Ten days into the Giro d`Italia, and Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) is slowly but surely making his way back to top condition, the Colombian says. But it is a long process, and even if so far Chaves feels he is progressing steadily, neither he nor his team have any intention of accelerating the process in the coming days. The Giro is the race where Chaves fell ill last year, and although he completed the race, albeit finishing the final stage in last place, he didn`t get back into competition until the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in February.ADVERTISEMENT Second in 2016, the Colombian`s Giro d`Italia bid last May alongside teammate Simon Yates worked out phenomenally well until Chaves was poleaxed by a combination of viral infections, including glandular fever, a sinus infection and allergies. He finished, but in 72nd place overall, and a shadow of his earlier Giro self. He then spent several months off the bike, fighting and identifying the illnesses and viruses before being cleared to resume training. Chaves is in a very different kind of race this May, flying below much of the media`s radar - not that he`s complaining. Now 28th overall at 6:20, Chaves had a good first week and rode a solid time trial in San Marino despite the rain, saying, `I was very cautious in the first part, losing quite a bit of time in the first three or four kilometres because there was a lot of paint on the roads, and with the rain it was very slippery. But then things picked up and I did better in the second half.
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