Nairo Quintana (Movistar) lifted the Tirreno-Adriatico winner’s trident trophy above his head on the final podium in San Benedetto del Tronto, with a proud smile briefly revealing his inner happiness at winning the Italian race for a second time.
While some of his Giro d'Italia rivals stumbled and struggled during the seven days of intense racing, some claiming that they were still not at their best form in early March, Quintana and his Movistar team were rock solid and showed it in the opening team time trial, on the mountain finish on Terminillo and on the testing stage in the Le Marche hills.
Quintana is like a sphinx and never revealed any visible chinks in his armour. He always listens quietly when facing questions and judges his answers as carefully as his racing.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I’m really happy with this win. Tirreno-Adriatico is a really beautiful race, one that I really like, and conquering it again makes me proud, for all the effort I put in here and especially my Movistar team, which supported me all the way to this time trial," Quintana said.
"I’ve finished this race in better shape than when I started it. I’m still building upwards, and I’m very pleased because I’m in good shape and have done some good work for the future races. More than winning, my goal is to progress well towards the main objectives of the season."
Quintana started the final 10km time trial with a 50 second lead on Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and 1:06 on Rohan Dennis (BMC) but had to ride close to his limit to ensure victory. He didn’t panic or make any mistakes, and eventually finished 45th, in a time of 11:59, some 41 seconds slower than stage winner Dennis. It meant he beat the Australian by 25 seconds in the final general classification, with Pinot slipping to third at 36 seconds.
To Colombia to prepare for the Giro d'Italia
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2npYSXu
No comments:
Post a Comment