Celebrations in Colombia (+ Eneco Tour, st. 1)
Quintana honoured by fellow Colombians for three days after his Vuelta win, both in Bogotá and his native Boyacá
Nairo Quintana enjoyed the tribute he truly deserved after his impressive victory in the 2016 Vuelta a España.
The Colombian, who landed home on Tuesday from Madrid with wife Paola and the little Mariana, talked again to all local journalists (Saturday) at Telefónica's country HQ in Bogotá, before taking on a spectacular, two-day parade, in front of hundreds of thousands of people, in both the capital (Sunday) and Tunja (Monday), where he was received and honoured by authorities from the cities.
Following these celebrations -the latter shared with another team hero in Mauricio Soler-, Nairo will enjoy some days' rest before tackling the final stops of his successful 2016.
Eneco Tour: Calm debut in Bolsward
Monday also marked the start of the penultimate event in the UCI WorldTour, the 12th Eneco Tour. Dylan Groenewegen (TLJ) took a valuable victory against some of the world's best sprinters at the end of a nonetheless uneventful race around Bolsward, Friesland (185km.)
The Movistar Team directed by Chente García Acosta and José Luis Jaimerena perfectly covered Ion Izagirre, their main reference for this seven-day stagerace, and reached the finishing line with all eight riders in the peloton -Dowsett as best in 29th-. A trascendental, 10km ITT takes place in Breda on Tuesday.
Friday's TTT in Sittard-Geleen and lumpy finishes on Thursday (Alsemberg) and Sunday (Kapelmuur) will – together with bonus seconds – decide the fate of this course between Belgium and the Netherlands.