Nairo Quintana slowly rose and showed glimpses of his past self at the Giro d'Italia but, outside of it, he has truly had an unlucky season. After several illnesses and injuries suffered earlier in the season, the Colombian has been sidelined once again with a fracture suffered on a crash at the Tour de Suisse.
Quintana earlier in the year was infected with Covid-19 at the Tour Colombia which delayed his European start to the season completely. He crashed twice at the Volta a Catalunya which saw him abandon and miss out on all races before the Giro - which was even briefly in doubt. There, he almost won stage 15 in style - only beaten by Tadej Pogacar - but returned to good form and hoped to put that on display in Suisse.
Movistar came to the Swiss race, which features plenty high mountains, with a stacked squad including Enric Mas who is preparing for the Tour de France and Vuelta a España. Quintana and Einer Rubio who also rode at a high level in the Giro joined him in pursuit of a strong overall classification stint, but Quintana crashed on stage 2, losing a few minutes. However he felt pain following the stage which required check ups.
"Following his fall yesterday Monday during the second stage of the Tour de Suisse, and in light of the pain he was suffering, Nairo underwent radiological tests last night," Movistar wrote on social media this morning. "Quintana suffers from a non-displaced fracture of the fourth metacarpal of his right hand. The Colombian will continue treatment with immobilization and will not take part in the third stage today Tuesday."
With this, the possibility of the Colombian returning to the Tour de France can be eliminated completely, as it will take a few weeks to recover from the injury and the schedule would already be very tight in ideal conditions. Most likely, he will return to Colombia to prepare for the second half of the season, where the Vuelta a España could end up being his priority.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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🏥👨🏻⚕️ 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: @NairoQuinCo Tras su caída ayer lunes durante la segunda etapa del #TourdeSuisse, y ante el dolor que sufría, Nairo pasó pruebas radiológicas anoche. Quintana sufre una fractura no desplazada del cuarto metacarpiano de la mano derecha. El
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