Sitting eighth overall and just over two minutes down on Sky's Chris Froome as of the first rest day at the Tour de France, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) is not playing down his struggles so far in the race. However, he's not throwing in the towel just yet.
"So far it's been more about will than might. We're still up for the fight, though, and we'll try to keep improving," he said at the Movistar team press conference on Monday. "We have lost some time until yesterday, and to be honest, it was only due to lack of energy. However, there's still a long way to go in this Tour, and we're so determined to do great things in what's to come. I'm not going through my best moment as a pro, that's obvious, but I still hope to go through some 'brilliant' days in the remainder of the race."
Quintana, twice a runner-up at the Tour de France and third overall last year, decided to attempt the Giro-Tour double this season. He came up short in the first leg of the challenge in Italy, finishing as Giro d'Italia runner-up to Sunweb's Tom Dumoulin.
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Pulling off the win in the second half of the double became even more of a challenge over the weekend as Quintana was dropped on the hors-categorie Mont du Chat and finished 1:15 down on the GC leaders. He acknowledged that things hadn't quite worked out as expected.
"I felt good yesterday and I continue to do so today, but it's evident that I'm not finding the same watts on my legs as I expected to do before the race," he said. "We all were convinced about my chances to shine right from the start, but at the end, it's only about the 'here' and 'now', and I didn't respond well."
In past Tours, however, Quintana has shined in the third week, and he remains hopeful of the possibilities to climb the leaderboard in the mountains to come.
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