Nairo Quintana confirmed to take part in Road World Championships as last race of career

It has been confirmed that Nairo Quintana will lead the elite men’s Colombian lineup at the upcoming Road World Championships, with the fight for the 2027 rainbow jersey set to be the last race of the 36-year-old’s career.

The Movistar racer was a surprise non-selection by his trade team for the ongoing Vuelta a España, an event he won in 2016 and where the stage racing specialist had his last Grand Tour lead, back in 2019.

Quintana, 36, has taken part in six elite World Championships to date, his best placing being 15th in 2018 on an ultra-hilly course in Innsbruck, Austria, won by former trade teammate Alejandro Valverde, who himself retired in 2022.

Racing alongside Quintana in the Colombians in his last-ever event will be 2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal, Vuelta a España mountains classification leader Santiago Buitrago, as well as Harold Tejada, Sergio Higuita, Brandon Rivera and Walter Vargas.

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Representing Colombia in the elite women’s road race at this month’s World Championships will be veteran Diana Carolina Peñuela Martínez, a former multiple Colombian road and time trial champion. Also racing for her country will be Paula Andrea Patiño Bedoya, recently the sole Colombian racer in the Tour de France Femmes with her Laboral Kutxa-Euskadi squad and the reigning Colombian National Road Champion, Laura Daniela Rojas.

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