Vuelta al Pais Vasco winner, Nairo Quintana, is preparing for his Tour debut in just about a month but unlike most of his fellow participants in the grande boucle, he will not race at all in the lead-up to the world's biggest race. Movistar manager has allowed his Colombian sensation to prepare at altitude in his home country and the talent will arrive in Europe just one week before the start of the Tour.

One crucial part of the Colombian domination this year has been talented Nairo Quintana (Movistar) who proved that his stage win the Criterium du Dauphiné and wins in last year's Vuelta a Murcia, Route du Sud and Giro dell'Emilia were no flukes when he won a stage in the Volta a Catalunya before coming out triumphant in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Having made his grand tour debut in the Vuelta last year, the Colombian is scheduled to line up in his maiden Tour de France in a month where he will be the key support rider in the mountains for team leader Alejandro Valverde.

Unlike most other Tour riders, Quintana will not ride any of the traditional warm-up races. Having trained in his native Colombia since the end of the Ardennes classics one month ago, he plans to stay there for most of the month of June. He prefers to prepare at almost 3000m of altitude and will not return to Europe until one week prior to the start of the French grand tour.

The decision is a calculated risk by the Movistar team. Last year he prepared for the Vuelta in a similar way, and he was far from his best in the early part of the race. He bounced back in the final hard mountain stages and delivered key support to Valverde while also emerging as one of the race's strongest riders. However, it could be prove costly for the team if Quintana is not ready at the start in Corsica as both stages 2 and 3 have quite hilly routes in the mountains of the Mediterranean island.

Quintana and Valverde studied the two key stages in the Pyreness in the week between his participations in the Volta a Catalunya and the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and so the Colombian knows some of the climbs where he is expected to be close to his team leader. While the young talent will stay in Colombia, Valverde will line up in the Criterium du Dauphiné which starts on Sunday.