Nairo Quintana to aim at Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España in 2025
Cycling
Nairo Quintana is currently in Guatemala for the Granfondo Guate Paredon and whilst in the small central American nation, he has talked about the need for investment in cycling in the region and how the sport can be used to counteract social issues that are very present in the reality of the region.
Quintana, a former winner of the Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España and many other races in his long and successful career, is now in a phase where he shares his vast experience with many and seeks to stimulate the growth of the sport in the Americas where there are still barriers to overcome.
"In this new stage it's my turn to start sharing experience with young people, like every cycle of life, maturity comes and you have to reinvent yourself," Quintana said in word to Agencia EFE whilst present in the event that has brough him over.
About Guatemala, he had nice words: "It is a country that we like very much, we decided to come to know, to ride and motivate cyclists so that this grows". And he added his point of view for cycling to continue progressing in that part of the world: "Investment is necessary to change the lifestyle of young people, get them out of delinquency, form good citizens and surely we will have cases where they become champions".
He also reviewed his 2024 campaign and confessed how he faces the next one: "We had a good season, with ups and downs and then with climbs we were able to finish well with a good last stop in Italy and looking forward to start the season in Spain in February. The goal for 2025 is to do the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España to open doors as a team". Although reports had varied, sources have told CiclismoAlDia that the Giro-Vuelta double was already in mind, not the Tour de France for the upcoming season.
Finally, he revealed the mentality that a champion has, specially as he had a first half of the season full of illnesses and injuries. : "When you are a winner and a top racer you always have to focus on jumping the hurdles, you have to focus on winning the race, there is no step back, rehabilitate quickly and be ready to compete," he concluded.
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024