Cycling highlights: Snow is not exactly the greatest friend of professional cyclists. Snowy races are actually canceled – not so the fifth stage at Tirreno-Adriatico in 2015. One person in particular stayed cool in the icy cold: Nairo Quintana.
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Nairo Quintana defies snow & cold
Queen stage of the 50th edition of Tirreno-Adriatico! On March 15, 2015, the pros encountered several difficulties on the fifth leg of the tour. Because the 196,9-kilometer course from Esanatoglia to Terminillo included four mountain classifications. The 16,1 kilometer long and 7,3 percent steep Monte Terminillo was particularly challenging at the end of the day. But as it turned out, the biggest problem wasn't necessarily the stage profile, but the weather. In the middle of the final climb it started to snow so heavily that the road was completely covered with snow. However, the race was not stopped. And Nairo Quintana didn't seem at all impressed by the weather chaos.
Poels collapses, Quintana wins the tour
While some pros were visibly suffering from these weather conditions, Nairo Quintana launched the attack. With five kilometers to go, nobody could follow his attack. Leader Wout Poels even lost touch with the group of favorites. In this way, Nairo Quintana was able to extend its lead further and further. In the end, he wins the stage in snow chaos with a 41-second lead over Bauke Mollema and 55 seconds ahead of the other co-favorites. In the days that followed, he would not let the overall lead be snatched away from him.
Nairo Quintana:
“It was a very fast stage, very difficult, especially with the cold conditions. Nevertheless, I was able to tackle the climb very freshly and implemented our tactic with the first attack. With five kilometers to go I felt really good and saw that nobody looked strong enough to follow me so I attacked.”