Colombian cyclist Nairo Quintana did not achieve his goal of winning gold medals at the Colombian National Championships. He finished fourth in the Time Trial, losing to the superior Daniel Martinez, but fell far short of expectations in the road race.
Despite being one of the favorites in the road race, Quintana finished in 26th place, almost six minutes behind winner Alejandro Osorio. He was well behind Sergio Higuita and Egan Bernal, as well as being 3 minutes behind teammate Einer Rubio and other favorites like Harold Tejada or Brandon Rivera.
Strategic problem
In an interview after the race, Quintana admitted that the problem was strategic. He stated that he had enough strength to compete, but he chose poorly which attacks to pursue during the race.
“It was wonderful to be able to run in my country today, we were looking forward to it, things didn’t go as I had planned, but I’m happy to continue accumulating kilometers”, said Quintana.
“It was complicated, not having a team to control. It ended like this. We continue adding. We had good legs, in the end it was more a question of strategy than anything else.”
Next challenge: Tour of Colombia
Quintana’s next big goal is the Tour of Colombia, which starts next week. The Colombian cyclist hopes to perform better than he demonstrated last week.