Two years after his career was almost ended, Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) took the biggest victory of his career with an intelligent win on Caminito del Rey in the second stage of the Vuelta a España. Chaves also moved into the leader’s jersey, taking it from Peter Velits (BMC). Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) put in a great effort to finish second with Nicolas Roche (Sky) taking third.
The final climb was a relative step into the unknown as the peloton charged onto it with Tinkoff-Saxo at the helm. Chaves bridged across to a late attack that was initiated by Nairo Quintana (Movistar) with just three kilometres remaining. He looked in commanding form as he stormed past the trio and almost immediately put his fellow Colombian into serious trouble. Roche tried to attack but it was a last ditch effort from the Irishman who could only sit and watch as the Chaves and Dumoulin rode away in the final kilometre.
The constantly changing gradient made it difficult for a rider like Dumoulin to get into a steady rhythm. The big Dutchman, who is coming back from his Tour de France crash, put in a great effort to hold onto the Orica-GreenEdge rider. Dumoulin had a go into the final corner but he was no match for Chaves, who distanced him with one final dig. The victory was enough to put him into the red leader’s jersey with a five-second lead over Dumoulin after taking the bonus seconds into account.
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"I felt that this was my moment to do it for the team, I felt like I was in a good position and in the end I did it and I got this jersey," Chaves said after the stage, grinning from ear to ear. "We talked among ourselves and how to deal with everyone around us and the main thing to do was to attack these guys, so that’s what we did. Roche and Dumoulin were good company and we got there in the end.
"At this point I’ve just got to keep going and be happy about this day and think about it tomorrow. The team was incredible, my teammates did a good job."
It is only Chaves’ second season back after suffering a serious crash at the 2013 Trofeo Laigueglia that nearly ended his career.
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