Nairo Quintana will begin his 2022 season at the Tour de la Provence (February 10-13) as he seeks to replicate the early success he enjoyed on French roads in his first season at Arkéa-Samsic two years ago.
The Colombian will then line out at the Tour des Alpe Maritimes et du Var (February 18-20) and the Faun-Ardèche Classic (February 26) as he prepares for Paris-Nice (March 6-13). Quintana will race outside France for the first time at the Volta a Catalunya (March 21-27), with the rest of his racing programme still to be confirmed.
The disbandment of Qhubeka-Assos means that Arkéa-Samsic are automatically invited to all three Grand Tours in 2022, but Quintana has yet to announce where he will ride.
It was initially rumoured that the 2014 Giro d’Italia champion would return to the corsa rosa for the first time since he placed second overall in 2017, but his agent Giuseppe Acquadro has suggested that Quintana is more likely to race the Tour de France and Vuelta a España in what is the final year of his existing contract at Arkéa-Samsic.
Quintana arrived from Movistar ahead of the 2020 campaign, and he produced a sparkling run of form in the opening weeks of that season, winning the overall titles at the Tour de la Provence and the Tour des Alpe Maritimes et du Var, and winning the final stage of Paris-Nice.
He struggled to replicate that form when the season resumed following the coronavirus lockdown, placing 17th at the Tour de France, garnering more headlines for a police search of his room than for his displays.
Quintana’s preparation for the 2021 season was blighted by knee surgery and though he won the Vuelta Asturias in May, he struggled at the Tour, placing 28th overall.
“The balance sheet is uneven,” Arkéa-Samsic manager Emmanuel Hubert told L’Équipe. “2020 was up to what we expected, and 2021 was less so, but also because of his two knee operations. So I’ll wait until mid-season this year to say if we did well or not in bringing in Quintana.”
Hubert praised Quintana for improving the level of the team and suggested that he had not always enjoyed the same level of support as he had at Movistar.
“He didn't find the same selflessness in his teammates. I'm sorry to say that the self-sacrifice of a Spanish team rider for his leader is nothing like that of a French team rider,” Hubert said. “To be successful, Nairo should have a team really dedicated to his cause, with four or five team members at his exclusive service.”
Quintana will be Arkéa-Samsic’s sole leader at Paris-Nice, with both Warren Barguil and Nacer Bouhanni set to race Tirreno-Adriatico as they prepare for Milan-Turin and Milan-San Remo, respectively.
