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There have been illnesses and delays, but after a year-long hiatus Nairo Quintana finally made his return to a WorldTour event at the Volta a Catalunya on Monday, a race with which he has strong emotional and historical connections.
Quintana, 33, had a positive test for tramadol and subsequent disqualification from the 2022 Tour de France. In-competition use of tramadol was barred by the UCI in 2019 but was only added to the WADA banned list from January 1, 2024. Although Quintana could continue racing after his positive tests, he was unable to find a team for 2023.
That all changed in 2024 after Quintana signed for Movistar, his team from 2012 to 2019. He started his season on home roads at the national championships and the Tour Colombia. He was then set to race at O Gran Camiño, but a COVID-19 diagnosis meant his European debut was delayed by three weeks.
In some ways, the change was for the better, though, given Catalunya has a great deal of personal significance for Quintana, as he told reporters at the stage 1 start in San Feliu de Guixols.
“I’m very pleased to be here, I first raced this event in 2011, it was my first ever WorldTour race, and I’ve had lots of happy moments here since then, like when I won here in 2016,” Quintana said.
Second in 2018 and with five top five places overall on GC in the Volta to date, Quintana’s lone stage win in the Volta so far may have come in 2013, but it was Vallter, the summit finish which the peloton tackles on Tuesday.
Not only that, back in the 2011 edition a 21-year-old Quintana claimed a crucial breakthrough triumph in the mountains classification, when he was racing for the Colombia es Pasión-Café de Colombia squad. After that, it was onto his first WorldTour team at Movistar in 2012 – and the rest, so to speak, is history.
However, Quintana played down his options in the 2024 Volta a Catalunya, saying that he had been hit hard by the COVID-19 virus and the illness “was one of the worst I’ve had.”
“But little by little I’m getting there, and my aim here is to help [team leader] Enric Mas,” he added.
“It’s one of the most spectacular editions this year, and one of the hardest in the last 10 years. Given what I’ve come through I won’t be as brilliant as usual, but I’ll do what I can to help.
“After getting through COVID, in any case, this is a great way to find some better legs and pick up some race rhythm.”
