• Colombian rider Nairo Quintana is back in competition this Friday on the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes and Var routes.

  • Targeted by an investigation for suspicion of doping at the end of the Tour, the climber of the Arkéa-Samsic formation underwent surgery on both knees this fall.

  • He hopes to regain all his physical condition in the middle of the season.

He has not appeared in competition since September 20 and the end of the Tour de France, finished in a disappointing 17th place.

The day after his arrival on the Champs-Élysées, he also hit the headlines with an investigation into suspicion of doping targeting two of his relatives.

Five months after this stormy end of summer, Nairo Quintana is back to competition.

The Colombian climber of the Arkéa-Samsic formation will be at the start this Friday of the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var which he won last year.

In the meantime, the "beetle" passed the billiard table this fall and had both knees operated on in a clinic near Lyon, the consequence of his fall during the 13th stage of the Grande Boucle.

"He spent all his convalescence and rehabilitation in Colombia and he returned to cycling at the very end of the year", underlines Arnaud Gérard, sports director of the Breton training.

With only a few weeks of training in the guibolles, Nairo Quintana will therefore not be in top form on the roads of the South of France where he shone last year.

"I do not have the same condition as last year," admits the rider, quoted by his team, hoping to be at the top "halfway through the season".

The runner ensures that he has nothing to be ashamed of

For its takeover, the leaders of Arkéa-Samsic did not set any specific objective for it.

“The race will serve as a test to see where he is physically,” says Arnaud Gérard.

We will then see at the end what these sensations are to stall your program ”.

In any case, Nairo Quintana wants to do battle with the peloton and ensures that his motivation "remains strong".

Should we see a spirit of revenge after the doping accusations against him?

"I don't think so because do you need to be revengeful when you have nothing to be ashamed of?

", Assures its sports director, specifying that the case was still" at the stage of the preliminary investigation "and that there was" no new elements in the file ".

Asked by the daily

L'Équipe

this Friday, the Colombian climber also assured that he was "quiet" and had nothing to be ashamed of or to hide in this story.

“But it's also swelling,” he added.

It's just a shame because you have to respect sponsors such as Arkéa and Samsic and not tarnish their image.

Out of respect for these partners, justice must give news very quickly.

"

Considered a god in his country

This affair, which occurred at the end of the Tour, did not in any case tarnish the popularity of the 31-year-old runner in his country where he is considered "a god", explains Ana María Ospina Maya, correspondent in France for the RFI antenna. in Spanish language.

"People are kind to him in Colombia and very grateful because it is he who paved the way for the revival of Colombian cycling," said the journalist.

The performances of the native of Tunja are so popular in his country that "Colombians are now able to locate Brittany on a map", smiles his compatriot.

"People see above all that he is happier than at Movistar where he was a little sidelined," she continues.

He was precisely a little criticized [in Spain] because he was less of a show.

But his start to the season with Arkéa-Samsic last year showed that he had regained his freedom and people are eager to see him on the attack again ”.

Sport

Victory for Colombian Ivan Sosa ahead of Julian Alaphilippe at the Tour de La Provence

Sport

Thibaut Pinot "would not like to have a guy like [him] on the run"

Jerome Gicquel