After the disappointment of the 2017, Nairo Quintana is enjoying an easier start to the year as he focuses his attention solely on the Tour de France in 2018.
“I wanted to allow my body to recover, to give it room to breathe because I used to have the bad habit of riding everything at the start of the year”, Quintana said to El Tiempo. “The boss says ‘Nairo is ambitious’ and I say ‘no, not Nairo. He does what you want and what you order.’
“I go with a director, with teammates and they want to win the race. And when they take a leader like me, they want to inspire respect, show courage and win.”
“My objective is to get to the Tour in a good shape. If I realise that I feel fine and that I can win, I will do it, but I will be more conservative.
“If I see the opportunity, I won’t waste it. I would win because I can, not because I have to, not because it is an obsession. I will focus on the Tour and there is no need to show myself in any other races.”
“It is a group that is still missing some people, given the needs we have,” he commented. “There have been important signings, but we have to work and discover where they can be of importance. There are personal objectives and team objectives, and even if that is already clear, the road will make the difference.”
“He [Mikel Landa] is a rider that I like, but I wanted to keep people that left us, friends, that were with me for a long time and that I already knew. Those were people that wanted to do their jobs properly.
“He is a different cyclist and it isn’t that I don’t want him in the team. He has his personal objective and I respect them because I have them as well and (Alejandro) Valverde too. If he or I have to do the supporting work is something the team will have to decide. And of course, the road will put everybody in their place.”
