Nairo Quintana returned yesterday to his European base in Pamplona, full of confidence ahead of his debut at the Giro d’Italia following several weeks of training spent in Colombia. The 24-year old Movistar captain claims to be ready to fight for a victory in the season’s first grand tour event and thus emphasizes that it would be frustrating not to make the podium of the race. In the same time, however, Quintana admits that his major goal is to gain experience for before returning to the Tour de France with more possibilities opened in the future.

The 24-year old Colombian underwent the major part of his Giro preparations in Tunja, nearly 3,000 meters above the sea level, together with his team-mate Jonathan Castroviejo. Even though Quintana will line up at the Italian grand tour with Vuelta a Catalunya being the last event he participated in, the Movistar leader insists that over 40 days out of competition do not bother him at all and remains confident about his disposition ahead of his season’s biggest objective.

“It’s not a big deal not to ride the Vuelta Asturias since it were only three days. I entered the Vuelta a Espana in 2012 without riding any race beforehand, the same for last year’s Tour,” Quintana told Colombian press.

More precisely, Quintana lined up in Corsica after more than two months out of race schedule and ended up surpassed only by Chris Froome (Team Sky), when the Tour de France 100th edition came to its conclusion on Champs Elysees.

Obviously, the 24-year old Colombian is aware of his chances in the Italian grand tour and approaches the race with certain ambitions, however, he still dreams of his Tour de France return.

“The idea is to fight for the title, not to let the podium slip away. It would be frustrating not to finish on the podium, but we’re all humans after all,” Quintana said.

“I’m very young and I’m still learning. I ride the Giro to learn and improve every day, to return to the Tour de France with more possibilities opened one day,” he continued.

Exactly like in previous seasons, Quintana has undergone very thorough preparations ahead of his major grand tour outing and thus is confident about his disposition.

“The specific preparations have been made throughout the last three weeks. I trained quite hard, including doing simulations of some Giro stages, in many series and with prerarations for the individual time trial. The predictions are promising, I hope to ride a good Giro and fight for a title,” the 24-year old Colombian explained.

There will be three time trials in this year’s Giro d’Italia edition, including the team time trial kicking off the whole event in Belfast on May 9th. However, with Richie Porte pulled out of competition and anyway presenting simply disastrous disposition within last two months, none of the title contenders is expected to gain significant advantage against the clock.

Still, Quintana visited a wind tunnel of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team at the Silverstone circuit and was very pleased with improvements he was able to apply.

“It was a great experience, I learned a lot about aerodynamics,” Movistar leader admitted.

“We have changed my position on a bike and corrected several other details which led to significant improvement.”

Among nine mountaintop stage finished to feature in this year’s Giro d’Italia edition, Quintana expects the brutal Monte Zoncolan climb to decide the general classification. He acknowledged, however, that the usually nervous and hectic first week of the grand tour is when the race could be lost, and thus it is essential to stay focused from the very beginning of the rivalry in May.

“You need to stay very careful throughout the first week. You can’t let yourself to lose at this point. There are very narrow roads and difficult finales,” he pointed out.

“Practically, the Zoncolan is the Giro finale. It’s a tough climb which I’ve already inspected but wasn’t able to reach the top due to the snow. It is one of the most difficult ascents that I rode in my entire life and it’s definitely my favourite stage of the Giro d’Italia”

Asked about another maglia rosa contenders, Movistar leader pointed out to Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) in a first place, expecting several other riders to be up there.

“Joaquim Rodrigiez is probably my biggest rival. He suffered two crashes in the Ardennes but it seems insignificant as he is so strong physically. Without any doubt he will do well at the Giro d’Italia.”

“Rigoberto Uran is very strong, he will be a leader of the team known for their strength. We’ve already seen Cadel Evans winning the Trentino, he is a tough contender. Domenico Pozzovivo has been very good in Trentino, too, and finished the Liege-Bastogne-Liege in the top five, he’s a great climber. I also expect some young riders to step up.”

The final Movistar Team roster for the Giro d’Italia is yet to be determined, but with the likes of Adriano Malori , Eros Capecchi , Sylwester Szmyd , Andrey Amador, Fran Ventoso, Pablo Alfaro , Igor Anton, Jonathan Castroviejo , Gorka Izaguirre and Jose Herrada featuring on the long-list, the 24-year old Colombian is confident about the quality of support he will be provided with.

“I have a great team consisting of climbers as well as riders doing well on flat stages and it gives me peace.”