Nairo Quintana is not having a good time. His start to the season has not been the best, what he, his entourage and his fans expected, full of health problems and falls, which have forced him to results that he is not accustomed to. country.
Although he enjoyed the return of the World Tour, the highest category of cycling in the world, thanks to 'the hand' extended to him by the manager of the Movistar team, Eusebio Unzué, the man from Boyacá has not had a good performance.
He was fourth in the National Road time trial and in the long-distance race he finished 26th, far behind. The revenge would be the Tour Colombia, a test in which he was officiating as a local, since the test began in the 'patio of his house', in Boyacá, and ended in Bogotá, but neither. He did not appear. He did not have a good behavior and ended up far from the fight for the podium: 21, 8 minutes and 37 seconds behind the champion, Rodrigo Contreras.
It was later confirmed that the health problems he suffered in the Colombia Tour were the result of contagion by covid-19, for which he had to change his 'strategy' and stop a little, lift the pedal.
That gave him the option to take things slowly. Her debut in Europe was scheduled for O Gran Camino, but it could not happen. Then, everything was planned for the Vuelta a Catalunya, in which he worked with its leader, Enric Mas, who finished fourth overall while Quintana had to leave in the last stage after a fall. Already, before retirement, his performance had not been good. He was 50th overall and he had little to do.
What happens with Quintana clashes with his rich record of achievements. At 34 years old, he knows that his best time has passed, but he wants to leave cycling on a bicycle and not with the memory that in the 2022 Tour de France he was disqualified because two of his analyzes resulted in the prohibited substance tramadol. on that occasion by the International Cycling Union (UCI) in competition.
Rival attacks
His year has not been good. The rider from Boyacá was the center of attention after the competition, as he had an altercation with Wout Poels, the Bahrain rider, with whom he almost came to blows in the middle of the stage.
In a statement to a podcast, the Bahrain team runner warned that Quintana became uncomfortable when he saw him standing near Mas and reacted badly.
“We were climbing a climb and I wanted to improve my position because I felt good. I wanted to move forward, but no one would let me. I decided to follow Mas”, he stood next to the Spanish runner and the Boyacense hit him.
“Maybe it was annoying, but it's not that I wanted to overtake it. But at one point, he elbowed me,” Poels said. And he added: “I wasn't close enough to push him, but he elbowed me and I argued with him,” said the Dutchman and reminded him of his case of tramadol.
“At that time, I asked him why he did it. And why he was so aggressive right away. I told him that he was taking Tramadol again and that was why he was behaving so aggressively. I think he understood me. So I thought maybe he shouldn't have said that. But he himself was stupid enough to use it in the Tour de France,” said Poels.
Well, the issue didn't stop there. Now the Welshman Geraint Thomas, a rider for the Ineos team, also referred to Nairo Quintana.
“Nairo Quintana should not be running. “Damn rat,” is heard in the conversation, after some laughter.
Although these are circumstances that happen often in the lot, there are cyclists who are not amused by the matter and repudiate such blunt positions.
José Jaime González, former Colombian cyclist, winner of the mountain of the Giro d'Italia in 1997 and 1997, warns that it is hard when a person is reminded of a bad step.
“Those are things that are experienced on the lot. That is not new. What happens is that now everything is known through networks and so on. I shared with people who were in those problems. Not only the cyclists, but the sponsors and fans get involved in criticizing. When you win, everyone is with you, but when you don't work like before, you are one more,” he said.
Nairo Quintana and Egan Bernal.
Photo:
And he added: “It is a very difficult situation and one feels bad. Everyone judges him, but everything depends on the decisions he made. It is very hard. I consider Nairo at the moment.”
Chepe González warns that Quintana should reconsider and think more about his future, but not as a cyclist.
“They keep pointing at him, they tell him things. Sometimes, if you want to subject yourself to those things without need, well, it's up to each person. Life is showing Nairo that we have to leave the path for others,” said the winner of a stage of the 1996 Tour de France.
When his name appeared on the pre-registration list for the Vuelta al País Vasco, which starts next Monday, Movistar made it clear that he would not be part of the team.
@NairoQuinCo will continue with his recovery process after the two falls suffered in the Volta a Catalunya and, finally, he will not be present in the @ehitzulia”, confirmed the team, one more point against him in a season in which he has not gone well.
Lisandro Rengifo
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@LisandroAbel
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