Arkea Samsic's Nairo Quintana will end his roller-coaster 2020 season and undergo surgery for a fractured patella in his left knee, which he fell on multiple times this year.

Quintana first injured his left knee in early July when he was hit by a car while training at his home in Colombia. After a short recovery, the 30-year-old resumed training and returned to Europe to participate in the Mont Ventoux-Denivelle Challenge, Tour de Ain, and Criterium du Dauphiné. However, he retired from the Dauphiné on the final stage with knee pain.

Quintana recovered again in time for the Tour de France, but a crash, especially on stage 13, hurt his knee and dropped him from fifth to ninth overall on stage 15 from Lyon to Grand Colombier.

Quintana finished the Tour in Paris in 17th place overall, but has not raced since, and on Wednesday it was confirmed that he has a fractured kneecap and will likely undergo surgery.

"I fractured the patella in my left knee. I may need surgery to get back to my best again next year," Quintana said in a video published on Twitter on Wednesday, according to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.

"It was a year to remember for many of us," Quintana said, perhaps due to his crashes and injuries, the global coronavirus outbreak, and the Tour de la Provence and Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var, and the final Paris-Nice stage wins and overall victory, and probably points to a strong start to the season before the competition was interrupted by the COVID-19 crisis.

"My knee injury continues," he said. Recovery has not been easy after the fall."

Quintana's Tour de France was further marred by a search of his hotel in Arkea-Samsic after stage 17 by the French Central Office for Environmental and Public Health Damage Control (OCLAESP).

The team doctor and Soignier were taken into custody but later released, and Nairo and his brother Deyer volunteered for questioning: "That day, the authorities entered my room and seized a vitamin supplement that may not be familiar to the French authorities but is perfectly legal. This is the main reason it took so long to reveal everything that happened."

"For the avoidance of doubt, I want to confirm that no doping substances were found."

"I never used doping substances and no illegal substances were found in the police investigation.