Eusebio Unzue has said that while Chris Froome looked “impossible to beat” at this year’s Tour de France, he is confident Nairo Quintana will complete his Grand Tour set with a Tour de France title one year.
“Froome looked more vulnerable in 2013 and 2015 in the last week of the Tour, but this year we saw a different Chris Froome,” Unzué told VeloNews. “He took time differences in the descent and then on the flats. We discovered a different side to Froome. Not only is he strong in the mountains and time trials, and with the team he had at the Tour, he was impossible to beat.”
Unzue admitted it will always be hard to win the Tour, but reiterated his believe that Quintana will get his Yellow Jersey to complete his set after winning Giro Pink in 2014 and Vuelta Red in September this year.
“After winning the Giro and Vuelta, obviously the next big step is the Tour,” Unzué said of Quintana. “It’s always difficult to win, but one day it will arrive. We believe he will win it sooner or later, because he has a Tour in his legs.”
In order to challenge, Unzue says Quintana needs to keep up his level of growth each season, and for 2017 Unzue is going to give him a select group of riders who will be with him in all of the big goals he sets himself.
“With Nairo, we have the luxury that he simply keeps improving as a grand tour rider,” Unzué said. “He keeps growing, and he won his second grand tour. What we want to do next year is have five, six or seven key riders who can be with Nairo and bring them together through the major goals of the season.”
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