Teams & Riders Nairo Quintana discussion thread

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May 30, 2015
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a holy place is never emply. there will clearly be new big gc riders. what's more there are already in the bunch but so far we don't have a clue who of them is going to strike massively. :D i'm going with Red Rick for the matter. you never know sure. Quintana can collect yet 3, 4 or 5 grand tours, however it won't be a miracle in case he takes zero. only time will tell.
 
May 15, 2011
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Red Rick said:
If there's one thing I've learnt from following sports closely, it's too never look too far ahead.
This... I remember people were talking about Lance's TDF record and Merckx's GT record after Contador won his 3rd TDF in 2010 and look where he is now. You just cannot predict what will happen, you can't know when athletes will drop off/new challengers will arise and Quintana will without a doubt miss some opportunities because of bad luck/illness/crashes.
 
May 15, 2011
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del1962 said:
I think Quintana has a great chance of more than 7 GTs, he has maybe 7 or 8 more seasons at the top.
He is 27. We know how rare it is to win GTs after ~32 years.
 

Scarponi

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Apr 21, 2015
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He will need a double of any sort to reach 9 obviously. I would bet if he fails this year it would be a Tour-Veulta in 2019 or 2020, cannot see him trying a Giro-Veulta anymore due to how strong he is and the Tour beckoning and Giro Tour is too hard
 
Jan 15, 2017
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LaFlorecita said:
del1962 said:
I think Quintana has a great chance of more than 7 GTs, he has maybe 7 or 8 more seasons at the top.
He is 27. We know how rare it is to win GTs after ~32 years.
If a rider keeps healthy and motivated, with more than 32 years he has many chances to win a GT and more important, experience. Last decade is a good example of it: Evans, Wiggins, Horner, Hesjedal, Basso, Scarponi, Peraud did 2nd in TDF, Rodriguez did some podiums as well, Vino won Vuelta with 33 yrs same as Sastre the TDF, etc.
 

Scarponi

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Apr 21, 2015
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GambadiLegno said:
LaFlorecita said:
del1962 said:
I think Quintana has a great chance of more than 7 GTs, he has maybe 7 or 8 more seasons at the top.
He is 27. We know how rare it is to win GTs after ~32 years.
If a rider keeps healthy and motivated, with more than 32 years he has many chances to win a GT and more important, experience. Last decade is a good example of it: Evans, Wiggins, Horner, Hesjedal, Basso, Scarponi, Peraud did 2nd in TDF, Rodriguez did some podiums as well, Vino won Vuelta with 33 yrs same as Sastre the TDF, etc.

he could go the Contador route though, having such monster form and shape so young (24-25) compared to alot of those riders he may slow down slightly by 32. Though no one currently looks like beating him once Froome slows down, barring ofcourse riders popping up who we cannot forsee.
 
Apr 16, 2009
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Red Rick said:
If there's one thing I've learnt from following sports closely, it's too never look too far ahead.
This.

Remember somebody said something about Ullrich and how many GT's he would win and the the Texan came in into the scene. Look at Andy. TBH I think Quintana is different to the other two guys but we just don't know what will happen in the future.

I know Quintana has it harder than Contador, Froome, Armstrong, Ullrich and others because he is such a small guy. He is fighting against a physical trait that is there in flat stages, cobbles, TT's.

He is very smart rider and very disciplined. He has that. But it is not so typical in history of cycling having such small guys winning so many GT's. Don't want to be a pessimist. It is more a complement to Nairo's intelligence than anything else.
 
Sep 1, 2012
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One thing to take into consideration is that based on last 3 years, he is regularly targeting 2 GTs a year. There is no singular fixation with the Tour, even he rides it almost every year. It increases the potential number of GTs he could win. At the same time, this approach coupled with an early breakthrough may lead to an earlier start of decline.

On the other hand, his attitude and lifestyle, as much as we know, are conducive to having a long and successful career. In the end, we cannot say for sure, what the future will bring, but based on what we know now, I would say that even 9 GTs is a realistic target.

There is no-one, since Quintana's breakthrough in 2013, that has shown a talent level close to his. But how many of us saw Froome coming in March 2011?
 
Nov 29, 2010
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GambadiLegno said:
LaFlorecita said:
del1962 said:
I think Quintana has a great chance of more than 7 GTs, he has maybe 7 or 8 more seasons at the top.
He is 27. We know how rare it is to win GTs after ~32 years.
If a rider keeps healthy and motivated, with more than 32 years he has many chances to win a GT and more important, experience. Last decade is a good example of it: Evans, Wiggins, Horner, Hesjedal, Basso, Scarponi, Peraud did 2nd in TDF, Rodriguez did some podiums as well, Vino won Vuelta with 33 yrs same as Sastre the TDF, etc.

You do have to consider "years spent at the top." A lot of the guys you listed peaked insanely late (for various reasons) and I think had arguably less stress on their body for that reason so they can still perform at say 35. It's extremely rare to find someone at the top from 22 to 38.

Valverde is a good counter example but even he had a 2 year "break" that I'm sure is helping prolong his career.

I expect Quintana will follow a Contador trajectory where he can still perform at 34 but will it be enough to win a GT?
 
Mar 10, 2017
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Valverde is performing really good since 22 now is 37 so with this example is pretty probable that Quintana could perform at top level till 35 and win many more grand tours
 
Feb 23, 2014
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dirk nowitzki said:
Valverde is performing really good since 22 now is 37 so with this example is pretty probable that Quintana could perform at top level till 35 and win many more grand tours

Valverde is the exception, not the norm. We don't know if Quintana will have that type of longevity.
 

Scarponi

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Jspear said:
dirk nowitzki said:
Valverde is performing really good since 22 now is 37 so with this example is pretty probable that Quintana could perform at top level till 35 and win many more grand tours

Valverde is the exception, not the norm. We don't know if Quintana will have that type of longevity.

Exactly for every Valverde or Evans there are 500 retired pros lol
 
Feb 20, 2012
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There's a few things in Quintana's favour, and there's a few not in his favour here.

+ He's clearly the best climber in his generation
+ He's got a very good team.
+ Reliable peaker
+ He rides pretty conservatively in races he rides, and doesn't do classics and all that crap

- limited TT, he needs to be the best climber in the race, or very very close to
- At 27, he's only won 2 GTs, and he's not the dominant stage racer (yet)
- He started his prime very early, and he's been riding 2 GTs a year
- He's prone to getting sick in GTs, and has yet to finish 2 GTs great in one year.

Then there's a lot of outside factors still up in the air. He could have a severe crash or get injured, or get form yips. Both are hopefully very unlikely. One other outside factor is going to be the competition. In the next 1-2 years, this going to depend on how mostly Froome's and to a lesser extent Contador's, Nibali's, Chaves and maybe the Yates' bro's careers develop. For the longer term, we're looking at young riders who's ceilings are largely unknown. The Dutch say 'Wat goed is, komt snel' or 'What is good, comes fast' and Quintana might see some stiff competition developing rather quickly in the next few years. Egan Bernal for example looks incredibly promising, but the development of such riders is delicate and a whole other thing in itself.

The way I see it, there's only so far you can look to the future somewhat reliably. You can look back a bit though. Quintana is entering the 5th year in which is one of the best climbers in the world, and he's won 2 GTs. Compared to other riders who were dominant GT riders, he's done a rather poor job at converting opportunities into wins. He's been piling up GT entries rather quickly, this will be the 4th consecutive year in which he starts in 2 GTs, though he's his tactics are very economical. If we're comparing to Contador, Contador entered his GT prime at 24/25, and won the next 6 GTs he rode. He did this by mostly riding one GT a year, but he's always contested every race he did hard, and very agressive. Then the world crashed down on him, he lost 2 GTs on paper, and then won 3 GTs after his dominance had ended.

Much will depend on Chris Froome and then the upcoming younger riders who will be challenging for GTs from 2019ish onward. I think that Quintana won't start thinking too much about the # of GT wins until he finally wins the Tour. If Froome keeps up for long, Quintana may never be the top GT rider in the world, and I think he'll need to be to really pile them up.

The last thing for Quintana would be how good he would be at winning the 'lesser GTs' after his peak. He won't have a TT to fall back on, but his base level is very high. After his true peak, he could probably be very competitive for a long time.

To me, Quintana's conversion rate speaks against him. But he has had no clinic gate. He's the best climber in the world, but in a sport were careers can shatter and contenders can rise in an instant, I don't think we can look ahead that far. I won't, and I have a feeling Quintana won't either.
 
Aug 3, 2015
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A couple of reasonable and good posts.

There are some thing I don't completely agree on; for example on not being able to finish 2 GTs in the same year well. Lets not remember he crashed in the TT in the red jersey Vuelta 2014 after winning the Giro, was 4th in the Vuelta after 2nd in TdF when he was very, very good in the mountains (close to podium and could've won if not for sickness on the most important stage of the race to Els Cortals) and won the Vuelta after fighting through what seemed to be mediocre shape and allergies in TdF, like Contador in 2013 (which must have been hard - psychically and mentally). That doesn't necessarily show to me that he can't cope with 2 GTs a year.

Another point. You are saying he peaked/started his prime very early, to me, he has only now fully entered it while Froome might be in decline. Well, he certainly has dropped a few % compared to 2013 over the years.
 
Jan 15, 2017
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deValtos said:
GambadiLegno said:
LaFlorecita said:
del1962 said:
I think Quintana has a great chance of more than 7 GTs, he has maybe 7 or 8 more seasons at the top.
He is 27. We know how rare it is to win GTs after ~32 years.
If a rider keeps healthy and motivated, with more than 32 years he has many chances to win a GT and more important, experience. Last decade is a good example of it: Evans, Wiggins, Horner, Hesjedal, Basso, Scarponi, Peraud did 2nd in TDF, Rodriguez did some podiums as well, Vino won Vuelta with 33 yrs same as Sastre the TDF, etc.

You do have to consider "years spent at the top." A lot of the guys you listed peaked insanely late (for various reasons) and I think had arguably less stress on their body for that reason so they can still perform at say 35. It's extremely rare to find someone at the top from 22 to 38.

Valverde is a good counter example but even he had a 2 year "break" that I'm sure is helping prolong his career.

I expect Quintana will follow a Contador trajectory where he can still perform at 34 but will it be enough to win a GT?
Well, Basso won the Giro 8 years after being 1st in youth classification and 11th in TDF, and top 10 in the hardest stages, becoming top 10 in GC of the TDF next year. Evans was top10 in TDF 6 years before winning it, and was very close to win 2002 Giro if it wasn't for the famous Passo Coe. Vinokourov won Dauphine in 1999, 7 years before winning Vuelta a España, he was silver medal in Sidney'00, 7th in LBL same year, etc. Rodriguez years before becoming 3rd in TDF and a favourite rider for GT's, was known as a top "hill climber", very close to Valverde's performances despite not winning as much as him. In fact, that was the reason to leave Caisse d'Epargne. Peraud, before arriving in road cycling was European, World and Olympic medallist in MTB since mid-2000's.

What I want to mean is that those guys probably didn't win a GT before their mid-30's but they were on the top since many years before. Their bodies were enough "destroyed" after so many years at that level.

Anyway, Quintana is in Movistar, probably the best team by far if you want to have a long and successful career.
 
Aug 3, 2015
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Its hard to say how long Quintana can continue for, almost impossible. I don't know how relevant a comparison to Valverde is - I'd like to think he is unique - but both seem similar in terms of being extremely professional and having a very high base level. And they obviously both ride for Movistar, but do they know something that others don't? Doubt it. But can be relieved from a lot of stress just staying at Movistar, being with his family in Colombia, just the same pattern over and over again, year after year.
 
Nov 29, 2010
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GambadiLegno said:
Well, Basso won the Giro 8 years after being 1st in youth classification and 11th in TDF, and top 10 in the hardest stages, becoming top 10 in GC of the TDF next year. Evans was top10 in TDF 6 years before winning it, and was very close to win 2002 Giro if it wasn't for the famous Passo Coe. Vinokourov won Dauphine in 1999, 7 years before winning Vuelta a España, he was silver medal in Sidney'00, 7th in LBL same year, etc. Rodriguez years before becoming 3rd in TDF and a favourite rider for GT's, was known as a top "hill climber", very close to Valverde's performances despite not winning as much as him. In fact, that was the reason to leave Caisse d'Epargne. Peraud, before arriving in road cycling was European, World and Olympic medallist in MTB since mid-2000's.

What I want to mean is that those guys probably didn't win a GT before their mid-30's but they were on the top since many years before. Their bodies were enough "destroyed" after so many years at that level.

Anyway, Quintana is in Movistar, probably the best team by far if you want to have a long and successful career.

I wouldn't really say any of those are exceptions. I think 8-9 years at peak is achievable and those guys have done that. When you get up to 15 years you really are only looking at Valverde and like I said before I think his "break" helped prolong his career.

Not saying Quintana can't and won't be winning GT's in his mid thirties but I expect him to start declining a little around 32 (similar to Contador really.)
 
Aug 5, 2009
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Riders do generally have longer careers now especially classics riders who seem to retain their strength for more years which I suppose is logical. Three week races are much tougher on the body and recovery. Not many GT riders reach 34 or 35 without having a drop in performance. Some become super domestiques and some just become top 10 GC riders as their talent is still is enough to keep them in the top echelon but not the elite. plus if a rider is getting well paid and loves the sport, why would he retire ? There seems to be more riders riding these days over the age of 35 than there used to be. Many more.
 
Nov 7, 2010
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DNP-Old said:
ÚLTIMA HORA: Nairo Quintana se podría haber fracturado la tibia en una caída mientras entrenaba. Estamos trabajando para ampliar la información.

source: mundodeportivo
Real shame. Hopefully not a major break and no vehicle involved :sad:

Definitely out of the Giro now I guess, and pretty slim that he'll have any shape for the Tour.
 
Jul 12, 2012
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Big shame for him, if true and confirmed, never nice to see.

If it's a proper fracture it can take 3-4 months to heal. If only a stress fracture recovery could be only 6-8 weeks.