Nairo Quintana's last dance: the Colombian ends his career right where it all began with Movistar.

The circle is complete. Movistar has officially confirmed that Nairo Quintana will end his 16-year career at Saturday's Giro dell'Emilia, the same race he triumphed in 2012, at the beginning of his adventure with the Spanish team.

A choice full of meaning and nostalgia: the Giro dell'Emilia was in fact one of Quintana's first major victories, coming when the Colombian was just 24 years old and nearing the end of his first season with Movistar. That day, he raced solo to victory on the San Luca uphill finish in Bologna, outwitting two pros who had long since hung up their bikes: Fredrik Kessiakoff, who retired in 2014, and Franco Pellizotti, who retired in 2018.

After rumors that he would retire from racing at the World Championships in Canada, Movistar clarified the situation on social media: Quintana will indeed bid farewell to racing in Europe on Saturday. He will lead a team that also includes Roger Adrià, Jorge Arcas, Pelayo Sánchez, Juan Pedro López, Michel Hessmann, and compatriot Einer Rubio .

The sense of a full circle is even stronger considering that that uphill victory in Bologna came in his very first year with a WorldTour team. A triumph that followed two promising seasons with Colombia's es Pasión, a small national team where Quintana had already demonstrated his talent by winning the best climber's jersey at the 2011 Volta a Catalunya.

That was just the beginning of an extraordinary career: victories at the Giro d'Italia in 2014 and the Vuelta a España in 2016, as well as being the main challenger to Team Sky's dominance at the Tour de France for several seasons. A list of victories that will remain engraved in the history of South American cycling.

For Quintana's last dance , as Movistar itself called it on social media, the opposition at the Giro dell'Emilia will not be underestimated: they range from the new World Champion Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), who will wear the rainbow jersey for the first time, to Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), second in both 2024 and 2025. Also present will be Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), Quintana's former teammate from the famous Movistar "trident" that also included Alejandro Valverde.