Colombian Continental team Medellín-EPM have followed up their recent signing of Miguel Ángel López with an offer to star climber Nairo Quintana to join their squad for 2023.
Like his compatriot López, the former Grand Tour winner has been on the hunt for a team since he and Arkea-Samsic parted ways following his positive in the 2023 Tour de France for banned substance tramadol.
Multiple rumours have linked Quintana to different squads since then, but none of the supposed possibilities have gained serious traction.
Medellín’s offer comes just weeks before the South American season gets underway at the Vuelta a San Juan, which the Colombian team are racing. Meanwhile, the squad’s latest high-profile recruit, López, has already appeared on a video in Medellín kit, backed by a soundtrack of the Rolling Stones song, ‘Paint It Black.’
Quintana has repeatedly insisted he has a team, but without confirming which one. He has also suggested he will continue to contest the world's biggest races, which would require a WorldTour or ProTeam, and not a third-division Continental outfit like Medellín-EPM.
The offer is not the first that Medellín have made to Quintana, according to sports daily MARCA, with the team attempting to initiate negotiations with the veteran climber in November.
Quintana reportedly turned down their offer then, but the Colombian squad have used their signing of López to make it clear that the door is still open.
"I’m reaching out, as we already did before, to Nairo Quintana," sports director José Julian Velásquez said in a message to Quintana, according to MARCA. "We’d be interested in counting on you. I hope you could represent us and thus continue your great career."
It is rumoured that Medellín have offered Quintana the same contract conditions as apparently apply to López; that if a WorldTour team or ProTeam make López an attractive offer, he can leave the Continental squad immediately, even mid-season, without financial consequences.
Meanwhile, López is already racing with Medellín-EPM, finishing fourth in a hilly local event, the Circuito de Jenesano in the region of Boyaca. He is due to race again in the Clásica de Villeta, also in Colombia on Saturday. He is expected to take part in the Vuelta a San Juan, his first international race with Medellín-EPM, starting on January 22.
López has also appeared kitted out in Medellín-EPM gear on Instagram. The video shows him out training to a backing track of the Rolling Stones' 1960s anthem to self-destruction and depression, Paint It Black. However, the musical connection here is presumably only to do with the coincidence between the team kit colour and the song title.
López certainly sounds anything but downhearted on the accompanying Instagram message, writing: "New colours, new opportunities, let’s go for more. Don’t let anyone stop you. Many thanks Team Medellín for opening your doors to me."
