Nairo Quintana (Movistar) climbed the general classification on stage 9 of the Tour de France but his hopes of victory, and perhaps a podium place, all but went up in smoke during the race’s queen stage.
Quintana got into trouble on the Mont du Chat as the general classification contenders traded blows on the hors categorie ascent. With 26 kilometres still to run, the group of favourites slid away from Quintana’s grasp. He would eventually cross the line 1:15 down, with Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors), who crashed on the descent of the Mont du Chat with Richie Porte (BMC Racing).
The Colombian is now eighth overall, moving up one position in the standings, but he's now over two minutes behind the maillot jaune, and almost 1:30 behind the final podium spot. Quintana admitted that targeting the Giro d'Italia earlier this season has also taken its toll.
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"We lacked some bit of energy we really needed. We fought all we could, but we lost more time. It's always difficult to reach optimal form when you chase the goals we went for this year,” Quintana said outside the team bus in Chambery.
All things considered, Quintana says that he’s happy just to still be in the race after narrowly avoiding the incident that took out Geraint Thomas (Team Sky). Quintana also got tangled with Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) a few kilometres later but once again managed not to go down.
“Fortunately, I could get through a really horrible fall. I don't know how I managed to avoid it. You'd have to feel so happy only considering that. It could have been worse; I could have been going home.”
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