Volta a Catalunya: Esteban Chaves takes his first win in two years on Port Ainé

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Esteban Chaves (Team BikeExchange) took a well-deserved win on stage 4 of the Volta a Catalunya on Thursday at Porte Aine.The Colombian attacked with just under 7km to on the final climb and despite a frantic chase from Ineos Grenadiers and race leader Adam Yates Chaves hung on to take his and his team’s first European win of the 2021 season.

Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) finished second on the stage with Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in third. The win marked Chaves’ first victory since he claimed a stage in the 2019 Giro d’Italia.

Adam Yates was fourth, and finished safely in the lead chase group. He was barely troubled on a day that saw a large group go clear on the first climb of the day. Ineos Grenadiers controlled most of the action and saw off a number of attacks on the last climb with Rohan Dennis, Richard Carapaz, and finally Richie Porte setting the pace on the last ascent. 

Only Chaves was able to create a sustainable gap with the pint-sized climber establishing a 26 second lead over the chase group. Enric Mas (Movistar) attempted to counter attack but was quickly reeled in by the ever-durable Carapaz and even though Chaves’ lead dropped to just 15 seconds inside the final 1,500 meters he had enough in the tank to hold off his pursuers.

Adam Yates remains in the overall lead after four stages, with his teammates Porte and Thomas second and third at 45 and 49 seconds, respectively.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is the first non Ineos rider in the general classification, fourth, at 1:03, while Chaves’ efforts have moved him up to sixth at 1:04 behind Yates.

"I'm really happy. I've never started a season feeling so good and winning like this. It's a WorldTour win for the team, and the first victory as BikeExchange, so I'm very happy. We've worked very hard. I've had some difficult months and years but the team has helped me a lot, as have my family, my girlfriend… It's a great satisfaction.

"I knew the roads. I live in Andorra and I knew it was a very hard stage. I wanted to try something. I had nothing to lose and a lot to gain. There was a headwind and that was a risk but in the end, things turned out very well. I had great legs today and felt good, and showed it with this great victory," Chaves said at the line.

"It gives me a lot of confidence and a lot of calm. I've worked really conscientiously and the work is starting to bear fruit. Winning is always beautiful and special, and I want to thank my team, who did an amazing job today."

How it unfolded

The second consecutive summit finish in the race saw a large and hugely talented break form on the first climb of the day, the Port de Toses. Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) was the first rider to successfully break free and it wasn't long before the breakaway specialist joined by Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-Nippo), Clement Champoussin (AG2R Citroën), Antwan Tolhoek and Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma), Sergio Samitier and Antonio Pedrero (Movistar Team), Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo), Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ), Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates), and Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert).

Kämna's presence was a glaring concern for the peloton with the Bora rider less than two minutes down on Yates in the GC but the breakaway pressed on with Bouwman first over the top of the first climb. The group were never really allowed to establish a threatening gap, however, with the advantage holding at around 2:30 at the top of the ascent.

That gap held all the way until the next climb with Kamna using the steep initial slopes to attack with just under 50km remaining. At that point, Kämna had 1:35 on his former breakaway companions, with the main field at 3:25 but Ineos soon intensified their chase with Castroviejo bringing to within 2:30 as the Bora rider began the final 20km of the stage.

Rohan Dennis took over the chase at the foot of the long final climb and the Australian reduced the gap to less than a minute with 16km to go and caught Kamna before Carapaz took over. The former Giro dropped his chain at one point but made a quick recovery take over on the front of the quickly diminishing peloton. Steven Kruijswijk broke free with 10km to go but the Dutchman was brought back within less than a kilometre before Chaves managed to snap the elastic and slowly build up his winning lead.