The future of Nairo Quintana will be known next Wednesday in a press conference cited by the cyclist himself in the north of Bogotá. After testing positive for tramadol in the Tour de France, the sanction of the UCI and an appeal that had no effect in the CAS, the rider has not been able to get a team and there is talk of a possible veto from the WorldTour so that his squads do not hire him.
Nairo was linked to different teams in the top category of world cycling after his departure from Arkéa-Samsic. It rang for Movistar, Astana, AG2R, Israel-Premier Tech, Cofidis, among others, but finally no one signed him. He himself told Diario AS in November of last year that he already had a closed agreement and that he would reveal it in a few days. Two months passed and the announcement never came.
“Nairo proved his innocence and he doesn’t want to let himself take away what he has. He set up a process and then that is on the way, nothing is known And that’s why some teams have closed their doors”said his father Luis Quintana in an interview with 10 AM Hoy por Hoy.
Nairo would not have space in a ProTeam either
And it is that the consequences of tramadol and its fight against the UCI go beyond the greats of the WorldTour, also several ProTeam, 15 in total, would prefer not to sign him because they are part of the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC). The newspaper El Tiempo spoke with the president of this association, who referred to the issue of Nairo Quintana.
“He tested positive for tramadol twice during the Tour de France and the International Cycling Union only applied its regulations accepted by all (…) Tramadol is dangerous to health and enhances performance and in 2012 the MPCC team doctors asked the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to include it on the list of prohibited products. Our doctors have pledged not to prescribe tramadol at competitions,” said Roger Legeay.
The manager denied that the teams that are part of his association have the order not to hire Nairo Quintanabut reiterated that this medicine is prohibited and that the objective of the entity is to defend cleanliness in cycling.
“It never hurts to say that the teams do not have the obligation to hire cyclists, sIt is the squad directors who decide that, not us, it is clear (…) It is the decision of the team leaders to hire the cyclist or not ”, commented.
The Corratec discarded Nairo by the MPCC
Team Corractec, one of the 18 teams in the second category of world cycling, was interested in signing Nairo Quintana after his agent approached him. This did not end up given by the economic factor and by the Movement for Credible Cycling.
I prefer not to talk about this story. It has become too big and we cannot take Nairo with us. I’m sorry, this was something big, so you have to talk to your representative (…) . “We are registered and we have a big problem with that,” revealed Serge Parsani, director of the Italian squad.