Nairo Quintana and Arkéa Samsic are parting ways despite the Colombian rider having signed a new three-year deal with the French team. Now fighting to clear his name after positive test results for Tramadol, Quintana had signed his new three-year deal with the team only six weeks ago, just a day before news of the test results emerged.
He had opted to stay with Arkéa Samsic, who are destined for the World Tour next year, despite interest from UAE Team Emirates and his former team Movistar. However, while he was due to start La Vuelta last month, Arkéa Samsic announced he would not ride the race in favour of defending himself against the Tramadol test result.
The 32-year-old has now confirmed in a video published on his social media channels that he will not continue with his current team. He was not yet sure where he would ride next year but said he was determined to continue racing at the highest level and also to clear his name.
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“I want to announce that I will not continue with the Arkéa team for the next seasons as we had announced on August 16th," he said. "We will keep fighting forward. Little by little we are going to comment on my future going forward, I want to continue showing the rider that I am, what I am made of, what I can do."
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Just a day after announcing his next contract with Arkéa-Samsic last month it emerged Quintana was disqualified from the Tour de France – meaning he lost his results, including 6th overall – after the UCI said Tramadol was found in blood samples taken from him after two stages of the race.
The UCI said the samples containing “the presence of tramadol and its two main metabolites” were returned by Quintana on stages 7 and 11 of the Tour – to La Planche des Belles Filles and Col de Granon respectively.
However, while the use of Tramadol in competition has been banned since 2019, its use is against the UCI’s medical regulations rather than a doping infringement. That meant while Quintana was retrospectively disqualified from the Tour he did not face a ban from competition.
He has strongly denied ever taking Tramadol, a painkiller, and has taken his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
