Nairo Quintana on Tadej Pogacar's explosive racing style: "That’s totally acceptable, he’s enjoying doing it that way"

Nairo Quintana's form has been growing throughout the Giro d'Italia, but for the time being the spotlight is still elsewhere. The former winner of the race was asked about his opinion on Tadej Pogacar's performance thus far and this is what he had to say.

“Each leader does what he wants and that’s totally acceptable, he’s enjoying doing it that way," Quintana said in an interview with Cyclingnews. "For sure there will be some big battles to come. But we all knew from day one he was the big favourite, that he would likely fulfil all the expectations everybody had of him in this year’s Giro, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”

Quintana hoped to have battled for the stage win on stage 8 to Prati di Tivo and was on the attack early in the day. However Pogacar's UAE were adamant on bringing back the front group, ultimately resulting in a stage win. “It was a break with all the teams in there, and we couldn’t be missing from that. Our team wasn’t part of it at first, but we got two of us into it, and we were hoping to get away.”

The Colombian had a rough start to the season but he is eager towards the high mountains. In particular the stage that passes through the Passo dello Stelvio (where he built on his 2014 win) could be a special one, if the climb isn't removed from the route that is: “That’s one that brings me good memories, and it could be one of them for me. But let’s see what the leader’s team (UAE Team Emirates, ed.) has to say about that, too.”