Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Chapter 115: Chapter 98: Securing the Overall Standing and Heading to the Asian Championships (Part 2)

Besides, on a course this long, his Dash King Green Jersey was bound to change hands.

After all, he couldn’t possibly participate in any attacks during the first two laps.

The event organizers had set up two intermediate sprint points specifically as a bonus for the sprinters, allowing them to compete for sprint points and prize money.

And that was exactly what happened. On April 28th, at 8:30 AM sharp, the race officially began. The first two laps went almost exactly as Huang Chong had predicted.

When Coach Li had laid out the strategy the day before, he had made it clear that for this stage, Huang Chong was forbidden from attacking early.

So for the first two laps, he stayed in the peloton, riding at an aerobic Zone 2 pace.

Of course, it wasn’t just him; the main riders from the other teams did the same.

Only Peng Yuantang, wearing the Polka Dot Jersey, participated in the sprint for the Category 2 climb point in order to defend his honorary jersey.

But as soon as he successfully crossed the Category 2 climb point, he immediately and voluntarily dropped back to the main group rather than continuing in a solo breakaway.

Regarding the race plan for the Luoning Station, Coach Li had designated Huang Chong as the absolute core of the team.

Aside from being allowed to contest the climb points based on the race situation, Peng Yuantang was to spend the rest of his time diligently serving as Huang Chong’s Core Deputy Commander.

This was especially true today, as Huang Chong was wearing the Red Jersey, symbolizing his first-place overall ranking, which made him incredibly conspicuous in the pack.

Nearly every cyclist who was a contender for the championship had their eyes fixed on him for the entire race.

If his own deputy commander didn’t protect him well, he could easily be targeted by rival tactics, causing him to lose his lead in the overall standings.

Time passed quickly.

More than three hours after the race started, they finally entered the third lap.

During the first 130 kilometers of riding, although several cyclists had attempted breakaways and even pulled out a one-minute gap, they were all eventually reeled in by the main group.

Additionally, teams like the Tianyoude Team and the local BDR-Blueprint Team had also taken turns setting the pace at the front of the main group, attempting to use their teamwork to drop riders from other teams, but they were unsuccessful.

It wasn’t until the race entered the final lap, with the arrival of the first Category 2 climb—an 8-kilometer ascent with an average gradient of 5.2%—that the main contenders for the day’s victory launched their first attacks.

Seeing the main riders from other teams attacking, Huang Chong naturally had to respond.

Led by Peng Yuantang, he broke away from the main group and matched his rivals’ pace.

However, the climbs in Luoning County, while both long, gentle ascents were classified as Category 2, weren’t very difficult. The gradient was too even, completely lacking any particularly extreme or steep sections.

Even for someone like Huang Chong, it was impossible to create a gap when the other teams’ main riders also had their core deputy commanders with them.

Most importantly, both of these Category 2 climbs were located in the first half of the circuit lap.

Even if he did manage to break away, the rest of the course was just a series of small, easy hills, and he would definitely be caught in the end.

Of course, there was an unspoken agreement among the GC Cyclists.

Knowing that the final dozens of kilometers to the finish were relatively flat, they weren’t about to do nothing on the final lap’s two Category 2 climbs and let the sprinters ride along with them to the finish line.

After all, for a GC Cyclist to compete against a sprinter in a final dash, it would be like an egg hitting a rock—they’d be crushed instantly.

Thus, as the main group reached the long, gentle climb, the main riders from all the major teams, accompanied by their climbing deputies, launched their attacks, instantly shattering the entire peloton.

The sprinters were dropped one after another.

The Hengxiang Team’s sprinters were no exception.

Facing the climbing attacks, they had no choice but to accept their fate.

As long as they could finish the race without being eliminated by the time cut set by the winner, they would consider their team’s objective met.

Both Huang Chong and Peng Yuantang were in good form.

Although today’s terrain wasn’t suitable for them to repeat their two-man breakaway tactic from the Jiyuan Station, they had no problem staying with the front group.

In fact, upon entering the final 10 kilometers of flat roads, Peng Yuantang, who was strong on the flats himself, led Huang Chong in several high-intensity accelerations, dropping quite a few riders in the process.

But no matter how much they increased the pace, this stage was ultimately going to be decided by a sprint.

It would just be a sprint among the GC Cyclists, not the pure sprinters.

Huang Chong fully enjoyed the treatment of a Core Commander today. He was drafting the entire race and never once took the lead to pull at the front.

Even so, after a long five-hour ride, he was nearing the point of exhaustion.

Moreover, as a rehearsal for the upcoming Asian Championships, he had deliberately refrained from using the system’s Energy Bars to recover his stamina.

He wanted to see how he would fare on such a long stage by relying solely on his own pacing and energy management.

The arch at the finish line grew closer and closer.

By the time he could see the arch with his own eyes, he was less than 300 meters from the finish.

At that moment, their group still had about eight riders, including Niu Yikui from Li Ning Star.

To Huang Chong’s surprise, among the eight was a cyclist from the Tianjin Team named Liao Shuai, who was competing on a wildcard entry.

Finally, they launched their sprint when they were 150 meters from the finish line.

Peng Yuantang put his head down and charged forward, leading out Huang Chong, who was locked firmly in his slipstream.

Viewed from a drone’s perspective, their out-of-the-saddle sprinting actually looked uncannily like a pack of terrifying, giant lizards charging at full speed.

But if you were standing on the side of the road near the finish line watching them sprint, their speed was a blur—gone in the blink of an eye, as swift as a fleeting shadow.

Especially Huang Chong. With about 50 meters to go, just as Peng Yuantang began to fade from exhaustion, Huang Chong shot out from directly behind him.

With his first few pedal strokes, he instantly unleashed a burst of power approaching 1200 watts, averaging nearly 64 km/h, and edged out Niu Yikui by half a wheel to once again claim first place for the stage.

He had pipped him at the line.

Although the last-second sprint victory only yielded the 4-second time bonus between first and second place, the overall general classification from the previous stage remained completely unchanged.

However, the difference in prize money between first and second place was enormous.

After all, first place was worth 50,000, while second was only 20,000.

As for Liao Shuai, who took third, he only received 10,000.

The remaining prize money was used to reward the cyclists who performed well at the two earlier climb points and the intermediate sprint points, as well as those who finished in the top ten for the stage.

After the race, seeing that Huang Chong could also win a championship with a sprint, the National Team’s head coach, Coach Han—who had traveled all the way from Mang City to Henan and had watched the last three stages in their entirety—finally felt completely assured about Huang Chong’s abilities.

’Even if he doesn’t win the upcoming Puyang Station, I have to give him a spot on my precious five-man final roster.’

’This young man’s skills are just too versatile.’

’For a race as important as the Asian Championships, if I don’t send him, who else is there?’

And the outcome was just as Coach Han had expected. As the final event in the trilogy of races held on the Central Plains, the Puyang Station was a completely flat course, despite its 212.4-kilometer length.

The entire route consisted of 12 laps around the Jinding River Wetland Park in Puyang County, without a single hill.

Facing this kind of stage, Huang Chong, not being a pure sprinter, could naturally do nothing.

Furthermore, having lost the championships for the previous two stages, Li Ning Star executed a perfect lead-out train for their foreign sprinter. In the end, their rider, SHNYRKO ALIAKSRI, won the stage championship.

Although Huang Chong didn’t participate in the sprint, he finished right behind the sprint group and wasn’t gapped, so he lost no time.

He remained first in the overall standings and kept his Red Jersey.

As for the cyclists who took second and third in the sprint, they were Hou Dongyi of the Hengxiang Team and Peng Yuantang.

It had to be said that as the races continued, Peng Yuantang’s form grew hotter and hotter, giving the feeling that he was just hitting his stride and reaching his peak.

However, for Huang Chong and Brother Xiaoma, after completing the Puyang Station race, their focus was no longer on their trade team.

The National Team had already sent people to summon them to the training base for a special camp.

And as June arrived, they—along with Niu Yikui, the Core Commander of Li Ning Star and the Longjiang Team; Xue Ming, the Core Commander of the Tianjin Team; Liu Jiankun, a rider from the Longjiang Team; and the competitors from the women’s division—boarded a plane and flew to the host location of this year’s Asian Road Cycling Championships:

Rayong Province, Thailand.