldn't lose time with Einer and I was with him the whole time until one kilometer to go. There was a big breakaway, there was rain at the end, but it was a lot of fun," the Movistar Team rider said at the end of the day. He was 31st on the day (16th out of those who did not feature in the breakaway), finishing 30 seconds behind the Pogacar/Rubio group. As the race slowly approaches it's toughest mountain stages, Quintana will enter the terrain that he likes the most.
Ultimately however, he will also try to support his other compatriot Fernando Gaviria in search of success in today's sprint stage: "In the end we did a very good stage, today we hope for a sprint with Fernando, once again we can try. We hope to finish this second week on an excellent note, thank you very much."
🇮🇹 #Giroditalia Valentin Paret-Peintre (DAT) vence en Bocca della Selva (10ª etapa), por delante de Bardet (DFP) y Tratnik (TVL). En el grupo de favoritos, @Einerrubio1 supera el día sin problemas, cerrando el habitual sprint a rueda del líder Pogacar (UAD). @NairoQuinCo…
