Everything points to Nairo Quintana preparing for his final season as a professional cyclist. The 35-year-old Colombian is about to start the last year of his contract with Movistar and is already preparing for a career after cycling. But what does his final race schedule actually look like?
At Movistar's media day, many things became clear, but not a word was said about the race calendar of the Giro and Vuelta winner. However, sports newspaper Marca reports that Quintana will likely not participate in a Grand Tour in 2026. This would mean that the recent Giro d'Italia was the last three-week stage race of his career.
Quintana has raced no fewer than twenty Grand Tours, finishing on the podium six times. Besides his overall victories in the Giro (2014) and Vuelta (2016), the once featherweight climber also placed second in the 2017 Giro and was twice runner-up and third in the Tour de France.
Furthermore, Quintana has won several prestigious stage races for Movistar, including Tirreno-Adriatico (twice) and the Tour of Catalonia, Romandie, and the Basque Country. The past two seasons have been fairly uneventful—apart from a few highlights. The last professional victory for ‘Nairoman’ dates back more than three years ago.
Quintana was a notable absence at Movistar’s team presentation last week. It turned out the experienced GC contender was still in the United States at that time. Quintana plans to become a business manager and has spent recent weeks in the US preparing for that role.
