Colombian Esteban Chaves crossed the finish line with the main GC riders in the 4th stage of the Giro d'Italia. For the Orica GreenEDGE leader, it's an encouraging performance. He stays confident for the following stages.

"Everyone thought there would be 50 or 60 riders in the final, but it was not like this. There were only the GC riders [in the group behind Italian stage winner Diego Ulissi]. It was like a GC stage. This is beautiful for the Giro. It is not predictable. It is beautiful", he told Velonews.

He finished ninth on the stage and moves into tenth position overall, 37 second behind pink jersey Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin).

"It was a really hard stage. In the book it looked really different. I don’t think many teams here at the Tour of Italy did a recon of the stage. It was a really steep climb — 18 percent they say in the book, but I think it is more, and it is long … for five or six minutes — for sprinters this is too much."