Quintana hopes for speedy recovery after Vuelta a España abandon

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Nairo Quintana (Movistar) is confident that he can make a quick recovery after abandoning the Vuelta a España following his crash early on stage 11. The Colombian, who had already fallen during the previous day’s time trial, crashed 20 kilometres into Wednesday’s stage and sustained a displaced fracture of his right scapula.

Quintana was due to undergo surgery in the San Miguel clinic in Pamplona on Thursday afternoon but speaking to Caracol News from hospital prior to the operation, he was hopeful that his convalescence from the shoulder injury would not be a long one.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Quintana said. “It’s ok, it’s just a collarbone injury and in a two weeks I should be recovered.”

The Colombian also posted on his Twitter account on Wednesday evening, confirming that his 2014 season has come to an end. “That’s cycling and that’s life, falling and getting up,” Quintana wrote. “Thanks be to God, I’ll keep racing and giving everything. Now I have surgery and then I’ll think about 2015.”

Quintana’s was his second crash in as many days at the Vuelta, after he had taken hold of the overall lead at Valdelinares on Sunday. The Giro d’Italia winner lost the red jersey and over three minutes when he crashed during Tuesday’s time trial to Borja, and his race ended when he fell again during the frantic opening kilometres of stage 11.

“I’m in quite a lot of pain. It was something very sudden and there were 20 or 25 of us on the ground,” Quintana said on arriving in hospital, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. “Destiny didn’t want me to finish this Vuelta, and you can’t go against destiny, you can’t do anything. Patience, I’ll have other chances to win this race.”