Free Web NovelChapter 154: Chapter 116: Becoming a Power Monster, Crushing Even on the Flats
"You’re something else. You knew the race was on August 13th, so why didn’t you come down a couple of days early to readjust to the oxygen-rich environment?"
Huang Chong, however, felt no discomfort at all. After being optimized by the system, his body could fully adapt to the varying oxygen levels at different altitudes, so he felt perfectly normal anywhere. He replied:
"Don’t worry, I’m fine. A good night’s sleep is all I need to adjust!"
After Huang Chong finished chatting with Brother Xiaoma, Coach Li, who had just eaten dinner, came over to greet him. Seeing how hard Huang Chong had trained on the plateau—how the intense UV radiation had left him looking much more weathered—the coach was filled with deep admiration.
’If a cyclist like this doesn’t succeed, who will?’
Then, he began to lay out the tactics for the team.
The Tianjin Tuanbo Lake Station was a pure flat-road stage, so there was no question of Huang Chong competing for the overall standings.
So he was assigned the role of a domestique, tasked with pacing his teammates, the foreign rider Maris, Hou Dongyi, and Brother Xiaoma.
Indeed, having the overall leader in the Red Jersey act as a pacer was a display of dominance and extravagance that likely only the Hengxiang Team could pull off.
This stage was 182.2 km long. The route consisted of 4 laps around Tuanbo Lake, with each lap being 45.55 km.
Flat circuit races were just that simple and brutal, purely a contest of attrition between riders and their final sprinting power.
When the race started, Huang Chong felt no pressure or burden whatsoever. Since it was a one-day race, he could go back to the plateau to rest right after it was over. The race was under 200 km, and for someone who had already conquered all sorts of snowy mountains and high passes, this was nothing. He didn’t need to worry about protecting an overall lead, so he immediately led his teammates to the very front of the peloton and started setting a controlling pace.
The riders from the other Intercontinental Teams were left somewhat speechless, seeing the Red Jersey holder charge so aggressively from the very beginning.
But many of their teams had been at the Tour of Qinghai Lake and had seen with their own eyes how Huang Chong had wiped the floor with the European riders on the difficult climbs, so they had absolutely no doubts about his strength.
A guy who could win the Tour of Qinghai Lake was basically invincible on the domestic circuit.
If today had been a climbing stage instead of a flat one, they wouldn’t even have to factor in competing with Huang Chong for first place when planning their strategy. They would just have to focus on securing second.
It was a somewhat depressing thought, but that was the reality they faced.
Anyone who tried to stick with Huang Chong on a climb would inevitably blow up. He and the other domestic riders were simply not in the same league anymore.
However, just when most of the riders were breathing a sigh of relief that today’s pure flat stage gave them a chance to compete with Huang Chong head-on, he proceeded to crank his average power to 370W. As he led his teammates on a furious ride at an average speed of over 50 km/h, a third of the riders were already dropped after only the first lap.
By the time they completed the second lap at this pace, more than half of the field had been completely blown apart on the flat road.
"Damn it, what the hell was this kid doing up on the plateau? Eating beef and mutton every day and chugging fresh milk like water? How did his power jump another level in less than a month?"
"It’s downright terrifying!!"
"This guy is at the front of the peloton, pulling an average speed of 50+ km/h the whole time. Even for a flat stage, that’s just savage, isn’t it?"
"It’s like he doesn’t even see us as human—"
"He’s totally at the level of a World Tour Cyclist, isn’t he? He’s not even afraid of blowing up at this pace. Looks like his FTP Power is at least between 350–370W, otherwise he couldn’t hold this speed."
"An FTP Power of 370W? That’s insane! I’d be well into my anaerobic zone at that wattage!"
"Forget it, forget it. There’s no point in killing myself to keep up with this kid. I’ve got another race soon, and I can’t afford to blow up here. I’m done fighting for this stage—"
As Huang Chong led his teammates, cruising at a steady 50+ km/h, more and more riders at the back of the lead group began to drop off voluntarily, their minds filled with a mix of complaints and envy.
By the time the final lap arrived, only a few foreign riders and the very top domestic cyclists could still keep up. Any rider who was even slightly weaker had been dropped.
Ultimately, on a completely flat stage, by the final half of the last Lake Loop, the lead group that Huang Chong had been pulling the entire time was down to only about ten riders.
Even most of the riders from his own Hengxiang Team had failed to keep up with the brutal average speed Huang Chong was setting.
But what no one knew was that even when Huang Chong was riding at 370W, his true capabilities were far beyond that.
Thanks to the point rewards from the Tour of Qinghai Lake, which he had converted into Optimization Value, and his intense training on snowy mountain climbs on the plateau, his FTP had already reached 388W. His Power-to-Weight Ratio had hit an astonishing 5.96, a hair’s breadth from 6.0.
So, in reality, Huang Chong’s cruising speed today was only about 80% of his full capability.
Of course, to drop so many opponents on a flat stage, Huang Chong couldn’t have just maintained a steady, even pace the entire time.
On each lap, he repeatedly surged, increasing the average speed. He even led for a stretch at an anaerobic power of 400W, which is how he managed to drop more and more riders.
As the race neared its end with only about 5KM left, he glanced back at his teammates. He saw that only the foreign rider Maris and Hou Dongyi remained; he had dropped Brother Xiaoma long ago. He gave a signal to his two remaining teammates.
Seeing them both nod, he accelerated again, pushing the power to 385W and leading his teammates in a furious charge for the finish line.
The result was no surprise. Under such a ferocious lead-out from Huang Chong, the sprinters from the other teams couldn’t handle the attack and began to drop off one by one.
Maris and Hou Dongyi, on the other hand, had the distinct advantage of being his teammates. The team had taped notes to their handlebars beforehand, detailing the precise location of every single one of Huang Chong’s accelerations throughout the stage.
Each time, they took their supplements ahead of schedule, fully prepared for the coming acceleration. That was the only reason they had managed to hold on until the end.
Otherwise, under normal circumstances, they too would have been mercilessly blown apart long ago by Huang Chong’s surging pace.
As they approached the finish arch for the stage, only the three of them remained. Naturally, there was no need to sprint against each other.
They chose to ride no-handed, placing their arms on each other’s shoulders. In a relaxed, celebratory fashion, they rode abreast as they crossed the finish line together.
As for who was the champion, who was second, and who was third, nobody cared.
They were on the same team, after all. It didn’t matter which of them won.
But in the end, as captured by the finish line camera system, Huang Chong was the first to cross the line.
Because just before the white line, both Maris and Hou Dongyi simultaneously gave Huang Chong, who was sandwiched between them, a gentle push forward, causing his wheel to cross the finish line first by a negligible 2 cm.
In their eyes, today’s race was no different from Huang Chong winning with a solo breakaway.
He had been the one leading the pace for the entire race, yet the average speed at the finish was a staggering 52.3 KM/H, with a total time of only 3:28:08.
This was simply a power monster crushing the entire field, demonstrating a leading strength on par with a World Tour Cyclist that left everyone else in the dust. He had devoured the competition with raw power.
"Huang Chong, you’ve improved by leaps and bounds since the Asian Championships."
After the race, a team dinner, and securing another championship title, Huang Chong was heading to the airport to fly back to the plateau for more training.
Coach Li watched him as they parted ways, his face full of envy.
He had been quite strong in his youth—otherwise, he wouldn’t have been scouted by a top-tier team from the United States—but the gap between him and Huang Chong was still significant.
As for their career ceilings, there was simply no comparison.
Who knew how far Huang Chong would ultimately go!
He remarked with a sigh before Huang Chong left:
"I originally thought you’d be ganged up on and crushed by the riders from Kazakhstan at the Asian Games in early October. But now, it looks like you’re not without a chance to get your revenge, even if it’ll be incredibly difficult.
Once you’re back on the plateau, just focus on your training and prepare well for the Asian Games.
Don’t worry about the team’s races over here. I’ll be waiting to see you bring glory to our country with my own eyes!"
