After all the drama of Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) fighting for victory in the Giro d’Italia and Chris Froome (Sky) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) battling it out at the Critérium du Dauphiné, the fourth of the top Grand Tour favourites, Nairo Quintana (Movistar), begins his final build-up for the Tour de France at the low-key Route du Sud stage race on Thursday.
Quintana’s last race was the Tour de Romandie in early May and he has spent most of the intervening period back home in Colombia, returning to Europe in time for his big objective of the season. After finishing second in his debut Tour de France in 2013 and then winning the Giro d’Italia last year (he also led the Vuelta a España before crashing out injured), Quintana is now looking to take his country’s first ever win in the Tour this summer.
Quintana’s lone build-up race for the Tour is the four-day Route du Sud, where the Colombian heads a Movistar squad lacking Spanish teammate Alejandro Valverde, who finished second here last year and who will be racing the Tour alongside the Colombian. This June, however, Valverde opted for the longer Critérium du Dauphiné for his first race back after the Ardennes Classics.
Despues del drama de Alberto Contador para imponerse en el Giro d’Italia y Chris Froome y Vincenzo Nibali disputando el Dauphine como preparacion , el cuarto de los candidatos para ganar el Tour de France, el Colombiano Nairo Quintana, comenzara este semana la fase final de preparacion en busca de su primer Tour, disputando la Ruta del sur….
La ultima carrera de Quintana fue el Tour de Romandie a comienzos de Mayo y después ha pasado mas tiempo en su natal Colombia, regresando a Europa donde su gran objetivo es el Tour de France. despues de terminar segundo en el Tour de su debut en el 2014 y ganar el Giro d’Italia el año pasado, Quintana tiene como gran objetivo el primer titulo del Tour para su pais…el próximo verano…