Quintana eyeing coveted double
AMBITIOUS: COLOMBIAN IN GIRO/TOUR DE FRANCE HUNT
Stunning Grand Tour debut for SA’s Gibbons.
Alghero
Colombia’s Nairo Quintana is ready to attempt a rare Giro d’Italia/ Tour de France double and warned rivals the first shots in the battle for a pink jersey could be fired on Tuesday.
Quintana, the first Colombian to win the Giro d’Italia, in 2014, started the 100th edition yesterday tipped to beat defending champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy to the top step of the podium.
An eventual triumph in Milan on May 28 would hand the 27-year-old climbing specialist impetus for his attempt to add the yellow jersey to a pink jersey in the same calendar year – a feat last achieved by the late Italian great Marco Pantani in 1998.
Due to the simultaneous difficulties of recovering from the Giro – a “harder race than the Tour”, said Quintana – and keeping top form for July, it is considered stage racing’s Holy Grail.
This year’s Giro route will give Quintana a chance to test his rivals, mainly in the third week.
But the Colombian said Tuesday’s fourth stage, a 181km race which begins in Cefalu, Sicily and finishes on the slopes of Mount Etna, will give him an early idea of who will pose a threat once the race heads into the rarified air of the high mountains. The fourth stage comes a day after the first of three rest days on Monday.
“It won’t be decisive, but the stage to Etna is important because it will give me an indication of my form and an indicaton of who the real GC (general classification) contenders could be for the final week,” said Quintana.
Given he has not yet won the Tour de France, finishing as the race’s best climber in 2013 and best overall young rider in 2013 and 2015, Quintana’s double bid could be regarded as ambitious.
Austria’s Lukas Postlberger won the 206km first stage yesterday to secure the pink jersey.
South Africa’s Ryan Gibbons, riding for Dimention Data, finished eighth after a bunch sprint – 10s behind Postlberger – in his Grand Tour debut. –