Despite being disqualified from the Tour de France and parting ways with the Arkéa-Samsic team after testing positive for tramadol, Nairo Quintana is confident he'll continue to race at the highest level in 2023.
The Colombian is back on home soil for his Gran Fondo event this weekend and spoke to Colombian media about his future, indicating he has "options" that will allow him to compete in WorldTour races next season.
Quintana lost his appeal in his tramadol case at the start of this month, having hoped to clear his name and salvage a career that has taken in victories at the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, along with three Tour de France podiums.
His split from Arkéa-Samsic, the French team he joined in 2020 and helped propel to the WorldTour for 2023, was already announced a month prior, the two parties reneging on an agreed contract extension.
Since losing his appeal, Quintana's future has appeared uncertain, but he himself appeared unconcerned at the weekend.
"I'll be in the WorldTour. I'm going to carry on racing hard, I'm moving forward. The idea is to stay motivated to win races and represent my country," he said, according to the news agency EFE.
That would not necessarily mean he would race for one of the 18 WorldTour teams, with the possibility that he could race the Grand Tours with a second-division squad, as Arkéa-Samsic were.
"That's what I have in mind," he said of continuing to compete in the world's biggest races. "I'll carry on strongly and next year I'll be there in the big ones.
"Next year for sure you're going to see Nairo Quintana on screen competing in one of your favourite races."
Quintana's statements, however, appeared confused.
On the one hand, he seemed to suggest that he had already struck a deal with a team for next year. But then he also spoke of various "options".
"It's politics on their side," he said in reference to a supposed announcement from a new team. "For me, I'd say it now, but it's politics."
However, when asked if a shock return to Movistar, where he spent eight seasons between 2012 and 2020, was on the cards, he indicated his future was undecided.
"That could be one of the options," he said, according to EFE.
"The truth is, I've had a good relationship with them. We had eight years of great success and why not [return]? But we carry on looking at the options," Quintana said.
"That's what's important - that we have options to continue and that I'm motivated to continue."
Movistar, however, is not an option given they have already announced their 2023 squad with the UCI maximum number of 30 riders already signed up. There is simply no room for Quintana and, what's more, they've just signed up the old Arkea director Yvan Ledanois, who public criticism of Quintana caused a stir in the Colombian media.
Quintana maintains that he did not take tramadol but failed to convince the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld his disqualification from the Tour de France. The opioid painkiller is not yet banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency and is therefore not considered an anti-doping violation under UCI rules, but it is still banned under medical regulations.
"Although many have seen it in a bad light, I have always tried to prove my innocence," Quintana said.
"The result wasn't as I'd hoped but I defended myself, and I'm calm knowing I've done nothing bad. That's why I want to keep going and keep fighting."
