Tour de France: Nairo Quintana expects improvement

Nairo Quintana hopes his strength in the mountains will be enough to claw back the time he lost to leader Chris Froome over the first week of the Tour de France.

The Colombian is currently ninth in the overall standings, 1min 59sec behind Froome as the riders enjoyed a rest day on Monday.              

However, the mountain stages begin on Tuesday and Quintana, who is widely considered as one of the best climbers in the world, expects to significantly reduce Froome's advantage.

"Froome is physically very strong, but I'm also in good form and we're going to try to do all we can to make up the difference," said the Movistar team leader.

"Up until now, he's gained small victories but on short climbs that require a lot of strength, which have nothing to do with the climbs that are coming."

The first of the mountain stages ends with a 15.3km climb at an average gradient of 7.4 per cent and finishes at La Pierre-Saint Martin.

"It's a fairly consistent climb, very tough, in which the temperature will play an important role, and it's expected to be very hot," Quintana added. "I always enjoy the big climbs."

Despite Froome holding a healthy lead in the yellow jersey, Quintana is happy with his current position.

He lost a minute and a half on the second stage, where crosswinds made for troublesome conditions as he was caught behind a crash, but the 25-year-old expected to be further behind going into the mountains.

"I would have signed up for this gap [before the Tour started] because the first week wasn't easy," he said. "Although, it's true that the cobbles weren't as difficult as I thought. I got over them well with the help of the team, who kept me calm." 

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