Nairo Quintana confirmed his position as the strongest rider in the Giro d'Italia when he won today's mountain time trial on the Monte Grappa. Afterwards, the Colombian revealed that mountain time trials has always been his speciality and that he felt almost obliged to take the win.

 

Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) reasserted on top of the Monte Grappa, finish of the 2014 Giro d'Italia's uphill TT, his dominat condition in the Corsa Rosa by adding a second stage win to the historic triumph earned atop Val Martello. The Colombian rider from the telephone squad, who chose to use time trial bike and helmet in the opening 7km - out of a total 26 - of flat, switched for conventional gear after losing barely 16" to Urán (OPQ), his biggest rival for the maglia rosa, at the intermediate check.

 

From that point on, Quintana proved himself unbeatable. Only Fabio Aru (AST), who made an excellent effort to challenge Quintana, could overshadow his success, the man from Boyacá alread 36" quicker than Urán with 7k from the finish and more than minute over the rest of the GC contenders. At the top, and with a splendid pace in the closing ramps, he outclassed Aru by 17", put 1'26" on Urán and left the rest more than two minutes behind, increasing his overall lead to 3'07" on Urán, with Aru now in 3rd at 3'48".

 

Quintana claims his 19th pro victory and takes Movistar Team's season tally up to 16, in a dream Giro for the lads directed by Eusebio Unzué, who will now head into the penultimate battle on Sunday, over the slopes of the infamous Monte Zoncolan (Cat-1; 10km at 11.9% avg). The 167km stage twenty will start in Maniago and feature another two climbs, the Passo del Pura (Cat-2) and Sella Razzo (Cat-2).

 

“I’m really happy today," he said. "It was a spectacular day - I felt really great through the TT course. Above all, I enjoyed really much all the crowd supporting me, wanting me to win this.

 

“I took the questions the press has been asking me seriously, and said to myself “Today, I have what it takes to win the Giro.” I didn’t want to say so before, but [mountain time trials] are my speciality so I couldn’t let this stage go without winning it, especially on the day my family came from Colombia to visit me. It gave me strength. So too did the work of the team who helped me prepare for today’s stage. I had to show all the people I could win another stage, and here I am, strengthening the overall lead.

 

 

"We were really calm as we made the TT bike and helmet change. We knew that the traditional helmet would help me, because it’s lighter and releases sweat better - plus it would take only a few seconds to make the switch. I was really calm, we prepared for it well and it went perfectly.

 

"All the team helped me much to get prepared for this time trial and I owe them much of this victory. I think we offered the fans what they were expecting from me to see in this race.

 

“[Froome, Contador and Nibali] are very strong riders with lots of experience. They are a few years older than the riders born in 1990 like Aru, me, Kwiatkowski, Majka, and so on, and we have to keep improving to be able to beat them in the three-week tours. But there is no doubt that  we will shine in the Grand Tours of the future. I think in the 90 was a good year, given that all these riders have different characteristics: there is also Sagan, a great sprinter. We are coming.

 

“Before last year’s Tour, I was an unknown. Now I’m confirmed as a contender. The Tour gave me the opportunity to show the world who Nairo Quintana is. I’ve done it again here, and now the world knows that I’m capable of competing for Grand Tours. This race is fabulous: I love the Italian spectators and the Italian mountains.

 

“I’ve reconnoitred the start of the Zoncolan. I like it a lot: It’s pretty demanding, but those are the mountains I like. I couldn’t see it all because when I went there, months ago, it was covered in snow.

 

"We’ll see how the team is tomorrow - from what I’ve seen, it will be very good. We’ll see how the race goes, and if I feel good, why not try for the stage win - help a team-mate: don’t forget, one of my team-mates [Igor Antón] has already won on the Zoncolan.

 

"The decisive day comes tomorrow - we’ll see how we control the race. We have a strong team, and should the opportunity show up, we’ll try to fight for the stage win, too."