Nairo Quintana (Movistar) has been confirmed to return to Europe next month to race Tirreno-Adriatico, setting the stage for the season’s first showdown between the top Tour de France favorites.

Movistar officials confirmed to VeloNews that Quintana will return to Europe “three or four days” before the start of Tirreno-Adriatico (March 11-17).

Quintana was sidelined from the Ruta del Sol last week as a result of a finish-line crash at the Colombian national championship in early February.

The 2014 Giro d’Italia champion was recovering from some scrapes and bruises, and was not up for challenging Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and eventual winner Chris Froome (Sky) in the five-day race in southern Spain.

Quintana made this season’s debut with a third overall finish at the Tour de San Luís in Argentina back in January. Following a shoulder surgery last fall stemming from back-to-back crashes at the Vuelta a España, Quintana has been recuperating and training from his home in the Andes mountains of Colombian.

Quintana has his sights set on the Tour de France this season, and in a similar approach taken by teammate Alejandro Valverde last season, Quintana is penciled in to get a taste of the pavé, with scheduled starts at Dwars door Vlaanderen and E3-Harelbeke, before taking on the Vuelta al País Vasco (Tour of the Basque Country) in April.