Nairo Quintana appreciative of Arkéa support in Tour cobbles - "We were strong"

Nairo Quintana is a lightweight climber, but a rider that over the years became an expert on positioning, riding in the crosswinds and cobbles. He stayed calm, safe and collected today at the Tour de France, and Arkéa Samsic even attempted to attack the main favourites.

"As we could expect, this stage was nervous because of the cobbled sections. The Arkéa-Samsic team did an impressive job throughout the day. Our collective was united, I was well placed during the decisive moments of the race by my teammates who supported me well, surrounded," Quintana said at the end of the day.

Having escaped the day's crashes and mechanicals, Quintana arrived safely in the peloton and rose to 19th place - 55 seconds behind Tadej Pogacar. Having won time on the likes of Primoz Roglic, Alexey Lutsenko, Ben O'Connor, Louis Meintjes (and Jack Haig's abandon) he has gained traction on his possibilities of finishing in the Top10.

After Primoz Roglic's crash, Arkéa and BORA - hansgrohe were the two teams driving the pace in the main peloton, with Quintana riding safely in the wheels. Hugo Hofstetter, Warren Barguil and Lukasz Owsian rode with him until the finish and saw the French team take an important step towards their GC goal.

"And I want to thank them. We were strong, which allowed us to be with the majority of riders in the running for the general classification. I am satisfied that this stage is now behind us, and that it went well for the Arkéa-Samsic training and me," the Colombian concluded.