Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) claimed the honours on Wednesday’s second Pyrenean stage of the 2018 Tour de France, a short but incredibly tough 65-kilometre route with three big climbs – Peyragudes (Cat-1), Val Louron (Cat-1) and the Col du Portet (HC). Afterwards, the Colombian said that although the overall win will be extremely hard, his Movistar team will continue to attack.
His team helped pave the way for his victory. Quintana had suffered a couple of mechanicals on the Peyragudes, and was quickly helped back to the lead group by Andrey Amador, Daniele Bennati and Imanol Erviti, and then went on to attack at the start of the last ascent. He was also helped by Marc Soler who had gone in an earlier break.
Quintana continued to overtake riders and found vital support on his way to victory from Alejandro Valverde, part of the early break with Soler and he was at the front of the race with 9km to go, with only the company of Rafal Majka (BORA hansgrohe). The Colombian was able to hold off his nearest challenger – Dan Martin – to take the win and move up to 5th overall, 3’30” behind Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and 59″ off Chris Froome’s third spot.
Nairo Quintana: “It was a really hard day, but a magnificent one for us, really comforting. It was a stage I had marked down many weeks before this race, one I had prepared well for. I regret so much not having found good legs prior to this stage; my body just didn’t feel right, and lost too much time, which made me feel bad. Fortunately, I’m doing well now – let’s hope we can take advantage and fight hard on Friday, because we really believe we can still do something big in this Tour. The Movistar Team always trusted my skills – and here are some results to pay them back them!
“The team was perfect today. We had Alejandro up there in the breakaway, helping me out as much as he could after the attack I had launched. Also Soler, leading the peloton with a hard pace, trying to make things harder for our rivals before my move. We knew it was a finish for pure climbers, and it showed today.
“Thanks to the team’s work and Alejandro’s support, I could ride over the Col du Portet as if it were a mountain TT, and attack without looking back. This win gives me massive confidence for the remainder of the Tour de France. We must continue fighting and attacking – we know the GC win will be extremely hard, but we’ll try to make the race hard and see how far we can reach.
“Things did not go well for us in this Tour. We had some rough days, we were feeling sad. This brings us confidence and reasserts our will to fight in this race. I thank all my time, I thank God for protecting us and giving us hope and strength; my family and friends, always supporting me, giving me some advice, praying so things went well for us; and all Colombian fans. I feel their support on the road, wherever I go, with their messages on social media – it’s great to have them by our side, it really means a lot to me, makes me continue to push hard.”
