Nairo Quintana turned back the years to take a majestic victory on Mont Ventoux, where stage three of the Tour de la Provence concluded earlier today.
Nairo Quintana claims majestic win on stage three of the Tour de la Provence today. Photo: A.S.O./Pauline Ballet
The Colombian attacked around 7km from the finish at Chalet Reynard – which comes 500m below the summit – and stretched his lead all the way to the finish to take his first victory for his new team, Arkéa-Samsic.
He finished the 140.2km stage 1:28 ahead of Alexey Lutsenko and Hught Carthy to move into the overall lead ahead of Aleksandr Vlasov.
Despite glimpses of brilliance in recent years – most notably stage victories in the two most recent editions of the Tour de France – the 30-year-old seemed far below his best at a time when his young compatriot, Egan Bernal, rose through the ranks to win the Tour de France in 2019.
Quintana, who had spent his entire professional career with the Spanish Movistar team for whom he had won both the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana, surprisingly moved to the second tier Professional Continental French team this year and many believed it signalled the end of his grand tour aspirations.
His team would have to rely on wildcard entries for any of the grand tours but, with the little Colombian in this type of form, it would be difficult to deny them a start – especially in the French race.
View results below:
Stage three results
| 1 | Nairo Quintana | Team Arkéa Samsic | 3:36:26 |
| 2 | Alexey Lutsenko | Astana Pro Team | +1:28 |
| 3 | Hugh Carthy | EF Pro Cycling | |
| 4 | Aleksandr Vlasov | Astana Pro Team | |
| 5 | Eddie Dunbar | Team Ineos | +2:11 |
| 6 | Sepp Kuss | Team Jumbo-Visma | +2:12 |
| 7 | Wilco Kelderman | Team Sunweb | |
| 8 | Jesus Herrada | Cofidis-Solutions Credits | |
| 9 | Thibaut Pinot | Groupama-FDJ | |
| 10 | David Gaudu | Groupama-FDJ | 2:25 |
*Selected results
| 90 | Morne van Niekerk | St Michel-Auber93 | +15:21 |
General classification
| 1 | Nairo Quintana | Team Arkéa Samsic | 11:24:12 |
| 2 | Aleksandr Vlasov | Astana Pro Team | +1:04 |
| 3 | Alexey Lutsenko | Astana Pro Team | 1:28 |
| 4 | Hugh Carthy | EF Pro Cycling | +1:38 |
| 5 | Wilco Kelderman | Team Sunweb | +2:16 |
| 6 | Eddie Dunbar | Team Ineos | +2:21 |
| 7 | Thibaut Pinot | Groupama-FDJ | +2:22 |
| 8 | Sepp Kuss | Team Jumbo-Visma | +2:26 |
| 9 | Jesus Herrada | Cofidis-Solutions Credits | |
| 10 | David Gaudu | Groupama-FDJ | +2:35 |
*Selected results
| 114 | Morne van Niekerk | St Michel-Auber93 | +28:28 |
