Quintana spotted in Italy during Giro d'Italia reconnaissance ride

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Nairo Quintana seems to be taking his Giro-Tour double attempt extremely seriously and spent Thursday and Friday in Italy, studying the key climbs of stage 19 and 20 of this year's Giro d'Italia route.

Quintana and his Movistar team have calculated that the Colombian can target success in both Grand Tour in 2017 thanks to a carefully calculated race and training programme. He will have raced for 40 days when the Tour de France starts in Germany on July 1, with 33 days to recover between the end of the Giro d'Italia and the start of the Tour de France. Quintana has already made his season debut and won the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana last weekend thanks to a strong attack on the key hilltop finish of the race.

Quintana was spotted by Italian rider Davide Cimolai of FDJ on Thursday, riding the Piancavallo climb with teammate Ruben Fernandez in the northeastern Friuli region of Italy. The 15km climb is the last real mountain finish of the 2017 Giro d'Italia and is where Marco Pantani made a famous attack and won the stage in 1998, the year he won the Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double.

Quintana and Movistar have so far avoided revealing any details of their recon trip to Italy. However, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, they were expected to study the Monte Grappa and Foza climbs that will be the decisive moments of stage 20 of the Giro d'Italia before the final time trial to MiIan.

Other riders, including Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) and Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) are expected to study the climbs in the coming weeks.