Rumour mills about riders being in top condition traditionally go into overdrive before the start of a Grand Tour, but when Esteban Chaves was asked on Thursday if it was true, as some were saying, that he is in form for this Vuelta a Espana as strong as when he finished third in the 2016, he fired back straight, with his typically friendly smile: `I hope so`. It looks increasingly evident that the Mitchelton-Scott leader`s tough second half of 2018 after falling ill in the Giro d`Italia, which saw his career put on hold for over six months, is now definitively behind him. Certainly, a stage win in the Italian Grand Tour`s third week this May strongly suggested the Colombian racer is moving back on track. So at the Vuelta, four months further on where - in the absence of defending champion Simon Yates and his brother Adam - he is sole leader for Mitchelton-Scott, is Chaves looking to step up his game even further, as the pre-race rumour mill insists he is capable of doing?ADVERTISEMENT `I hope so,` Chaves said in Thursday`s press conference with the other top Vuelta leaders. `Things were interrupted last year for reasons I couldn`t control. The most important thing is to go on living the dream.` `Just being here in the Vuelta a Espaņa press conference with all the big names is something very special. You have to enjoy that.` Rather than picking out one key rival in the upcoming Vuelta, Chaves reasoned `there are quite a few. Obviously, [Primoz] Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) is in good shape, the time trial suits him well and his team is, I think, the strongest of all of them. But the Vuelta always produces surprises, it`s what I like about this race.`
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