Esteban Chaves to make Tour de France debut

2016 Il Lombardia winner and two-time Grand Tour podium-placer Esteban Chaves will make his debut at the Tour de France this July.

The confirmation comes as ORICA-SCOTT reveal their Grand Tour plans for 2017, which will also see Adam and Simon Yates start the Giro d’Italia for the first time, and the trio of young climbers to combine together for the final Tour of the year, the Vuelta a Espana.

Having made no secret of the team’s desire to push for high general classification results across all three Grand Tours, sport director Matt White sees 2017 as a vital year in the continued development of ORICA-SCOTT’s trio of young climbing stars.

“Despite having three quality young riders to develop programs for, we have come up with a plan that the boys, and the team, are very excited about,” White said.

“They have each pleasantly surprised us with their results over the last year, but we have a long term plan and we are not getting ahead of ourselves. Our priority is still to continue their development at a speed that suits them individually.”

White said Chaves, who had a breakthrough 2016 and started his 2017 season with a second place at the Tour Down Under, has earned his right to lead the team in the world’s biggest race.

“Esteban has proved that he is ready, and he deserves this opportunity,” White said. “I think it’s pretty unrealistic to expect anyone to win their first Tour de France but physically, Esteban has shown he can ride general classification at Grand Tours and he can handle the stress involved.”

The Yates brothers will make their debut earlier in the year at the Giro d’Italia but more importantly, according to White, they will greatly benefit from the step up in load, courtesy of two Grand Tour starts in 2017.

“The plan for the Giro d’Italia is to go with a two-pronged attack with the Yates brothers riding for the general classification,” White said. “It’s a very special edition of the Giro and maybe the toughest last week of a Grand Tour I have ever seen. The boys are up to the challange and it looks to be the best field ever assembled.”

“People on the outside might think it’s a bit strange that we are not sending a lad that finished fourth last year back to the Tour de France. But it’s simple, we want to give the guys a bigger foundation for the future because that’s where their biggest potential lies.

“Their results have been impressive but we aren’t going to see the very best of them for a few years yet. Instead, we decided we will do two Grand Tours with them. The physical maturity and Grand Tour experience will be of great benefit for them both in the years to come.”

The three riders will come together for the final Grand Tour of the year, the Vuelta a Espana, and if all goes to plan the team will once again support the Yates brothers for a result.

“We don’t know how Esteban will come out of the Tour,” White said. “He has done two Grand Tours in a year before but not back-to-back so we need to reassess after the Tour.”

“It will be the only Grand Tour this year that we will see them race all together and this is also an exciting prospect for us.”

Quotes – Esteban Chaves

“Sometimes I can’t believe this. It’s beautiful and for me just to be part of the start line is one victory.”

“It’s exciting to try for the first time to arrive to Paris with this team. It’s exciting and it’s one big dream.”

“When I was 12 or 13 years old, I was on the couch with my father watching the Tour de France and this was the first moment I dreamt of this, and now I will start.”

“Everyone says the Tour de France is a really different race, that it’s a lot of pressure and it’s super big, but I want to believe it is just one bicycle race and try to enjoy how much more is possible for me to achieve.”

“I think we chose this year the Tour de France because the time trials aren’t really long. It’s true, there’s not a lot of big mountain days but there is enough. The final climbs are hard and steep like the Vuelta a Espana so if I can find the performance from that race, it’s not bad for me.”

“The Giro and Vuelta is proof I can do really well and I can stay with the best riders in the world.”

Quotes – Simon Yates

“From a purely physical standpoint, I think this year can really benefit me for the future.”

“It’s a big load to do two Grand Tours, and ever since I have been a professional I have only done one Grand Tour per year. I really think it will help massively for the future as I progress as a rider.”

“It will be pretty awesome to experience the 100th edition (of the Giro d’Italia), I’m sure it is going to be something special and I think that’s one of the reasons so many big names are turning up. That will make it a harder challenge, but bring it on.”

“The Tour is the biggest race we race, but we are still young riders. It’s good to experience something else, I experienced the Vuelta last year and it was great, and I want to experience the whole calendar.”

“The team really understand us as riders. They understand that we are young, that it takes time to develop into GC riders and build up that endurance to last for three-weeks. Because of that, the results have been good, but there’s still not a lot of pressure to get results. They understand that we are young and that we want to do well. We don’t need motivation to go for big results and that goes a long way to preparing us as riders.”

Quotes – Adam Yates

“Two Grand Tours is something I have never done and it’s a new challenge. I have ridden the Tour (de France) now for the past couple of years and even my first year as a professional, I rode the Tour program without doing the Tour, so I think a change is good and a new challenge is good.”

“Whether we can get the same result and do the same performance across two Grand Tours in a year, that’s what we will find out but we are looking forward to that challenge.”

“Everyone always says when you start doing more volume, especially with two Grand Tours, you get a lot more endurance and fitness and it helps you build for the year after. By doing two (Grand Tours) this year, we can work again getting more experience and go into next year even stronger.”

“The 100th edition gives the Giro some big prestige this year. If we can get as close to the podium as possible, that is the aim. There is a lot of time trialling and a lot of big names but we are putting the work in, we are working hard and we will see how it goes.”