Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

[Roku]

Insane how riders like Basso, Valverde , Di Luca etc got second chances but he can’t with Tramadol

That's the way cycling has worked for several decades. Rebellin didn't get a second chance outside smaller teams which couldn't even field him on certain races. That's what happened to Mancebo and Sevilla after Op.Puerto. Or even Landis and Hamilton.

Lopez and Quintana are also slaves of their own doing and personality. Like other people mentioned, they burned too many bridges.

The only way to get back to cycling again is by keeping a low profile, accept your suspension and "wrongdoings" and hopefully come back gradually to bigger teams.

 

[movingtarget]

That's the way cycling has worked for several decades. Rebellin didn't get a second chance outside smaller teams which couldn't even field him on certain races. That's what happened to Mancebo and Sevilla after Op.Puerto. Or even Landis and Hamilton.

Lopez and Quintana are also slaves of their own doing and personality. Like other people mentioned, they burned too many bridges.

The only way to get back to cycling again is by keeping a low profile, accept your suspension and "wrongdoings" and hopefully come back gradually to bigger teams.

Some people manned up like Kohl etc and others just got lucky on technicalities of the law. Lopez and Quintana haven't done much for quite a while now. Rather watch some of the younger riders moving through the ranks.

 

[RedheadDane]

"Quintana News" these days are basically:

Some cycling media: Quintana has signed for [team]!
Official person from said team: No he hasn't.

 

[StryderHells]

Some people manned up like Kohl etc and others just got lucky on technicalities of the law. Lopez and Quintana haven't done much for quite a while now. Rather watch some of the younger riders moving through the ranks.

Lopez did finish 4th at a GT last season so I wouldn’t say he hasn’t done much in quite a while.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Lopez did finish 4th at a GT last season so I wouldn’t say he hasn’t done much in quite a while.

Quintana also "finished" 6th in the TdF and had 4 wins last year. Not WT wins, but at a level that would be valuable for a Pro Team.

 

[staubsauger]

Could've been 5th even if Arkea at least had one domestique to pull back Vlasov.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1617517733884600323

View: https://twitter.com/NievesMoya/status/1617517733884600323?t=w-iP8YIoCVe1Hb0C9WVgaA&s=19


It is being reported that Nairoman will retire from professional cycling

 

[Escarabajo]

As I was expecting.
There was something behind the scenes that we did not see and was related that an outlet in Colombia (Fuera de Limite) which I like a lot for being somewhat objective, is that it looked like the UCI had not close the case on Nairo and maybe they were investigating furthermore. Additionally that ASO was pissed off for making them lose time by appealing to CAS his Tramadol case. But what were they expeting? it is every rider's right to do that. An they all do it unless you are a nobody.

Somehow I feel like there was some bullying here. Maybe I am wrong but it feels that way!

Anyway, if true, I hate to see Nairo retire this way.

 

[staubsauger]

As I was expecting.
There was something behind the scenes that we did not see and was related that an outlet in Colombia (Fuera de Limite) which I like a lot for being somewhat objective, is that it looked like the UCI had not close the case on Nairo and maybe they were investigating furthermore. Additionally that ASO was pissed off for making them lose time by appealing to CAS his Tramadol case. But what were they expeting? it is every rider's right to do that. An they all do it unless you are a nobody.

Somehow I feel like there was some bullying here. Maybe I am wrong but it feels that way!

Anyway, if true, I hate to see Nairo retire this way.

Bruyneel basically confirmed Quintana has been blacklisted ala Rasmussen!

I have first-hand that the organization of the Tour, ASO, has put pressure on teams interested in Nairo Quintana so that they don't hire him. Those teams need an invitation to run the competition and the decision is obvious”, said the Belgian. "If they hire Quintana, they don't come to the Tour", were the exact words of the ex-cyclist.

“It is clear that the tramadol case, although he did not receive a suspension, did earn him a sanction such as disqualification from the Tour. And in cycling we all know that he commands the Tour, that everyone must kiss ASO's feet, whether or not you need an invitation to run, ”he asserted.

 

[Lequack]

Personally I think this bullying and corruptions is much worse for cycling than Quintana's case.

 

[SafeBet]

Press conference on Wednesday... Seems like he's going to retire.

 

[fmk_RoI]

Bruyneel basically confirmed Quintana has been blacklisted ala Rasmussen!

What's the source for that? Is that a December Spanish podcast or is it more recent?

Corratec last week kinda confirmed the blacklisting, saying it was ASO that encouraged them to join the MPCC, the implication then being that they didn't wish to offend ASO by hiring Quintana.

at the end of December we have signed up to the MPCC (Movement for Clean Cycling) which is a structure that fights against these drug problems such as tramadol. The ASO has also asked us to join this association and today it is difficult for us to make an agreement with Nairo

That said, ASO's blacklisting power really only extends to teams dependent on them for invites: WT teams who are not members of the MPCC are free to thumb their nose at ASO's 'blacklist'.

As with the Rasmussen's blacklisting, the power of the UCI/McQuaid then and ASO/Prudhomme now is really only as strong as the teams allow it to be. No amount of blacklisting stopped Vinokourov or Millar or Valverde coming back

 

[hfer07]

Bruyneel basically confirmed Quintana has been blacklisted ala Rasmussen!

I'd say Quintana became the "fall guy" for the "tramadol saga", so it can be dusted & disposed of for good.

It's quite ridiculous the way Quintana is being forced to quit the sport........

 

[Red Rick]

Isn't Quintana only blacklisted from the TdF?

 

[fmk_RoI]

I'd say Quintana became the "fall guy" for the "tramadol saga", so it can be dusted & disposed of for good.

So it's now a saga and we've got a fall guy?

It's two positive tests and he's the only one involved. Don't blow it out of proportion.

 

[fmk_RoI]

Isn't Quintana only blacklisted from the TdF?

From what Corratec said last week ASO, by encouraging teams to join the MPCC if they want wildcards - and the MPCC creatively applying 2024's two year standard for a tramadol ban to a 2022 test thus blocking MPCC teams from hiring Quintana - are effectively blocking him from joining any team that relies on ASO's largesse for race invites to any ASO races.

So, no, not just the TdF. But also not quite a blacklist, more an interesting application of standards.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

It's quite ridiculous the way Quintana is being forced to quit the sport........

I agree. This is the thing I’ve always hated in pro cycling: why do they kick one rider (here: Quintana) out, and 199 others are allowed to stay in? Why is there no equal treatment?

It was the same with Pantani: he repeatedly mentioned, „They just wanted to punish only me“. In Pantani‘s case, they made a dead man, not even five years afterwards.

I hope Quintana handles this situation better. How can you be sixth best man in the world (Nairo in Paris, 2022) one moment, and kicked out off everything the next moment? Which persons, which interests are behind all this?

Fingers crossed Nairo stays an active pro rider. At least riding on CT level, just like MAL.

So shall Nairo and MAL be damaged/destroyed - just for nothing? This makes me sad. I‘m looking forward to a great 2023 pro road cycling season, but the way Nairo and MAL currently are treated makes me sad. God bless these two guys, who just want to do what they love, and bring us all a little bit pleasure and entertainment. You‘ll be missed among World Tour fans - hope you come back, as soon as possible.

 

[Ricco']

What a take from this is that it's not cool to be colombian anymore and ASO already decided that it isn't a market they want to pursue. It was one of the hotter cycling nations in the middle years of the last decade but not anymore.

 

[CyclistAbi]

So two Latin American top tier cyclist were forced out of the peloton. One being accused of using Tramadol at the Tour and the other one not being accused of using anything. Both now being treated like they were caught doping.

Not cool.

If this is OK then i guess this is then a silent admition Athlete Biological Passport doesn't work. To the extent we ought to believe it does.

If this is really the end of the road. I always enjoyed Quintana. And am grateful i was able to witness his era.

 

[fmk_RoI]

From the pen of the brilliant Carlos Arribas, El País's obituary for Colombian cyclists in Europe is well worth tossing through your favourite Babel fish:

"The end of Nairo Quintana, a symptom of the evil that afflicts Colombian cycling"

If the fire of the veterans runs out, that of the youth does not ignite. After Higuita, none of the Colombian cyclists who have arrived at the WorldTour have been able to live up to his promises and hopes. As in the harsh 90s and 2000s, the runners who devastate their land, in a millieu in which Óscar Sevilla at 47 years old continues to be one of the best, in Europe they drag. Luis Fernando Saldarriaga, whose sponsor closed Manzana Postobón after two cases of doping, has not found sponsors for his project again, and from the sidelines, he is a television commentator, he does not stop regretting how doping has once again contaminated all processes in hiscountry.

 

[gmedina]

This is insane and maybe a bit xenophobic in my opinion. It was weird enough that he was raided two TdFs ago, and nothing came out of it, but now he is being blacklisted for an offense that is not doping? We saw people like Contador and Froome coming back from worse types of offenses without being black listed by the organizers...and yet we are here.

BTW, this also reminds me of the disappearance of the Colombian climbers in the 80s/90s, where they all seemed to struggle against the taller, bigger guys that seemed to do well in any terrain. We know how that story ended. But to me, it seems we are back at that point, but I guess only time will tell.

 

[fmk_RoI]

We saw people like Contador and Froome coming back from worse types of offenses without being black listed by the organizers...and yet we are here.

Actually we saw them coming back without UCI/ASO/the mob being able to blacklist them. Repeat after me: blacklisting only works when the teams allow it to work. When they don't want to respect the blacklist it does not work.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

In Nairo‘s case, I‘d even say they are treating him disrespectfully with regard to his lifetime achievement.

In my opinion, you do not treat an athlete this way, an athlete who was always so popular among cycling fans worldwide, and who was a great, hard working ambassador for cycling worldwide: a Colombian who reached the top in a sport dominated mainly by Europeans.

I see absolutely no sense in throwing out Nairo off top pro cycling. I would say it was OK if he had tested positive for EPO or similar. But that was not the case.

A really strange, weird case. The rider fought back so hard, after suffering from knee problems that made his life a hell, and achieved a classy sixth place in TdF‘s final GC of 2022. Then they take that away from him, and thank him by throwing him out of the sport… That is a sad, sad story… :-(

 

[Kaptain Kool]

ASO is trying to make it look like they're tough on doping so that all those same team 1-2-3 finishes appear more believable. Those are great stories! Old Has Been Cheat who can't even speak English or French is not.

 

[Escarabajo]

In Nairo‘s case, I‘d even say they are treating him disrespectfully with regard to his lifetime achievement.

In my opinion, you do not treat an athlete this way, an athlete who was always so popular among cycling fans worldwide, and who was a great, hard working ambassador for cycling worldwide: a Colombian who reached the top in a sport dominated mainly by Europeans.

I see absolutely no sense in throwing out Nairo off top pro cycling. I would say it was OK if he had tested positive for EPO or similar. But that was not the case.

A really strange, weird case. The rider fought back so hard, after suffering from knee problems that made his life a hell, and achieved a classy sixth place in TdF‘s final GC of 2022. Then they take that away from him, and thank him by throwing him out of the sport… That is a sad, sad story… :-(

They didn't care for Armstrong and other riders either. So I don't think they are being selective. having said that, this is a Tramadol case. Come on. And the rules are rules. So no need to blacklist a rider for this after his results have been taken away. That's why I think there was a little bit of bullying.