Nairo Quintana is still undecided about whether to go to the Giro d'Italia or the Tour de France but his team is moving towards sending him to the Italian grand tour. Movistar manager Eusebio Unzue will gradually learn his young star to deal with pressure and feels that the Giro is more suited to this purpose.

Nairo Quintana appeared to be unfazed by the media attention when he found himself in the media spotlight at this year's Tour de France. At just 23 years of age, the Colombian emerged as the biggest rival to a seemingly invincible Chris Froome and added a win on a big mountain stage and the polka-dot and white jerseys to his palmares.

While there was much focus on Quintana in 2013, he benefited from the being the underdog. No one expected him to finish 2nd overall in his first participation and so he could fly a little bit under the radar, allowing Alejandro Valverde to carry the main part of the responsibility.

If Quintana goes back to the Tour again in 2014, that will no longer be the chase. Instead, he will be one of the major favourites to win the race alongside Froome, Vincenzo Nibali and potentially Alberto Contador if he can find back his best legs.

Quintana and Movistar have still not decided whether the Colombian will focus on the Giro or the Tour but several facts are pointing towards a participation in Italy. His manager Eusebio Unzue has made it clear that he prefers this option and Valverde has already made it clear that he will focus fully on the Tour de France.

While Quintana has handled the pressure well until now, Unzue knows that he has a real grand tour diamond in his hands. Hence, he wants to carefully introduce him to the biggest races and knows that it could be too much for the youngster to go to the Tour as one of the main favourites.

“The Giro is a great race for young riders. It’s a race that fits very well in the progression of a developing grand tour rider. Sooner or later, Nairo will know the Giro,” he told Velonews. “Nairo has already shown he’s capable of riding well in a grand tour, but he also has a lot of years ahead of him.

“We have no stress, no rush. He’s young, so the most important thing is to improve his physical maturity and his experience in the big tours,” he added. “He’s already shown that he can ride well over three weeks, so now it’s a question of patience.”

In any case, Quintana will be going to the grand tours to win.

“We won’t finalize the racing schedule until January. If Nairo goes to the Giro or the Tour, it will be to be going for the best possible result,” Unzue said. “Either way, we will make a racing calendar that suits the preparation to arrive at the race with the best possibilities to win.”

That may be another reason for staying away from the Tour. Unzue openly admits that Froome will be very hard to beat and prefers to offer Valverde what could be his final chance to reach the podium after several near-misses.

“Over the past three years, Froome has been the best grand tour rider. He only won the Tour in 2013, but he was the strongest in the 2012 Tour, and the 2011 Vuelta a España,” he said. “He’s already the best grand tour rider, so Froome doesn’t need to prove anything this coming Tour. It will be hard to beat him.”

Quintana will start his season in the Tour de San Luis and aims for his first results in Paris-Nice in March.