Re: Re:
Agreed with Simoni!simoni said:samhocking said:ppanther92 said:Ataraxus said:Written this 4 years ago:
"I don't know if I'm the only one, but, in my mind I have questioned Quintana's age. His face gives the impression of a much older man.
And in Latin America (and Africa) they have this trend of manipulating sportsmen passports to show them as much younger in Europe hence to increase their contract values. (There are plenty of suchlike speculations about south-american footballers)
....
Anyway. His results will show in the forthcoming years whether Quintana has that development curve a 25 year old should have in cycling. Hope my suspicions are wrong though. "
His development curve from 2013 onward doesn't look like the one of a 24 years old. Neither does his face .
Ine possible explanation for sure. Something happened with him - he only prepared for the Tour this year and still is way off from his early career performances. Not only result wise (you could blame that on increased competition), but also from a personal point (much slower than some years ago).
Quintana's issue is he's a climber and 55-60kg climbers simply don't win the Tour de France where every climb is raced at threshold, 70-75kg all-rounders do. He should aim for Vuelta and Landa for Tour exclusively where their natural physiology can be used accordingly.
It may be that he never wins a tour because of this but he's been a hell of a lot closer in the past. Have things really changed so significantly in the sport since 2013 or his last near misses in 2015/6 that he's now a top 10 rider rather than a podium contender?
I don't think they have - something has changed with him.