Nice (AFP)
Successful entry for Nairo Quintana, winner on Saturday of the last stage of a Paris-Nice shortened due to coronavirus: the debut of the Colombian in the Arkea-Samsic team projected him on the Tour de France, a race which remains his Grail.
To see his demonstration in the last 4 kilometers of the climb of La Colmiane (Alpes-Maritimes), following on from his February issue on the slopes of Mont Ventoux in the Tour de La Provence, Quintana moved back in 30 years in the yellow jersey contenders club. Four years after being on the podium for the third time (2nd in 2013 and 2015, 3rd in 2016).
"Of course, we want to win the Tour," said his sporting director Yvon Ledanois, who saw him arrive in his debut in 2012 in the Movistar team, on Saturday. "I know he can do great things, I have known since he turned professional."
Asked by AFP, Philippe Mauduit, the sporting director of the Groupama-FDJ team, recognizes: "He won the Giro and the Vuelta, why not the Tour. It has been a long time, at least four seasons, had seen him so strongly. I think he hadn't liked Movistar for a few years. "
Last year on the Tour de France, the race instructions of his team had shocked the entourage of the Colombian.
- "We have a new Quintana" -
"There are a lot of things that have motivated him," continues the French technician, very attentive to the importance of the mental factor. "He found his freedom, he spent a longer time at home in Colombia, he prepared for the national championship, which he could not do in other years, and it was at home in addition. winning five races at the start of the season ... you have to have a new Quintana. "
Emmanuel Hubert, who recruited the Colombian at the end of last year in the Arkea-Samsic training, discovered it better when he went to the Andean plateaus, in Boyaca, at the start of the year. He describes an applied runner, professional in his approach, who needs to evolve in an environment of trust, quasi-family.
In the Breton formation, Nairo Quintana rubs shoulders with his younger brother Dayer and another Colombian, Winner Anacona. With stated ambitions but compatible with the presence of the champion of France Warren Barguil, the best climber of the 2017 Tour who was eliminated from the first day in Paris-Nice.
Last January, the boss of the French team told AFP: "Nairo has been saying for many years that he wants to win the Tour de France. It may not be this year but I'm waiting to him that he plays wins in Paris-Nice, make a good ranking in the Dauphiné and play his all-rounder in the Tour de France, play the podium. "
The first objective is achieved, even if a fall forced Quintana to settle for fifth place in Paris-Nice. The other two are coming.
"Now, focus on the Tour," says Yvon Ledanois. "Nairo will recover from Paris-Nice and we will see for the future depending on the situation". But, he adds, if the current paralysis caused by the coronavirus pandemic were to continue in the long term, the Colombian would return to his country. The first reason? "In order not to be far away from his family for too long".
© 2020 AFP