Nairo Quintana's goal of fighting first for the Giro d'Italia and then for the Tour de France took another body blow on Thursday as the Movistar rider lost yet more time.
Quintana drifted off the pace, almost imperceptibly, on the Peyresourde in what was a repeat of his defeat first at La Planche des Belles Filles and again, much more seriously, on the stage to Chambéry.
He crossed the line just ahead of Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), more than two minutes down on stage winner Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale). But if the Spaniard at least tried to attack on the Port de Bales before surrendering to the reality, Quintana has never really seemed to be much more than a spent force in this year's Tour.
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Unlike Contador with his three crashes, the blame can be laid, perhaps, on Quintana's attempt to do the Giro-Tour double. This started with an impressive second place in Milan, as well as a spectacular stage win in the Blockhaus. But when Quintana quietly laid down his arms at 11 kilometres from the finish of stage 12 of the Tour, it became apparent that the result in July is clearly going to be a very different one to the Giro, and after three podium finishes in the Grand Boucle, quite possibly his worst result ever in the Tour.
"We've fought as far as we possibly could, but my strength isn't what I'd like it to be," Quintana explained. "When I got dropped, I thought I'd lose even more time, but finally I've held on as best I could and the time loss hasn't been so bad."
Looking forwards, Quintana's objectives are somewhat blurrier than Contador's, who has already said he will be looking for nothing more than stage wins.
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