Free Web NovelChapter 137: Chapter 108: Summit Breakout, China’s Pidcock?
The race continued toward the Laji Mountain Pass.
As the altitude surpassed 3,000 meters, Huang Chong, who was drafting tightly behind the four foreign breakaway riders, immediately noticed pained expressions appearing on their faces.
For him, however, the current altitude had no effect.
After his cardiopulmonary strength was enhanced by drugs, he had completely adapted to the environmental changes between different altitudes.
After Huang Chong broke away, it was just as the riders from the other local Intercontinental Teams had thought: he was trying to sneak an advantage in the second stage and get a head start in the general classification.
After all, an opportunity like this might not come again for the rest of his professional career after today’s stage.
It would be foolish not to take such a gift.
However, at this point in the stage, 3,000 meters above sea level, they were still a long way from the Laji Mountain Pass.
They still had to ride at least another sixteen or seventeen kilometers.
He couldn’t possibly launch an attack so early, with such a long way to go.
Otherwise, if the main group reacted and organized a chase, he definitely wouldn’t be able to escape.
The support car with Chen Junyi inside was now following closely behind him.
In UCI Level professional races, teams are allowed to maintain radio communication with their riders.
Coach Han was also in the car, of course, but as the head coach, he needed to monitor the performance of the entire team.
So, most of the time, he let Chen Junyi be solely responsible for communicating with Huang Chong.
The two of them spent their days together, racing and training, and had long since developed a strong rapport.
Plus, with Chen Junyi having become a professional member of the team staff, having her handle communication with Huang Chong was the perfect arrangement.
"Huang Chong, your time gap to the main group is about 1 minute and 30 seconds."
"As long as you maintain your current rhythm and speed and stick close to the riders ahead, the main group won’t be able to catch you in the short term."
After receiving Chen Junyi’s reminder, Huang Chong’s mood didn’t change.
In fact, he only needed to look back to see the main group behind him.
That’s how the winding mountain roads are in high-altitude regions like Qinghai; not a single tree grows among the mountains.
Only in summer does a thin layer of meadow grass cover the vast landscape.
Looking down from a high vantage point, the view was completely unobstructed.
Combined with today’s calm, sunny weather, the visibility was extremely clear.
Huang Chong simply replied:
"Roger that!"
But soon, as the altitude continued to rise, one of the foreigners from the Dutch ABLOC CT Team was the first to crack, quickly getting dropped by the breakaway group.
Huang Chong wasn’t the least bit surprised as he passed him.
The guy had a very sturdy build; he was clearly a sprinter.
The reason he’d joined the breakaway was to support his teammate, Sinschek Nils, in scoring sprint points.
They had long since passed the official intermediate sprint points at the 20.5 km and 49.5 km marks.
His job was done, so it was no surprise he was falling back.
Immediately, Huang Chong took his spot and continued to draft behind the other three breakaway riders.
Since they didn’t know each other, the foreigners were either refreshingly direct or simply looked down on Huang Chong for being a Chinese rider. They didn’t let him take a turn at the front, content to let him just sit on their wheels and draft.
As a result, the weakest of the four, Iderbold Bold from the Mongolian National Team, couldn’t hold on any longer after taking his turns at the front. As the altitude hit 3,400 meters, he immediately began to fall behind.
But before he was dropped, he shot a strange look at Huang Chong, who had been drafting the entire time with an utterly harmless expression on his face.
’This kid’s condition is clearly the best among us.’
’Not only does he look completely calm and collected, but his entire riding posture, cadence, and efficiency are all exceptionally stable.’
’With that kind of strength, how can he shamelessly hide in the back the whole time?’
You could tell if a rider still had energy just by looking at how stable their core was while pedaling in the saddle.
In contrast to the other three, who were all grimacing in pain and struggling to breathe at this high altitude, their upper bodies swaying side to side with each pedal stroke—
—Huang Chong’s riding form was terrifyingly stable. It was obvious he was planning to make a move.
But Iderbold Bold didn’t know these two foreigners well. Since his own strength was failing and he had to drop back, he couldn’t be bothered to warn the European riders. He simply watched Huang Chong continue to lurk behind the duo as they disappeared up the climb.
In the end, only Huang Chong, Stensby Anton of the Norway Coop Repsol Team, and Sinschek Nils of the Dutch ABLOC CT Team remained in the lead group.
Huang Chong had a strong impression of Sinschek Nils.
The guy clearly had the attributes of a classics rider—he could score points in sprints and also break away in the mountain stages. He was a fairly well-rounded cyclist.
But even with only two opponents left in the breakaway, Huang Chong stuck to his pre-planned strategy and proactively asked Chen Junyi over the radio:
"How far am I from the Laji Mountain Pass now?"
Chen Junyi had accurate satellite positioning data and replied directly:
"About 5.4 km left!"
She paused for a moment before continuing:
"According to the real-time situation, two Climbers—one from the Colombia Medellin Team and one from the Italy Bardiani Team—have broken away from the main group and started to chase you."
"Right now, their time gap to you is about 1 minute and 12 seconds."
"But their average speed is much faster than your current group."
"If you don’t pick up the pace, you’ll most likely be caught before you reach the summit!"
