Nairo Quintana has said "all of my preparation will be focused on the Tour de France" during the 2022 season after having take a year off chasing the yellow jersey/
Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic), 31, has had a disappointing season, with just a stage and overall win at the Vuelta a Asturias coming his way, amid a plethora of top fives, 10s and 15s.
The Colombian star managed sixth place on stage 15 of the Tour de France into Andorra behind stage winner Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), but nothing better than that at the French Grand Tour.
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Speaking to EFE after the Tour de France route was announced, Quintana said: "For me, the Tour is always the race of the year - all of my preparation will be focused on the Tour. We’ll have to talk to the directors and riders, and we’ll study the route, and then we’ll make some decisions about how we will take on the Tour."
The 2022 route does have some stages that suit Quintana perfectly, but with likely crosswinds on the opening stages in Denmark and Northern France, as well as the cobbles on stage five, it could be tough for the diminutive climber. The 40km time trial on the penultimate day of the race could also see Quintana lose a good chunk of time.
"I am a GC rider," he continued. "Every year I come to the Tour with these ambitions, except 2021, when physical problems wiped them out. The route is good for us. It’s important to arrive in top condition to be able to take it on."
He would have to go up against some huge names if he is to succeed, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) currently dominating the Tour with back-to-back wins as well as Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and potentially Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck - Quick-Step).
But Quintana is in good spirits at the end of the 2021 season: "We are good, improving every day. For the first time in a while I finished off a season in good physical shape, and now I’m motivated to work for the coming year."
Quintana finished the 2021 season with some good results in the Italian Classics, including 10th in the Giro dell'Emilia, ninth in Milano-Torino and 11th at the final Monument of the year, Il Lombardia.
Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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