<figure ><img title="Cycling: 50th Tirreno - Adriatico 2015 / Stage 5" src="http://cdn.velonews.competitor.com/files/2015/06/20154884-259180-320x213.jpg"/><p>Nairo Quintana (Movistar) honed his climbing prowess in the mountains of Colombia, his home country. Photo: Tim De Waele | <a href="http://www.tdwsport.com" target="_blank">TDWsport.com</a> (File).</p></figure><p>TUNJA, Colombia (AFP) — The steep mountain road that hooked Colombia’s Nairo Quintana on cycling runs from his childhood home to his old school.</p>
<p>Now, the 25-year-old climbing specialist is back training on that same road as he seeks to become the first Latin American to win the Tour de France.</p>
<p>His competitors mostly train in Europe, but Quintana, who was runner-up in 2013, is betting on the cold, jagged terrain of his boyhood home in central Colombia to give him the edge in cycling’s most prestigious and grueling race.</p>
<p>Known as “The Beetle” to adoring fans in his home region of Boyaca, Quintana learned to ride a bike here and built his fearsome stamina riding the hilly 15 kilometers to school in the village of Arcabuco.</p>
<p>Being back among family, friends, and childhood mentors “gives me strength,” said Quintana, who rides for Spanish team Movistar.</p>
<p>“Nairooooo!” shouted an elated motorcyclist as he passed him on a recent six-hour training ride between Tunja, the city where Quintana lives when he is back in Colombia, and the small village of Velez.</p>
<p>That drew a loud whistle from the slight cyclist, who measures just five-foot-six and 130 pounds.</p>
<p>As Quintana zipped through Arcabuco, where he attended school, his first coach, Rusbel Achaguas, remembered his early promise.</p>
<p>“Right away you could see his good climbing, or as we say here in Colombia, that he was a ‘beetle,'” he told AFP.</p>
<p>“He was very passionate. He would get here early, ride through all the way to Moniquira [another town up the road] and turn back … although sometimes he arrived a little late for school.”</p>
<p>Quintana’s victories, which include the 2014 Giro d’Italia, “have brought a lot of happiness to us, his family, but also to the Boyaca region and all of Colombia,” said his father, Luis Quintana, a farmer.</p>
<h2>Used bike</h2>
<p>Quintana senior recalled his son buying his first bike.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t for sports,” he said. “He bought it to get around. ‘Till then he hadn’t shown any interest in cycling, but soon someone said he looked like a cyclist, that he was going to be a very good cyclist.”</p>
<p>Quintana was 15 years old at the time. The bike “was used, but in good condition. It looked good, and I started riding it to school … and got hooked,” he said.</p>
<p>In a region with a passion for cycling — and an altitude of 6,562 feet above sea level — Quintana was soon overtaking hardcore riders, blowing past them and their fancy equipment with his school books on his back.</p>
<p>He remembers his principal at Alejandro de Humboldt Technical School worrying that he and his friends would take a spill on the narrow road to school, with its heavy traffic of trucks.</p>
<p>“He would get mad because he saw us going fast downhill … and he wanted to take away our bikes because it scared him,” Quintana said.</p>
<p>Former teachers remember his passion for dance and theater, as well as cycling — but less so for his studies.</p>
<p>“He was pretty quiet. … He was shy but very respectful,” recalled his language instructor, Flor Mireya Vargas, one of many teachers who cleaned up his wounds when he would crash his bike.</p>
<p>As Quintana seeks a groundbreaking Tour de France win this year, students at his old school will be allowed to watch.</p>
<p>Maybe, just maybe, the next Nairo Quintana is among them.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/06/news/quintana-seeks-tour-glory-in-colombian-mountains_375331">Quintanaseeks Tour glory in Colombian mountains</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com">VeloNews.com</a>.</p>
View the full article
<p>Now, the 25-year-old climbing specialist is back training on that same road as he seeks to become the first Latin American to win the Tour de France.</p>
<p>His competitors mostly train in Europe, but Quintana, who was runner-up in 2013, is betting on the cold, jagged terrain of his boyhood home in central Colombia to give him the edge in cycling’s most prestigious and grueling race.</p>
<p>Known as “The Beetle” to adoring fans in his home region of Boyaca, Quintana learned to ride a bike here and built his fearsome stamina riding the hilly 15 kilometers to school in the village of Arcabuco.</p>
<p>Being back among family, friends, and childhood mentors “gives me strength,” said Quintana, who rides for Spanish team Movistar.</p>
<p>“Nairooooo!” shouted an elated motorcyclist as he passed him on a recent six-hour training ride between Tunja, the city where Quintana lives when he is back in Colombia, and the small village of Velez.</p>
<p>That drew a loud whistle from the slight cyclist, who measures just five-foot-six and 130 pounds.</p>
<p>As Quintana zipped through Arcabuco, where he attended school, his first coach, Rusbel Achaguas, remembered his early promise.</p>
<p>“Right away you could see his good climbing, or as we say here in Colombia, that he was a ‘beetle,'” he told AFP.</p>
<p>“He was very passionate. He would get here early, ride through all the way to Moniquira [another town up the road] and turn back … although sometimes he arrived a little late for school.”</p>
<p>Quintana’s victories, which include the 2014 Giro d’Italia, “have brought a lot of happiness to us, his family, but also to the Boyaca region and all of Colombia,” said his father, Luis Quintana, a farmer.</p>
<h2>Used bike</h2>
<p>Quintana senior recalled his son buying his first bike.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t for sports,” he said. “He bought it to get around. ‘Till then he hadn’t shown any interest in cycling, but soon someone said he looked like a cyclist, that he was going to be a very good cyclist.”</p>
<p>Quintana was 15 years old at the time. The bike “was used, but in good condition. It looked good, and I started riding it to school … and got hooked,” he said.</p>
<p>In a region with a passion for cycling — and an altitude of 6,562 feet above sea level — Quintana was soon overtaking hardcore riders, blowing past them and their fancy equipment with his school books on his back.</p>
<p>He remembers his principal at Alejandro de Humboldt Technical School worrying that he and his friends would take a spill on the narrow road to school, with its heavy traffic of trucks.</p>
<p>“He would get mad because he saw us going fast downhill … and he wanted to take away our bikes because it scared him,” Quintana said.</p>
<p>Former teachers remember his passion for dance and theater, as well as cycling — but less so for his studies.</p>
<p>“He was pretty quiet. … He was shy but very respectful,” recalled his language instructor, Flor Mireya Vargas, one of many teachers who cleaned up his wounds when he would crash his bike.</p>
<p>As Quintana seeks a groundbreaking Tour de France win this year, students at his old school will be allowed to watch.</p>
<p>Maybe, just maybe, the next Nairo Quintana is among them.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/06/news/quintana-seeks-tour-glory-in-colombian-mountains_375331">Quintanaseeks Tour glory in Colombian mountains</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com">VeloNews.com</a>.</p>
View the full article
