Nairo Quintana has made it clear that, although he is deeply motivated to make his return to WorldTour racing next February, he's keeping his feet on the ground when it comes to taking top results.
Quintana, 33, will begin racing again next year with Movistar, his team from 2012-2019, after a hiatus of over 12 months following his positive test for tramadol and subsequent disqualification from the 2022 Tour de France.
In-competition use of tramadol was barred by the UCI in 2019, but it will only be added to the WADA banned list from January 1, 2024. But although Quintana was allowed to continue racing after his positive tests, he was unable to find a team for 2023.
This autumn, Quintana has already appealed to Colombian fans not to have overly heightened expectations, and in interviews both before and during the Movistar team launch this week, he repeated that request.
"Everybody wants me to win, but we have to be conscious that a new generation of riders has come through and they’re fighting very hard," Quintana told El País. "Although I am very keen to race and I still have a good motor, I don't think I'm going to be the same rider as before, with all these 'super-winners' on the scene.
"I shone brightly as a rider for roughly a decade, we've seen how many riders from my generation have already given up racing in the last two years, and some that continue are seriously demotivated.
"But I'm feeing very motivated, because I've come into racing again with new energy and a new way of seeing cycling. I'll do my utmost to support the team and help Enric Mas, who is the leader of the squad."
Asked at length about how he felt concerning the positive for tramadol and the year-long hiatus from racing, Quintana argued, "What I can say, so as not to discuss the subject any more, is that it was very tough for me, never expected and very painful. I don't want to go into the subject too much so I don't hurt anyone or start blaming people."
"It's been a difficult year and what I want to do now is to leave it behind. Not to forget, because it's impossible to forget that, but to close that chapter and see how the sun shines from now on."
Back to the Giro d'Italia
Quintana expressed his fervent thanks to Movistar for giving him the opportunity to race again but warned that he would not be fighting at the level of the top stars in the sport.
With Miguel Angel López facing a long doping ban and no other Colombian GC men challenging for Grand Tour podiums, Quintana recognised that Colombian cycling needs a big-name star.
But he conceded that "Times have changed, things get old and so do people. I'm not 20 like I was when I used to really shine and thrill people with my wins."
Of the 51 wins in his palmarès to date, Quintana's last victory was the last stage and overall of the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var in February, 2022.
"The last thing I want to do is deceive anyone, say I'm going to win when we don't actually know what the answer will be on a sporting level. I'm not 20 or 22 or 23, like these young leaders who are winning.
"I'm sure I'll be very close to some of the big names, but I don't think I'll be at the level of the three, four or five top leaders who are always fighting for almost all the top races on the international stage."
Quintana's earlier announcement that he would be making his return to racing in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (January 31st-February 4th) may in fact see him make his debut on home terrain in the Colombia Tour, which runs from February 6th-11th and has a stage in his home region of Boyacá.
"That's the plan", he told El País.
As for the Giro d'Italia, which he won in 2014 and finished second in 2017, Quintana confirmed that his idea would be to go for the overall again, but that he would have to wait until he saw how he performed in the first part of the race before making a definitive decision about his chances on GC.
Meanwhile, his co-leader in Movistar, Enric Mas, will once again tackle the Tour de France, a race in which the Spaniard has two top six finishes overall but where he crashed out in 2023 on stage 1. As yet, whether Quintana will race in the Vuelta a España, which he won in 2016, has yet to be confirmed.
