Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Chapter 106: Chapter 94: Surging Uphill Attacks, Another Solo Victory

Huang Chong’s standing attack was fierce and sudden.

In his first few pedal strokes out of the saddle, his peak power output spiked to over 1100 watts.

Among his fellow GC Cyclists, this was a nearly unrivaled level of power.

And indeed, among the nation’s Professional Cyclists, it was truly difficult for any non-sprinter to compare with his current explosive power.

What’s more, none of them had anticipated him launching an attack so early on this climb.

As a result, by the time the other cyclists reacted, he had already shot six or seven meters ahead on the climb.

"Fuck, this kid’s not playing by the book again, attacking early!!"

"Quick, we have to catch him! Once he gets a gap, we’ll never be able to bring him back!"

At this moment, there were two cyclists from the Longjiang Team in the breakaway group.

They had all witnessed Huang Chong’s explosive power and solo breakaway ability before.

They had no desire to repeat the painful lesson they’d learned at last year’s championships.

So, in the next instant, they attacked out of the saddle without the slightest hesitation, abandoning any thought of controlling the pace to conserve energy.

Once the Longjiang Team cyclists gave chase, the other five riders couldn’t just stand by and watch the three of them get away, so they immediately got out of their saddles to pursue.

A 5% gradient, only a few hundred meters long, wasn’t a major challenge for cyclists of their caliber.

Even though they couldn’t catch Huang Chong on the ascent, they used their numbers to draft off each other on the high-speed descent that followed, and they quickly reeled in the would-be escapee.

This made them all let out a huge sigh of relief.

’Thank goodness we reacted quickly enough and worked together to chase him down!!’

’Otherwise, that kid would have gotten away with a solo break again—’

However, what they didn’t know was that this entire exchange of attacks had been observed with perfect clarity by Coach Han, who was following closely behind them. He had used his connections to get a seat in the referee’s car for the race.

In a road race with multiple climbs, it was inevitable that there would be wave after wave of attacks among the riders.

Every rider hoped to drop their rivals long before the finish and secure a solo victory.

It was, in fact, the most surefire way to win.

Coach Han knew this well. This wasn’t like a criterium, where you could assume no major gaps would form on the flats and just wait at the finish line for the final sprint.

The real drama of a road race happened on the difficult climbs, one after another.

The riders attack, counter-attack, and wear each other down—

It was just a matter of who could hold on to the very end!

And difficult climbs were where the true differences in strength between GC Cyclists were revealed.

That was why he’d used his position to get a seat in the referees’ follow car.

During the race, only the referees’ cars were allowed on the course, making it possible to observe the riders’ every move up close.

Unfortunately, although Huang Chong’s attack was sudden and his initial acceleration was fierce, the climb itself was too short and not steep enough, so he ultimately failed to make a solo break.

But this did not surprise Coach Han.

If he could drop all these other riders on a climb like this, then their reputations as top-tier cyclists would be completely undeserved.

’However, since Huang Chong was the one to initiate, would he really stop attacking just because his first attempt was neutralized?’

Soon, after a brief descent, the second-to-last climb came into view: a long, gentle drag over 600 meters long with a 4% gradient.

At the very front of the group, he didn’t hesitate for a second, once again rising from his saddle to attack.

’One attack wasn’t enough to drop you?’

’Then I’ll just hit you with another one!!’

After all, thanks to his superhuman cardio-pulmonary stats, he had already recovered from the fatigue of his anaerobic sprint during the brief descent.

When the riders behind him saw him attack again, they had no choice but to follow!!

But even though this climb was gentler, their recovery was no match for Huang Chong’s after repeated anaerobic efforts.

As a result, after struggling to hang on for nearly four hundred meters, two of the seven chasers couldn’t hold the pace any longer and blew up, getting dropped.

The remaining five, their faces contorted in masks of pain, managed to hang on to Huang Chong’s wheel by pushing themselves to their absolute limits.

But they all knew. ’If this goddamn monster launches another long anaerobic sprint like that, it’s only a matter of time before our heart rates redline and we blow up.’

So all they could do was pray that he wouldn’t have the energy for another anaerobic burst on the final, daunting 7% climb.

Otherwise, all they could do was watch him ride away.

But would Huang Chong, who had already launched two consecutive attacks, really grant them their wish?

As he hit the final 7% climb, he unsurprisingly rose from his saddle once more.

He even used a flat section at the base to build momentum, instantly accelerating to over 30 km/h. His legs pumped like they were powered by motors, making the steep climb look like a flat road!

"Holy fuck, this kid is just... what kind of recovery is that!"

The two riders from the Longjiang Team had managed to hang on until the final climb. They were just about to get out of the saddle to give chase again when, not even fifty meters up the slope, they found their thighs had turned to stone.

If they tried to keep attacking, they’d probably have to get off and push their bikes the rest of the way up.

So, drawing on their wealth of race experience, they decisively abandoned the chase, offering only wry, helpless smiles.

They came to the profound realization that as long as Huang Chong was competing, the road race championship was something they could never hope to claim.

The gap in their anaerobic capabilities was simply too vast.

In contrast, the cyclist from Shandong, Liu Zhicheng, surprisingly still had the energy to pursue Huang Chong on the final climb.