The Colombian Nairo Quintana was quite satisfied on Wednesday with the result of the mountain’s first high stage Tour de Francewhere he was second on stage and rose to fifth place overall, bringing him closer to his goal of reaching the final podium.
“Just now I’m going to be happy, we’re feeling good, the idea is to keep coming back (…) I think it is possible to reach the podium, I have a yellow dream and we will pursue it, patiently, gradually, without going crazy ”, said the man from Arkea, who is 2.37 behind leader, Danish Jonas Vingegaard, who was 15 seconds from third position.
The Colombian was in the group of favorites when he started the climb to the port of Granon, where the finish line is located. On the first slopes, the boy from Boyacá launched a powerful attack that could not be followed by other favorites, allowing him to win a rent and climb alone to a top. climbed for the second time in history.
“There were teams with a few runners and I launched myself to try”The runner said, considering that, there is no team capable of making a group selection, he needs to look for the opportunities the race offers.
Quintana chased the surviving cyclists from the rest of the day, until he was just ahead of his French teammate Warren Barguil, whom he surpassed, remaining alone as the race leader.
The attacks followed each other from behind, as with Frenchman Romain Bardet, who reached him, but also with Vingegaard, who was able to leave Slovenian Tadej Pogacar.
Dane, second last year in Paris, was the strongest that day and ended up snatching the yellow jersey from the winner of the last two editions.
“The race was launched. I got into my rhythm, but I knew that both Vingegaard and Pogacar would catch up with me, ”said Quintana, who was a minute short of his third Tour period.
Despite this, he ensured that the first appointment in the high mountains allowed him to get closer to his goal on this Tour, returning to the podium in Paris, where he went on three occasions, second place in 2013 and 2015 and third in 2016.
The Colombian is now ahead of Vingegard, Frenchman Romain Bardet, second in the 2016 Tour and third in the 2027 Tour, who is 21 seconds behind, Pogacar 15 and British Geraint Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour to 19.
Quintana indicated that he will continue to try to win time from his rivals, although he said he will “be careful” and he will look for “situations that can be taken advantage of.”
“We’re not going crazy, we’re going to act without firing rockets right now. This is the first stage in the high mountain and tomorrow another big challenge awaits us, the race will progress very strongly, we hope to respond well ”, said the Arkea cyclist as referring to the stage that will end at Alpe d’Huez.
Worse was his compatriot Rigoberto Urán, who entered the finish line more than 28 minutes behind the winner and sank to 30th place almost 39 minutes behind the leader.
Quintana pointed out that in the Tour de France bad days can waste a lot of time, as the case of Pogacar, who was considered the winner and lost the yellow jersey, showed.
“When you’re good you have to take advantage of it and when you don’t suffer much”, Tinuro is Arkea.
Source: La Verdad
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