From Protagonist to Participant
One of the brightest young climbers in the sport, not too long ago, is nearing the end of the line
When this photo was taken, the guy in white—27-year-old Esteban Chaves—was one of the hottest riders in cycling. Just as Colombia was truly coming into its own as a powerhouse cycling nation, it was Chaves—and not his better-decorated countryman Nairo Quintana—who was arguably his country’s hottest climber and GC contender.
See those two guys in red in the background? That’s Chris Froome and Alberto Contador, both seven-time grand tour GC winners and two of the seven riders to have won all three of the sport’s biggest stage races. Those three would finish in a group on Stage 5 of the 2017 Vuelta, along with Mike Woods,1 and end the day with Froome in the race lead and Chaves in the white jersey, in third place, 11 seconds behind on GC.