Quintana admits he's gotta know when to hold 'em

After stage 12, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) slipped even further behind on the general classification. Quintana admitted the Giro-Tour was indeed a gamble and from now on, he'll know when to hold 'em.

Nairo Quintana finished two minutes behind on stage 12 of the 2017 Tour de France (Getty) Source: Getty

The Colombian kept pace with the top GC favourites until Sky turned the screws for Froome on the penultimate Peyresourde climb. He finished 11th on Peyragudes, two minutes and four seconds behind stage winner Romain Bardet (AG2R).

He now sits eighth overall, just over four minutes behind new man in yellow, Fabio Aru (Astana).

After a further significant time loss, Quintana admitted the Giro-Tour was a bit of a gamble.

"You make gambles, sometimes you win them, sometimes you don't," he said.

"It's my first time chasing the Giro-TDF double, it's obvious it didn't go well. It wasn't to be. But next year we will do better going for the Tour as in previous years."

Quintana says depending on his condition, he'll look to bag a stage win before Paris.

"My goal now? Maybe chasing a stage win, but to be honest, now I only want to get my strength back. I can't go for anything before I get myself back on track. There's still more than a week left in this Tour, so you never know."

One revelation for Movistar however is the performance of Carlos Betancur who riding in support of Quintana is 18th overall and has more than paid back the faith Movistar placed in him after a few wilderness years.

But in a sign of the times we live in, Movistar posted on Facebook how it felt about Nairo Quintana falling even further behind on the general classification - with a status update of 'feeling heartbroken,' including the emoji.

Movistar feeling heartbroken in Peyragudes Source: SBS supplied