Nairo Quintana, hand in hand with AM850: his relationship with football, his idols and an unexpected confession

Nairo Quintana was hand in hand with AM850 in an extensive talk about his sporting present, his career and his view on current cycling. However, the Boyacá champion also had time to talk about football, a sport that he follows at a distance, but for which he feels respect and affinity from the role of spectator.

Nairo himself was sincere when describing his bond with the ball. “From one to ten, two,” He responded when asked how much he followed football, clarifying that he likes it as a game, although he does not follow it occasionally or practice it regularly. In fact, he acknowledged that, if he had not been a cyclist, he would have been a soccer player, “surely not,” a phrase he said with a laugh and with total naturalness.

Upon entering the field of references, Quintana participated in a game of comparisons between historical figures of Colombian soccer. He chose James Rodríguez over Juan Pablo Ángel, Freddy Rincón, René Higuita and Iván Ramiro Córdoba, but marked a clear break when Radamel Falcao García appeared, whom he put over James without hesitation. He then confirmed his preference for ‘Tigre’ over Willington Ortiz, Mario Yepes and Faustino Asprilla, before closing with a different choice: Carlos ‘el Pibe’ Valderrama over Falcao, highlighting him as his final reference.

Nairo also said, with humor, that when he plays soccer he usually does it as a goalkeeper, although he defined himself as “a strainer,” making it clear that his thing was always far from the eleven field. Between laughs, he closed the football block with a simple and honest confession: he likes football, he enjoys it as a spectacle, but his history, his talent and his legend have always been, and will be, on the bicycle.