The sanction received by the Colombian Nairo Quintana shocked the cycling world. The boyacense was disqualified from the Tour de France 2022 for “infringing the ban on the use of tramadol” in competition, an analgesic prohibited since March 1, 2019 to protect the health and safety of cyclists from the side effects of this substance.
“I found out what the media reported a few hours ago. I can only say that I will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to prove my total surprise at the fact reported by the UCI Medical Director,” says a brief statement from Nairo Quintana, who announced that he will still compete in the Vuelta a España, which starts this Friday.
His team, Arkea-Samsic, announced in a press release that it had taken note of the UCI’s decision, without commenting further.
This is how Jai Hindley, the Giro champion, reacted
The announcement about Nairo generated reactions in the cycling world. One of the first to talk about it was Giro d’Italia champion Jai Hindley.
“Yes? Is that true? I didn’t know anything (silence). It seems strange to me that things can happen today. We have to wait to know all the information well, but that situations like this continue to occur is not at all positive,” he declared. Hindley to the Spanish newspaper Marca.
the latvian Toms Skujins He reacted with irony to the UCI statement. “Pretty sad that not everyone wants to follow the rules yet. Guess I’ll take my Tour top 60 and top 10 UCI points,” she wrote on his Twitter account. Skujins ran the Tour and was in box 61.
Director of the Tour of Spain does not restrict Nairo
For his part, the director of the Vuelta a España, Javier Guillén, told the Efe agency that Nairo has no restrictions to compete. It should be remembered that Nairo won the race in 2016.
“It is not good news, because Nairo Quintana is also an important cyclist, and that he has been disqualified from the Tour de France is not the best thing that could happen, but that is what controls and regulations exist for,” he explained.
“We refer to the UCI statement. Nairo Quintana can take the start of La Vuelta according to the regulations, but we will also respect what the team does according to the rider”, he pointed out.
SPORTS
#Nairo #Quintana #reaction #cycling #world #UCI #sanction