Nairo Quintana told reporters on Tuesday that he would be Movistar´s team leader at next year´s Tour de France. Speaking after the route for the 2018 edition of the race was revealed in Paris, Quintana said that the matter had already been decided upon, but added that he would be able to work with new signing Mikel Landa if the Basque rider made an appearance at the French Grand Tour. `Next season I will be the team leader in the Tour,` Quintana said. `This has been agreed with the directors and they will support me with the right teammates. I don´t know if Mikel will ride, but with Alejandro [Valverde] we had similar situations and together we came together for the good of Movistar.` Movistar has proved adept at sharing the leadership role, and indeed changing it, in the past. They got both Quintana and Valverde on the podium at the 2015 Tour, although they arguably hedged their bets a bit too much when it became clear that they could achieve a rare double podium. Should Landa ride the Tour, he will expect a certain level of freedom even if he has been brought in as support for the Colombian.ADVERTISEMENT The route announced for the 2018 Tour de France has a little bit of everything for the general classification riders. There will be some causes for concern, but there are also elements to cheer for Quintana and the Movistar team. A strong team time trial outfit, the Spanish squad should be able to protect their rider well on stage 3 and could even help him make time on a few rivals. The plentiful mountains will have raised a smile, and he will be grateful that the penultimate day time trial isn´t any flatter - although he´d definitely have preferred it even hillier. The downhill run to Bagnères-de-Luchon, which caught Quintana out in 2016 when Chris Froome attacked to win the stage and gain time on his rivals, is back for 2018. Quintana will also have to get past more than just the team time trial in the opening nine days, with a cobbled stage like no othe ...
|
