Nairo Quintana renounces the Vuelta a España to defend himself against the TAS

Nairo Quintana stage, 15 of the 2022 Tour

The cyclist retires to defend his good name.

The Colombian also announces his intention to return to racing at the end of the season.

The Colombian Nairo Quintana has announced this August 18 that he resigns from participating in the 77th edition of the Vuelta to “assert my reasons” before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

He has finally decided not to take part in the Spanish race, although this Wednesday he confirmed that he was going to be part of the Vuelta peloton, after learning of the statement from the International Cycling Union (UCI) that disqualified him from the 2022 Tour de France for “infringing the prohibition of the use of tramadol” in competition.

Experts rule out doping accusations.

Tramadol is an analgesic prohibited since March 1, 2019 to protect the health and safety of cyclists to the side effects of this substance.

In the same statement, the Colombian announces his intention to return to the racing calendar at the end of the season.

This decision could be motivated by the limited time frame, ten days, that the broker has to present his appeal before the TAS and that could have forced him to retire in the middle of the Vuelta.

(Keep reading: Vuelta a España 2022: meet the 8 Colombians in the competition).

For its part, the Arkéa-Samsic team assured on August 17 in another statement that it had “taken note” of the notification by the UCI of what happened in the Tour de France with Nairo Quintana, but also that this decision did not entailed a sanction or prevented him from running the Spanish race.

The UCI reported that the Colombian in the analysis of two blood samples provided by the cyclist on July 8 and 13 during the 2022 Tour de France revealed the presence of tramadol and its two main metabolites. According to the medical rules of the UCI, the rider is disqualified from the 2022 Tour de France.

This decision may be appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within the next 10 days.