His multiple wins in other major stage races, leading to high UCI WorldTour ranking placements[7] at the end of each season, are other reasons why he is seen as one of the most successful stage-racing riders of the recent era, and the best road cyclist in Colombian history.

[5] Born in Cómbita, a town near the capital of Boyacá, Tunja,[8] in Colombia, to a farming family,[1] Quintana comes from a humble background, but his family still saved up to buy Quintana a second-hand mountain bike to make the 16 km (9.9 mi) journey through the Eastern Ranges of the Andes to school[9] and to travel from village to village to sell fruit and vegetables.

[11] His parents' names are Luis Quintana and Eloisa Rojas, and he has four siblings: sisters Nelly and Lady, and brothers Willington and Dayer.

Later, he took a prestigious victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné, when he sparked a counter-attack after a select group of riders including leader Bradley Wiggins reached the last escapee of the day.

Quintana won the stage over Joaquim Rodríguez and Froome, moving securely into second place overall where he finished the Tour.

After the Tour, Quintana went on to win the Vuelta a Burgos, where he won stage 5 of the race after dropping Vincenzo Nibali on the final climb.

[18] His 2014 season started off with an early overall victory at the Tour de San Luis after winning the mountaintop finish of Stage 4.

Quintana placed second overall behind Alberto Contador at Tirreno–Adriatico in March,[19] and finished fifth in the Volta a Catalunya after getting sick between the races.

[21] In Stage 6, Quintana was caught up behind a huge crash as the peloton approached the finishing climb of Monte Cassino, which saw him sit 2 minutes and 8 seconds behind leader Michael Matthews.

[23] In Stage 16, he claimed the general classification leader's pink jersey in controversial circumstances as some of his top rivals had mistakenly thought that the descent of the Stelvio Pass was neutralised; riding through dense fog and low visibility, Quintana joined an attack with Pierre Rolland and Ryder Hesjedal, eventually winning the stage and gaining 4' 11" on Urán.

In the Vuelta a España, Quintana had the race lead coming in to stage ten's individual time trial.

[28] Quintana was originally scheduled to ride the Vuelta a Andalucía, but a crash at the Colombian National Road Race Championships caused his withdrawal.

[31] Quintana was selected by his team for two cobbled classics – E3 Harelbeke and Dwars door Vlaanderen – in order to prepare him for the cobblestones that had been scheduled to be part of the Tour de France.

On the second stage of the Tour de France, Quintana was caught out by a split in the peloton caused by high winds and lost a minute to Chris Froome and other favourites.

[34][35] On the penultimate stage, featuring the Alpe d'Huez climb, Quintana attacked Froome again, using his teammates Alejandro Valverde and Winner Anacona to prize out an advantage before going solo with 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) to go.

"[48] Quintana succeeded with this strategy and won the Vuelta a España ahead of Chris Froome with the Colombian Esteban Chaves finishing third.

At the Giro d'Italia, Quintana won Stage 9, the second mountain top finish stage of the race, arriving at the finish in Blockhaus 24 seconds ahead of Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) to take the overall race lead.

[54] Dumoulin won Stage 14, which featured a mountain top finish at Santuario di Oropa to extend his lead over Quintana by a further 14 seconds.

Dumoulin defended his lead until the stage 19 mountain finish in Piancavallo, where he crossed the line over a minute behind Quintana, who reclaimed the Maglia rosa.

To prepare for the cobblestone stage in the Tour, Quintana chose to ride Dwars door Vlaanderen, and finished in 60th position.

On stage 7 to Arosa, Quintana attacked with 30 kilometres (19 miles) to go, and managed to reach the breakaway, pass it, and also keep the peloton behind him to take his first win of the season.

At stage 1 of the Tour de France, Quintana already had issues as he punctured both tyres, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) from the finish line.

[62] Quintana looked strong at the start of the Vuelta a España, and proved to be the best general classification rider on stage 13 to La Camperona.

Quintana started his 2019 season in Argentina at the Vuelta a San Juan, where he finished 8th overall, with his usual domestique Winner Anacona taking the overall win.

Quintana was with the front group on the final climb on stage 6 to Alto de Palmas, before he was pushed off his bike after interference with a spectator.

Quintana bridged the gap to the leaders before sprinting past Iván Sosa and Miguel Ángel López inside the final kilometre.

He rode at the front of the race for almost 25 kilometres (16 miles) before eventual stage winner Ion Izagirre attacked and got away.

On 16 September, while the race was ongoing, his hotel room and those of his brother Dayer and Anacona, were searched by French police with the riders also questioned.

[63] Two people, not employed by the team, but instead part of the personal entourage of riders understood to be Quintana and his two teammates, were put into custody.

Source:[85] In 2013 and 2014, Quintana was named as the Colombian athlete of the year (Spanish: Deportista del Año colombiano).