While lots of other riders were losing time, their heads and perhaps a chance of victory at the Giro d'Italia, Esteban Chaves and his Orica-GreenEdge team continued to race with confidence and a smile.
After Alejandro Valverde cracked on the stage through the Dolomites on Saturday, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) a bad day in the 10.8km mountain time trial, losing 2:10 to race leader Steven Kruijswijk (Orica-GreenEdge) and 1:30 to Chaves. The Colombian managed to jump over Nibali in the overall classification and is now 2:12 down on Kruijswijk.
After his huge effort in the time trial, Orica-GreenEdge ensured that Chaves was given time to recover in the team's mini-van parked close to the finish. Other riders were mobbed by the many television crews, journalists and photographers but by the time the door opened, Chaves was smiling again and understandably happy with his ride against the clock.
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Directeur sportif Matt White joked post-stage that Chaves only stops smiling when he's asleep ,and he is certainly ever-optimistic and is understandingly enjoying this Giro d'Italia.
"I'm really tired. I think everyone is really, really tired too, but we're also really happy because as a team Orica-GreenEdge has some excellent results. I can only thank the team again. We tried to do the max and this is the result," Chaves said in English after an even happier exchange with the Colombian television crews that share his happy go lucky spirit.
"I suffered a lot today but we've worked hard for this. Now after three big mountain stages things are looking good for me, for the team and so we're very happy. This is the first time Orica-GreenEdge has really targeted a Grand Tour victory and so far thing are going really well. We did the maximum we could and this is the result. We'll keep our feet on the ground though and stay focused because we know it won't be easy."
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