“Sometimes you have to cry in silence,” was how new Volta a Catalunya race leader Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) summed up his last few seasons in which he has taken some impressive lower level wins but failed to net a major result in a WorldTour race.
However, that changed radically on Thursday as on the toughest stage of the Volta a Catalunya Quintana donned his first race lead in a WorldTour event since he briefly headed the 2019 Vuelta a España in the first week.
Second in a three-way sprint for the line against winner João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and fellow Colombian Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe), Quintana is now tied on time with the Portuguese racer.
However, his better stage places mean Quintana is now in the overall lead and while he is likely to face a dramatic fight in the three remaining hilly stages, after two tough years, there was a distinct feeling of redemption in the air when Quintana faced the press.
“I’ve always felt good on the bike,” Quintana said when asked if his overall lead represented a return to the good feelings of old for him. “What happened was a series of injuries made life tough for me, and that wasn’t good for me at all.”
Revealing a deep vein of natural stoicism, the 32-year-old said, “but sometimes when that happens you have to shut up, cry in silence and keep going. Nobody really knows about anybody else’s problems, only their own.
“But I always kept my head high, and tried to remain as motivated as possible. The entire team has the same attitude, and now we’re reaping the rewards.”
For Quintana, leading the Volta a Catalunya represented not just rolling back the years to 2016 when he won the race outright, he said, but even to 2011 when prior to Movistar he was racing for the tiny Café de Colombia-Colombia es Pasión team.
“It’s hugely emotional because 11 years ago I did my first Volta a Catalunya and I was fighting for the King of the Mountains jersey,” said Quintanta, which, for the record, it was a prize he won. “So it’s incredible that a decade on, I’m still here and can be leader.”
Regarding his chances of keeping it, Quintana will doubtless be keeping as close an eye as possible on Almeida and Higuita. But with three, very hilly stages remaining and 13 riders still within the danger zone of a minute, it would perhaps be unwise to rule out any of these baker’s dozen.
For Arkéa-Samsic, too, a WorldTour stage race victory would constitute a first in the team’s history since Quintana joined in 2020. It seems all but certain that given their relative inexperience at defending such a high level title, the next three days will see the opposition test them as hard as they can.
As for his chances of keeping the lead with such a narrow margin, he argued that “now it’s a question of looking ahead rather than looking behind. Fighting for the bonuses with the team I have will be key in these circumstances it’s not easy, there are a lot of fast riders behind us.
“If we don’t get it, we’ll keep on fighting. And if we do get it well that’ll be another one for the history books.”
