Chavez Takes Pink at the Giro d'Italia
27 May 2016
A Drama Well Prepared
The stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia was set to provoke another shake-up in the overall standings: with the Colle dell' Agnello (2744m. a. S.) en route from the start in Pinerolo to the mountain finish in Risoul, an unforgiving battle between the GC-contenders was expected.
Anything Can Happen
Before the start of the stage, Chavez was sitting in second place in the overall standings, 3 minutes behind race leader Steven Kruijswijk. What seemed to be a too big deficit to overcome all of a sudden became a realistic scenario when the pink jersey crashed in the early stages of the downhill from Colle dell’ Agnello. The group of the main GC contenders had already been reduced drastically after an attack of Chavez in the upper part of the Colle dell’ Agnello. After Krijswijks crash, it was down to Nibali and Chavez. During the flat sections towards the final climb to Risoul they received support from their teammates who originally belonged to the breakaway.
Everything Falls into Place
The team tactics of both Astana and ORICA-GreenEDGE proved to be spot on as their leaders had teammates with them who extended the gap to Krijswijk and Valverde (Movistar) who desperately tried to limit their losses. Once the lead group hit the final climb, Nibali and Chavez kept the pace high and continuously gained time on their major contenders in the overall classification. While Nibali took the stage win in Risoul, Chavez crossed the finish line 3 minutes 42 seconds in front of a pitiful Krijswijk to take the race lead.
It’s A Dream Come True for Those Who Believed
“It’s a dream,” said Chaves. “Absolutely incredible. The team were fantastic yet again today and I have to thank them and everyone at ORICA-GreenEDGE because this is for all of us.” Esteban Chavez is yet another rider of ORICA-GreenEDGE that makes it to the top of the sport after a conscious build-up over several years.
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