"This will be his last season": Nairo Quintana's teammate reveals retirement plans of the Colombian legend!

Everything points to Nairo Quintana ending his racing career at the close of the 2026 season. The Colombian climber, about to turn 36, would then enter the final year of his Movistar Team contract and, barring a late twist, his last as a professional rider.

The news surfaced via his teammate and compatriot Einer Rubio. Speaking to MARCA, the young rider was blunt about Nairoman: "This will be his last season." A direct message that confirms what has long been assumed around the Boyacá rider.

Quintana appears to have mapped out his path once he hangs up the bike. Last week he earned a master’s in Business Administration and Digital Transformation from Northern Illinois University. That academic commitment explained his absence from Movistar Team’s official presentation and the opening days of camp, which he joined later.

As for his race calendar in this likely farewell campaign, there is no final programme yet. However, according to Marca, it is very possible that 2026 will pass without Quintana riding any of the three Grand Tours. If confirmed, the 2025 Giro d’Italia would have been his last three-week race, the 20th of his professional career.

Across his career, Nairo Quintana has stood on the final podium of a Grand Tour six times. He won the Giro d’Italia in 2014 and was runner-up in 2017, finished second at the Tour de France in 2013 and 2015 and third in 2016, and claimed victory at the Vuelta a España in 2016. A record that cements him as one of the leading figures in Colombian and global cycling over the last decade.

Furthermore, he's also won 8 Grand Tour stages across his career, 3x at the Tour and Giro, and 2x at the Vuelta. At the 2024 Giro d'Italia, the Colombian came incredibly close to his 9th triumph on stage 15, only to be defeated by the flying Tadej Pogacar.