31/07/2024

Nairo Quintana almost certain to renew with Movistar after successful comeback to World Tour

According to journalist Daniel Benson, Nairo Quintana will remain with Movistar Team for another season. The Colombian returned to the Spanish team this year following his positive for tramadol at the 2022 Tour de France which left him without competing throughout 2023 and, after completing a good Giro d'Italia, the Colombian has likely given Movistar the confidence it needed to keep taking a bet on it's former leader.

At the moment the rider from Cómbita is preparing the Vuelta a España in which he will be one of the headliners, with the race starting on the 17th of August in Lisbon. Enric Mas is set to lead the team's charge for the overall classification after finishing the Tour de France with great form; Quintana could play an important domestique role or even co-leader depending on how the race evolves.

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At 34 years old Nairo is far from being the man who fought Chris Froome a couple of Tour de France and won the Giro d'Italia or the Vuelta a España, although in the Giro he showed that he still has the legs to fight for big stages and we will see in this Vuelta if he still has the legs to finish in the Top 10 of a big stage race. In the high altitude and long steep ascents, he has shown to still have the fire to win at World Tour level, but his early season was also met with plenty obstacles such as injuries and illnesses.

This season he has been unlucky. He started his year at the Tour Colombia finishing 21st overall. Then he tested positive for COVID, which made him start his European season late. He was present at the Volta a Catalunya, where he suffered a crash in the seventh stage that meant he couldn't race until the Giro and had to rely on training only. There he struggled for form, although he came close to winning stage 15 in Livigno, where only Tadej Pogacar was able to beat him in a high mountain stage. His bad luck with crashes continued in the Tour de Suisse, where he again crashed and had to abandon in the third stage.