GROWING PAINS

Esteban Chaves takes a slow-burn approach to new races - it takes him several goes to assimilate information and acclimatise.

He failed to inish his irst WorldTour race, the 2012 Tirreno-Adriatico. He didn’t inish his irst Tour de l’Avenir, in 2010. He didn’t inish his irst Tour of Lombardy, in 2012, either. His irst grand tour, the 2014 Vuelta, saw him struggle in the inal week. His debut Giro, in 2015, saw him struggle at the end of the irst week. In his debut Tour he was a long way from his best, regularly dropping back alarmingly early on key climbs.

“Every time I come into a race for the irst time it’s a bit hard for me. I’m not that type of person who can go to the Tour de France for the irst time and make the podium,” he says.

“It looks like this is a part of my process. When I go to something new, something that puts a lot of stress on the body and on the mind, and is a shock, something doesn’t work very well.”

It was with that in mind that Chaves requested to race Paris- Nice rather than the usual pre- Giro stage race, Tirreno-Adriatico, this March. Being around France, in an ASO- organised race and rubbing shoulders with some big riders in the crosswinds trumped duelling the better stage racers – and Giro contenders - who went to Italy. Chaves is clearly targeting the Giro – and it will be his third start - but half an eye is still on the Tour. “Hopefully now I know the race and I hope I can do better in it, it’s part of my process and I can learn.”