{"id":475060,"date":"2026-02-14T19:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/475060\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T19:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T19:38:12","slug":"movistar-ds-appreciates-the-newly-discovered-version-of-road-captain-nairo-quintana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/475060\/","title":{"rendered":"Movistar DS appreciates the newly discovered version of “road captain” Nairo Quintana"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

He also notes that “last year he was there at certain moments,” while acknowledging that “winning is increasingly difficult, but we must keep trying to get the best out of him.”<\/p>\n

Sciandri makes it clear that the 2014 Giro and 2016 Vuelta winner is no longer in the team to rack up victories. “His consistency is now in other tasks: overseeing, guiding, helping, talking and mentoring,” he says.<\/p>\n

According to the sports director, “his role has changed: it\u2019s no longer about results, but about passing on experience to the young riders. That\u2019s why we wanted him back. Nairo is a fantastic person to have in the team.”<\/p>\n

Mentor to the young and a voice on the road<\/p>\n

That lesser-known side of the Colombian stands out within the squad. “Some riders know how to give, others don\u2019t have it in their nature. Nairo enjoys sharing his experience,” stresses Sciandri, pointing to his work in Oman: “He spent the whole week alongside the young Colombian Diego Pescador. It\u2019s great to see. I\u2019ve known great riders who don\u2019t have that ability.”<\/p>\n

The Colombian is also a frequent voice on the team radio. “You hear him a lot on internal comms. He guides the team through the stages, often alongside Iv\u00e1n Garc\u00eda Cortina,” the coach explains. While he admits that “he doesn\u2019t say revolutionary things,” he underlines that “when you\u2019ve raced few stage races, even the simplest information can be key. Details make the difference.”<\/p>\n

\"Nairo<\/p>\n

Nairo Quintana remains a key piece at Movistar Team<\/p>\n

Sciandri also wanted to highlight the respect Quintana commands within the team despite the controversy over the discovery of tramadol in blood tests<\/a> during the 2022 Tour, which kept him out of competition for a year. “We\u2019ve always believed in his innocence,” he says firmly. “Everyone adores him and trusts him. Both I and the riders have immense respect for him.”<\/p>\n

The coach acknowledges that period was tough. “If it\u2019s already complicated for a director or a soigneur to come back after a year out, it\u2019s much harder for a rider. Mentally, you have to look ahead and get back to the level. Nairo has done that very well. That he now tires more and gets fewer results is down to age.”<\/p>\n

Motivation intact and eyes on the future<\/p>\n

Even though this is expected to be his final season, Quintana\u2019s motivation remains intact. “Every night he\u2019s the first to sit at the table. He monitors everything like a 360-degree camera. He\u2019s like a radar switched on all day,” says Sciandri, who adds that “I\u2019m not afraid he\u2019s prolonging his career too much, though the final decision will be his. We\u2019re delighted to have him.”<\/p>\n

The sports director does not rule out the Colombian helping the team\u2019s new signing, Cian Uijtdebroeks, in his Grand Tour ambitions. “Maybe yes. Cian joined the team late and they haven\u2019t had much contact yet, but I think Nairo and the rest fit very well with him. In a world dominated by numbers, PDFs and spreadsheets, we still have a human side.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" He also notes that “last year he was there at certain moments,” while acknowledging that “winning is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,32792,140703,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-475060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-movistar-team","12":"tag-nairo-quintana","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}