Hopes among Colombian fans that climber Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) could be among the contenders for the Tour de France's stage 12 finish at the top of the Alpe d'Huez have skyrocketed after the rider from Boyaca delivered a stunning performance on the Col du Granon on Wednesday.
Already performing brilliantly on the cobbled stage in the first week, where he took 14th, on stage 11 Quintana attacked from the main group eight kilometres from the summit of the Granon and, after passing teammate and early attacker Warren Barguil, briefly looked set to be the day's winner.
Despite then being overhauled by future yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), Quintana concluded the stage in second place, 59 seconds down, moving up to fifth on the overall, 2:37 back.
"Nairo will have to race intelligently, calculate his strength," 2003 Alpe d'Huez winner Iban Mayo told Colombian newspaper El Tiempo. "He's close to the podium and those ahead of him will be engaged in a ferocious battle."
"The final climb [on stage 12] is very hard, but the previous two are harder, so that final ascent will be key to the whole day. It will be easy to lose the race there."
Quintana himself has tackled the Alpe d'Huez three times, in 2013, 2015 and 2018, and although he has never won there, 2015 marked his most memorable ascent when he came his closest to winning the Tour by clawing back time on an ill Chris Froome.
"We're doing well, the team is in great shape and the idea is to keep moving forward," Quintana said on Thursday evening, a few hours after the stage had finished.
"My attack was due to the way the race was playing out, using the situation as best we could because we don't have a team to make the race and depending on how I feel each day.
"I could use the situation because other teams still had two riders there and we had a teammate ahead [Barguil] so the stage win seemed guaranteed."
Quintana said that the opportunity looked excellent for Arkéa-Samsic to take the win, but with the GC battle being red-hot, it proved impossible.
"I knew Vingegaard and maybe even [Tadej] Pogačar were stronger so I just kept going at my pace as best I could," said Quintana. "I've taken seconds and in some cases minutes on the riders that were following."
While Quintana admitted the podium was now a possibility, "but without anybody going mad about it," he warned that Alpe d'Huez was "another huge mountain stage, and for sure the race will be very dramatic. I hope I can respond well."
As for the unexpected defeat of Pogačar on the Granon, Quintana responded with a general observation. "There are days for everybody, so when you're strong you have to make the most of it, and when you are weaker, grit your teeth and hold on."
Apart from raising expectations among observers, Alpe d'Huez has colossal importance for Colombian cycling as it was where Luis 'Lucho' Herrera won the country's first Tour de France stage back in 1984. For a rider with a well-tuned sense of cycling history like Quintana, that historical detail will surely increase his motivation today on one of the sport's most fabled climbs.
