Esteban Chavez has had more than his fair share of injuries and illnesses to overcome in his career, but EF Education-EasyPost racers are always looking decisively ahead for fresh success in 2024 after an uneven year of towel years.

Climbing up Port Aine on Wednesday might have allowed Chavez to become somewhat nostalgic. After all, the rise of the mammoth Pyrenees was where the Colombians won their last world tour at Volta a Catalunya in 2021, when he was the only rider who could strangle and break Ineos in the race.

Instead, Chavez told a small group of reporters at the start of Stage 4, he is keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the future. And if another team is currently climbing at Volta a Catalunya and dominating overall - although Visma-Leith-Bike has also hoover the top spot this season - the 34-year-old, too, has enough experience to know how to fight back.

"It's very hard, but try everything you have, put people on break, get the right people out there and use your resources," Chaves claimed.

"It's true that there aren't many chances, but if you just keep your arms up and sit there, your chances are even lower.

"So you have to adapt and try to keep fighting. The cyclist is a warrior and that means weighing our choices and taking different strategies to win."

As to when and where these alternative approaches take action, Chaves said it is not about over-planning things, but rather a matter of seizing opportunities when they are realized. He also stressed the importance of the role taken by the team's sprinter, Marijn van den Berg, and in fact, a few hours later, the Dutchman officially met Chaves' hopes and expectations by winning Stage 4.

"Let's see how we can handle the last three days after today with Marin, this Volta A Catalunya is a really tough race," Chaves commented. "So the important thing is to eat right, drink right, and prepare for whatever we can do."

As for Chavez himself, he said the season was going pretty well, but the main goal was to maintain some regularity in his performance that would allow him to launch for as much success as possible.

"I am relieved by myself," Chavez, the overall eight of the Colombian tour before crossing the Atlantic for the main part of the season, explained in Stage 4 start

"Volta is my first race in Europe and so spent 1 month longer than usual in Colombia. Every year it is getting tougher.

"But I am happy and the big goal is to fight for consistency. For the team, it is increasingly important and that is my dream this year.

Chavez still knows what his race program will be, beyond participating in the Ituria Basque Country with GP Miguel Indurán in early May 4.EF Education-EasyPost says that a significant number of riders had been ill or injured, he commented. After Italia, we will decide.

In the meantime, Chávez has done nothing but look back too much on his past successes in Port Aine-like climbs at Volta in Catalonia.

"It's nice to remember the stage when you go on the climb you're winning, it's something that's already happened, you turn the page and move up

"Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

"Yesterday [Wednesday] I suffered more, but I think I've all been in the same 20th place. And coming in other years, I'll do better again. In any case, the important thing is the reality here and now."