Despite having already won the Giro d’Italia this year. Colombian star Nairo Quintana does not see any problems sharing co-leadership of the Movistar team with Alejandro Valverde at the Vuelta a Espana, the year’s final Grand Tour. The men were split earlier in the season, with Quintana successful in the Giro and Valverde currently riding in the Tour.

 

“The outcome of the Tour doesn’t affect anything. Alejandro is going very well and could possibly be on the podium of the Tour if nothing extraordinary happens,” Quintana said in a press conference in Bogota on Monday, according to Biciciclismo.

 

“We’ll go with two leaders to this Vuelta, which is so important for the team. We’ll work together, and I think the stronger rider at the time will have the support of the other. I don’t think it matters that he is a Spaniard at the Vuelta a España because the team has made it clear that we’re working for Movistar Team, and not for a Colombian or a Spaniard. Depending on how the race goes, we’ll see who is stronger and who takes the lead.”

 

Quintana and Valverde will both ride the Vuelta to win after Movistar have been denied the win there in recent years due to fresher riders beating a tired Valverde, who has always done the Tour-Vuelta double, even though Valverde has always been successful, with 2 stage wins and second in 2012 and third last year, in addition to the points classification in both editions. Their last Grand Tour win before the 2014 Giro was the 2009 Vuelta with Valverde, although they have podiumed several more three week races since the 2009 win.

 

“I want to do a very good Vuelta,” Quintana said. “I don’t know if I’ll win but I’m very motivated and I want to put in a good showing. The idea is to win.”

 

Quintana is aiming to become the first person to win the Giro-Vuelta double since Alberto Contador in 2008. But Quintana has only ridden one Vuelta, where he finished 36th in his debut Grand Tour riding for Valverde, and this is his first attempt at two Grand Tours in a single season.

 

“It’s a challenge to win two grand tours in the same year and few have managed it, but I don’t see it as impossible,” Quintana said.

 

Quintana wasn’t always happy about riding the Giro, believing his 2013 performance should have allowed him to have another crack at the Tour de France.

 

“The route of the Tour this year is interesting, I would have liked to have been there,” Quintana admitted. “Unfortunately I’m not there, but this year we’ve taken this decision [to ride the Giro] and it hasn’t gone badly.”

 

Quintana has not raced since the conclusion of the Giro in Trieste on June 1 and will only return to action in Europe at the Vuelta a Burgos on August 13, his sole preparation race before the Vuelta a España, which gets underway on August 23.