Former Tour de France runner-up Nairo Quintana endured a tough time of things on the final mountain stage of this year’s race, dropping from fourth to fifth on the general classification on the road to Hautacam after finishing in 13th place, 5:22 down on stage winner Jonas Vingegaard.
The Arkéa-Samsic leader had been battling with Frenchman David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) over fourth before the stage but now faces a fight with Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) to hang on to fifth in Saturday’s final time trial.
Quintana’s time loss on the 143.2km stage through the Pyrenees was exacerbated by a penalty handed down by UCI commissaires after he briefly pushed off a race motorbike on the penultimate climb of the stage, the Col de Spandelles.
While struggling to hang on to the elite GC group which included Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), and Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) midway up the climb, Quintana reached out to push off a TV moto filming behind the group. (Scroll down for a video of the incident.)
The push helped him make it back to the small group ahead of Gaudu, though the race would soon be shattered as Pogačar made the first of several attacks on the climb, sending Quintana backwards for good.
After the race, he was handed a time penalty for the incident per article 2.12.007 (opens in new tab), section 4.3, which specifies the punishments for ‘pushing off against a car, motorcycle, rider’.
Quintana received a 10-second time penalty as a result, as well as a 200CHF fine and a deduction of 20% of his points and mountain classification points (four apiece). The ruling now puts him at 13:35 down on the race lead and eight seconds up on Meintjes while Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) lurks in seventh, 35 seconds back.
Nonetheless, the 32-year-old is currently set for Arkéa-Samsic’s best-ever result at the Tour, with Warren Barguil’s 10th place in 2019 the highest finish in the team’s 17-year history.
“I gave it my all, I had a bit of trouble breathing,” Quintana said after the stage. “But I don’t want to use that as an excuse. I think we are doing a great Tour de France; the race was very fast.
“My teammates did a very good job. We all gave our best. I hope to set a good time now to be among the very first in this Tour de France. I raced with my heart, I threw all my strength into the battle, my head also played an important role.
“I have regained confidence in this Tour after some difficult…
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