Nairo Quintana flies to Alpine success: "I told myself that I had to try"

Nairo Quintana is no unfamiliar face to the Tour de France, however, several years after his last great performances, the Colombian climber has today shown to still have what it takes to ride with the very best at the Tour as he rode into a second place at the Col du Granon.

“I am happy, I have no better words tonight. We have been saying for the last few days that we have to take one step at a time and stay cautious while taking advantage of every opportunity that comes along. Today, I told myself that I had to try," Quintana said in a post-race interview.

With Warren Barguil in the breakaway and leading the race since the start of the Col du Galibier's rough section, Arkéa had their priorities set on the stage win. Although the Frenchman couldn't stand the pace in the final mountain, Quintana was the first to attack the GC group right in the bottom of the final climb.

"I rode at my own pace and we gained a few seconds on our opponents in the general classification," he said. Quintana held his own, and was only caught by a steaming Jonas Vingegaard who rode past the competition and into the yellow jersey. Quintana held on for second place, a result of high value which sees him enter the fight for the podium in Paris.

"Yes, we have the podium in our sights, we will continue to work and be patient. Tomorrow we will have another big day at the office," he concluded. Quintana sits in fifth place into tomorrow's colossal mountain stage, 2:36 minutes down on Jonas Vingegaard but only 21 seconds down on second place Romain Bardet.