Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

How is he fast?

Well, he can ride 3.500 kilometers within three weeks pretty quickly. His final time is quite low - he doesn‘t need many hours and minutes…

 

[Andy schleck]

I don't get why people keep bringing up Movistar. Their 2023 roster is full. They'll have to fire someone if they want to sign Quintana.

He's going to astana.

 

[Jungle Cycle]

meanwhile...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593803375656980480

View: https://twitter.com/Orios8/status/1593803375656980480

 

[fmk_RoI]

The Astana door firmly closes, another door opens?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1615412590972207106

View: https://twitter.com/cirogazzetta/status/1615412590972207106

 

[staubsauger]

So that's why he refused Medellin? To get 15th at the upcoming Giro d'Italia riding for a small, chanceless team? If he's not going to get a extended thread in the clinic, because has to organize his program himself.

Sounds wise. Not!

I stay to get corrected and a Quintana versus Pinot battle for the mountains jersey sounds nice. But Quintana looks like a lost man nowadays.

 

[Mayomaniac]

So that's why he refused Medellin? To get 15th at the upcoming Giro d'Italia riding for a small, chanceless team? If he's not going to get a extended thread in the clinic, because has to organize his program himself.

Sounds wise. Not!

I stay to get corrected and a Quintana versus Pinot battle for the mountains jersey sounds nice. But Quintana looks like a lost man nowadays.

Let's be real, how high will the level of gc riders in the Giro be outside of the top 5? Even with his recovery clearly not being what it used to be Nairo should be able to get a top 10 on the gc. That said, with a team not having the means to really support him in the mountains stagehunting is probably the better option.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Even a bad ProConti team is much better than Medellin and only local races in South America.

If he goes to Corratec he can get quite an interesting race program.
Tirreno
Settimania
Giro di Sicilia
Tour of the Alps
Giro

Then the full autumn with Adriatica Ionica and the Italian fall classics.
In the summer he could probably get some cool races like Österreich Rundfahrt or Sibiu Tour, or maybe even Corratec can go to Volta a Portugal?

Quintana is a rider that doesn't need a lot of support, so the low level of the domestiques shouldn't be a huge issue. Conti and perhaps Vacek can probably stay with him for quite a while on the mountain stages.

As a cycling fan I'd take Quintana in a bad PCT like Corratec 10/10 times over Medellin. He will get a chance to get some results in WT races this season, unlike what Medellin and Superman will have the chance to.

 

[tobydawq]

So that's why he refused Medellin? To get 15th at the upcoming Giro d'Italia riding for a small, chanceless team? If he's not going to get a extended thread in the clinic, because has to organize his program himself.

Sounds wise. Not!

I stay to get corrected and a Quintana versus Pinot battle for the mountains jersey sounds nice. But Quintana looks like a lost man nowadays.

What? How can Medellín be better than Corratec?

 

[Elos Anjos]

If that's the gossip amount to, it's a shame that Quintana goes down like this. His palmares would warrant much more. No one would believe a few years back that he would fade in such a way. Being Colombian (that is, being from a country outside Europe) and spending a lot of time there with his family also has its drawbacks: no social solid networks to support him.

 

[Ricco']

In Corratec he at least has a chance to rebound and find a better place in the future.

Going to South America as a 33 year old? That's career over in Europe.

 

[staubsauger]

Well, Pellizotti didn't manage to crack the top 10 at the Giro d'Italia when he rode for Androni Giocattoli. And his Achilles verse always was his recovery. Except in 2008 & 2009 for well known reasons.

If Quintana was European or a young talent like Rujano & Co back in the day I would agree with you. But Quintana is Colombian and 33. His prime career is actually behind him. Corratec isn't Androni Giocattoli either.

The South American race circuit actually is the only meaningful local one outside of Europe. Does a major Colombian team really pay less than a small European one? Vuelta a Colombia should be the 4th most meaningful race or grand tour for him after the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana.

Quintana already won the Giro d'Italia & Vuelta a Espana. He's not going to win the Tour de France anymore. Neither is he going on until his 40 like Valverde, Rebellin, Sevilla, Rujano or Cardenas with his knee issues.

What's the deal for someone that's 33 and and a former GT winner to ride for an 8-15th spot in the 2023 Giro d'Italia? I certainly would have taken the contract offer by Medellin and tried to win the Vuelta a Colombia like my big idol Lucho Herrera. Or signed up for Savio to focus on Tachira & Colombia.

If he's a former winner of the 2014 Giro d'Italia, 2016 Vuelta a Espana and 2023 Vuelta a Colombia that's a recognizable palmares.

Noone going to give a *** Quintana places 7th at the 2023 Giro d'Italia instead.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Well, Pellizotti didn't manage to crack the top 10 at the Giro d'Italia when he rode for Androni Giocattoli. And his Achilles verse always was his recovery. Except in 2008 & 2009 for well known reasons.

If Quintana was European or a young talent like Rujano & Co back in the day I would agree with you. But Quintana is Colombian and 33. His prime career is actually behind him. Corratec isn't Androni Giocattoli either.

The South American race circuit actually is the only meaningful local one outside of Europe. Does a major Colombian team really pay less than a small European one? Vuelta a Colombia should be the 4th most meaningful race or grand tour for him after the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana.

Quintana already won the Giro d'Italia & Vuelta a Espana. He's not going to win the Tour de France anymore. Neither is he going on until his 40 like Valverde, Rebellin, Sevilla, Rujano or Cardenas with his knee issues.

What's the deal for someone that's 33 and and a former GT winner to ride for an 8-15th spot in the 2023 Giro d'Italia? I certainly would have taken the contract offer by Medellin and tried to win the Vuelta a Colombia like my big idol Lucho Herrera. Or signed up for Savio to focus on Tachira & Colombia.

If he's a former winner of the 2014 Giro d'Italia, 2016 Vuelta a Espana and 2023 Vuelta a Colombia that's a recognizable palmares.

Noone going to give a *** Quintana places 7th at the 2023 Giro d'Italia instead.

Unless you're the big star on a French PCT team you probably make more money as a team leader on a CT team in Portugal or one of the big Asian CT teams (from Japan, China or Malaysia. No idea if the money in Colombia is decent, but I guess a big star like Quintana could get decent money and all kind of sponsorship deals. I guess he still wants to race in Europe, potentially a gt and maybe come back to a higher level team, like Delfino or Lulu Sanchez (who was also already in his 30ies when he stepped down to PCT level for one season).

 

[Red Rick]

Why the hell is no WT team interested in Quintana it makes no sense to me.

 

[Netserk]

Why the hell is no WT team interested in Quintana it makes no sense to me.

Start of the points cycle. No hunger.

 

[saunaking]

Start of the points cycle. No hunger.

typical shortsightedness

 

[Kaptain Kool]

IMHO riding with Corratec isn't that much different than Arkea Samsic. He'd race Italian races instead of French ones. So what if his team is weaker? His team wouldn't need to control and WT race and probably not the .Pro ones either. Gimme a break about Vuelta a Colombia and Clasico RCN. I enjoy those races as much as anyone but there's nothing for Nairoman to do there.

 

[laarsland]

I find it very likely that the organization at Arkea is far more advanced and well-funded than Corratec.

 

[samhocking]

Why the hell is no WT team interested in Quintana it makes no sense to me.

Start of the points cycle. No hunger.

There's little need for teams to risk taking on a rider like Quintana. A police raid, allegations of blood manipulation and a violation for Tramadol any team would be better to look at another top 10 GC rider on the market without that baggage. The days are gone when that stuff can happen and still compete at the very top teams. We saw it even with Astana dropping Superman and that doesn't even involve a violation. Again not worth the risk, there's lots of riders to choose from.

 

[ciranda]

Actually there's exactly zero riders around as good as Nairo and Superman that don't have contracts.

 

[fmk_RoI]

Why the hell is no WT team interested in Quintana it makes no sense to me.

Come on RR, the mere fact that he's still looking for a team despite telling us he had a team tells us he's a liar and calls into question other things he's said that we're suppose to believe. Who would risk trusting him?

 

[Taxus4a]

He has lost a lot of credit for me. First when he was caugh with a substance proven to improve performance, and not legal, and second when he said it has a contract with a World Tour team for 2023.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Why the hell is no WT team interested in Quintana it makes no sense to me.

Perhaps because there were two bad publicity incidents whilst at Arkea.
Sponsors want the narrative to be positive .

 

[Red Rick]

There's little need for teams to risk taking on a rider like Quintana. A police raid, allegations of blood manipulation and a violation for Tramadol any team would be better to look at another top 10 GC rider on the market without that baggage. The days are gone when that stuff can happen and still compete at the very top teams. We saw it even with Astana dropping Superman and that doesn't even involve a violation. Again not worth the risk, there's lots of riders to choose from.

There's been bigger cases without riders even getting punished. And there's guys like Yates who's actually been on short bans who somehow has perfectly nothingburger PR.

 

[fmk_RoI]

Sponsors want the narrative to be positive .

Q delivers positives!

 

[samhocking]

Actually there's exactly zero riders around as good as Nairo and Superman that don't have contracts.

There are plently of riders within the traditional transfer window when they make themselves available and known to teams, but clearly the transfer system doesn't accommodate riders being sacked in the middle of multi-year contracts like those two riders. No team expected them to be on the market or plan to sign them and for the reason I said, riders being sacked isn't the best selling point for World Tour rider agent to market their riders with.

There's been bigger cases without riders even getting punished. And there's guys like Yates who's actually been on short bans who somehow has perfectly nothingburger PR.

Maybe his team actually do take that blame on themselves and other teams know the story While we don't know, I highly doubt Arkea was giving Quintana Tramadol or calling for police raids on their hotel. But even Yates's sanction isn't without consequences. e.g. he couldn't sign for Ineos and several teams have zero tolerance policies now couldn't sign him either.