Following Arkea Samsic's departure at the end of the season, announced on Friday, Nairo Quintana has been rumored to be moving to another French team on the World Tour.

Despite signing a three-year contract extension in August, the Colombian said in a social media post that his three years with the pro team would end this year.

However, the deal was not signed and appears to have been an agreement in principle.

In a short announcement on Saturday, the team said, "The Arkea Samsic team has confirmed that Nairo Quintana's contract with the team will not be renewed in 2023.

There were rumors that the non-renewal of his contract was related to the ongoing Tramadol case and his disqualification from the Tour de France, but the team made no mention of that.

On Sunday, the French newspaper L'Equipe (opens in new tab) reported on Quintana's relationship with the French WorldTour team next season.

The report cited "sources close to the Colombian" and noted that a French team had already offered him a contract.

Currently, French WorldTour teams include AG2R Citroen, Cofidis, and Groupama-FDJ, each of which boasts some space for next season. At the moment, no team is strongly interested in acquiring Quintana.

Quintana is awaiting the outcome of an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over his disqualification from the Tour de France. He subsequently missed the Vuelta a España after testing positive for tramadol in two stages of the race.

The 32-year-old, whose season ended last week at the UCI Road World Championships, will not race again in the colors of Arkea Samsic.

Quintana unexpectedly became a major player in the transfer market this winter, shocking a market that was drying up. Others, such as Mark Cavendish and Fernando Gaviria, have yet to decide on their futures.