Nairo Quintana has made it clear that, though he’s deeply motivated to make his return to WorldTour racing subsequent February, he is conserving his toes on the bottom in terms of taking high outcomes.
Quintana, 33, will start racing once more subsequent 12 months with Movistar, his crew from 2012-2019, after a hiatus of over 12 months following his optimistic check for tramadol and subsequent disqualification from the 2022 Tour de France.
In-competition use of tramadol was barred by the UCI in 2019, however it can solely be added to the WADA banned checklist from January 1, 2024. However though Quintana was allowed to proceed racing after his optimistic checks, he was unable to discover a crew for 2023.
This autumn, Quintana has already appealed to Colombian followers to not have overly heightened expectations, and in interviews each earlier than and throughout the Movistar crew launch this week, he repeated that request.
“All people desires me to win, however we have now to be acutely aware {that a} new era of riders has come by way of and so they’re combating very arduous,” Quintana advised El País. “Though I’m very eager to race and I nonetheless have an excellent motor, I do not suppose I’ll be the identical rider as earlier than, with all these ‘super-winners’ on the scene.
“I shone brightly as a rider for roughly a decade, we have seen what number of riders from my era have already given up racing within the final two years, and a few that proceed are severely demotivated.
“However I am feeing very motivated, as a result of I’ve come into racing once more with new power and a brand new approach of seeing biking. I will do my utmost to assist the crew and assist Enric Mas, who’s the chief of the squad.”
Requested at size about how he felt regarding the optimistic for tramadol and the year-long hiatus from racing, Quintana argued, “What I can say, in order to not talk about the topic any extra, is that it was very powerful for me, by no means anticipated and really painful. I do not wish to go into the topic an excessive amount of so I do not harm anybody or begin blaming individuals.”
“It has been a troublesome 12 months and what I wish to do now’s to depart it behind. To not overlook, as a result of it is inconceivable to overlook that, however to shut that chapter and see how the solar shines any longer.”
Again to the Giro d’Italia
Quintana expressed his fervent because of Movistar for giving him the chance to race once more however warned that he wouldn’t be combating on the stage of the highest stars within the sport.
With Miguel Angel López dealing with an extended doping ban and no different Colombian GC males difficult for Grand Tour podiums, Quintana recognised that Colombian biking wants a big-name star.
However he conceded that “Occasions have modified, issues get outdated and so do individuals. I am not 20 like I used to be once I used to essentially shine and thrill individuals with my wins.”
Of the 51 wins in his palmarès to this point, Quintana’s final victory was the final stage and total of the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var in February, 2022.
“The very last thing I wish to do is deceive anybody, say I’ll win once we do not really know what the reply might be on a sporting stage. I am not 20 or 22 or 23, like these younger leaders who’re successful.
“I am certain I will be very near among the large names, however I do not suppose I will be on the stage of the three, 4 or 5 high leaders who’re all the time combating for nearly all the highest races on the worldwide stage.”
Quintana’s earlier announcement that he can be making his return to racing within the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (January Thirty first-February 4th) could in actual fact see him make his debut on dwelling terrain within the Colombia Tour, which runs from February Sixth-Eleventh and has a stage in his dwelling area of Boyacá.
“That is the plan”, he advised El País.
As for the Giro d’Italia, which he gained in 2014 and completed second in 2017, Quintana confirmed that his concept can be to go for the general once more, however that he must wait till he noticed how he carried out within the first a part of the race earlier than making a definitive determination about his probabilities on GC.
In the meantime, his co-leader in Movistar, Enric Mas, will as soon as once more deal with the Tour de France, a race by which the Spaniard has two high six finishes total however the place he crashed out in 2023 on stage 1. As but, whether or not Quintana will race within the Vuelta a España, which he gained in 2016, has but to be confirmed.