A gutsy mid-climb attack by Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) on the Vuelta a Espana's stage 11 ascent of the Peña Cabarga finally failed to net the Colombian the stage win as he was reeled in by race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Chris Froome (Team Sky).
Chaves' advantage rose to 15 seconds at one point, and apart from Quintana and Froome he was the only top overall contender to make a serious move on the climb. But Chaves, fifth in last year's Vuelta and a double stage winner, gently brushed off suggestions that his double-digit lead might have been a good enough gap to hold on for the win.
"Today there were no big differences, 15 seconds, it wasn't a big gap, it's as far as that bus over there," Chaves said, pointing at the next team vehicle in the line in a grimy industrial estate that was waiting for its riders to descend from the nearby Peña Cabarga ascent and head off for the hotel.
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Chaves said that when Quintana passed him on the Peña Cabarga, "I didn't think much, all you feel is pain. You can only start thinking five or ten minutes after the line."
When Chaves finally crossed the line, he was eighth on the stage, 19 seconds back. Overall he remains in fourth, 2:34 down. His overall ambitions remain very much intact, but his ambition to take a stage win was palpable in his answers after Wednesday's defeat.
"If you finish seventh or eighth on GC it's good, but if you finish tenth and win a stage it's better. It's important to keep trying, keep believing as Mathew Hayman keeps telling me," Chaves said.
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