Nairo Quintana will target victory in all the races he takes part in with his new team Arkea-Samsic, the Colombian said.
“Some have understood my choice, others have not. Too bad,” he said. “I come here with a lot of joy, a smile, and motivation. Now, I had never imagined that I would wear the colors of a French team one day, but Yvon Ledanois is one of my former sports directors. Together we won a lot of races. He contacted me in the spring, and then he introduced me to Emmanuel Hubert. He convinced me to join his team. The way he introduced me to things brought me a lot of serenity.”
“We hope to pick up invitations to as many classics and Tours as possible,” Quintana said. “France is the country where it’s at in terms of cycling, there’s lots of teams and lots of races,”.
“I want to win every race we enter, starting with Paris-Nice. France is also where I achieved my greatest success,” said Quintana, who has finished on the Tour de France podium three times.
The 2020 route for the Tour de France would suit a climber of Quintana’s qualities, but his team will need a wild card entry.
“The Tour route looks good, especially with that uphill time-trial at the end, it’s in a place I know well,” he said of the tough and potentially decisive stage of ‘Planche des Belles Filles’.
“And I would love to be selected for the Olympic Games, I have missed two of them,” said Quintana.
