Nairo Quintana: "I hope I can continue to progress in the general classification"

Nairo Quintana was in the thick of the action yesterday at Paris-Nice's queen stage, as he battled with Primoz Roglic, Daniel Martínez and Simon Yates in the Col de Turini.

“We worked to try to win this stage, but the other riders were stronger than us," Quintana said at the finish. After a strong start to the season in France, high expectations were put on the Colombian's shoulders at Paris-Nice specially as he thrived through the crosswind-swept opening stages.

Although he had a very modest time-trial, which put him far from the battle for the overall classification win, the queen stage at the Col de Turini awaited him, where he was expected to perform at his best. After making it into the decisive moves, Quintana lacked the legs to attack the stage win, however he put on an aggressive performance nonetheless and went on to finish the stage in fourth place, also climbing up to fifth in the overall.

"The team did a good job today. I hope I can continue to progress in the general classification," he concluded. Today in the final stage he will be looking to raid the race as he did on similar roads at the final day of the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var, if he wants to climb up the GC further.