Chapter 284 - 166: Still Pedaling Seated on a 19% Climb? Another Pogačar?

Aldag was in the middle of arranging the roster for the Ardennes Triple Crown when he heard Huang Chong’s request to compete. He couldn’t help but be taken aback.

To be honest, he wasn’t opposed to Huang Chong wanting to race. On the contrary, he felt a little excited.

The reason was simple: the Bora Team’s roster this year was built entirely around the general classification in stage races. When it came to one-day races, they lacked a truly outstanding explosive rider.

It was an indisputable fact that their roster lacked classics specialists.

Other than Huang Chong’s two one-day race victories in the Milan-Turin Race and Crossing Flanders, they hadn’t won any others.

But the question remained: how was Huang Chong’s recovery? Was he truly, fully healed?

This was something Aldag had to be concerned about.

His deep-set eyes stared straight at Huang Chong, who had volunteered himself, and he asked directly,

"Are you sure your injury is completely healed?

It’s only been about half a month since your crash at Crossing Flanders. This isn’t a matter of pride.

Normally, even a minor fracture requires four to six weeks to heal, but you’ve only taken two, Huang!

Winning is important, I know. It is for you, and it is for the team. But I can’t put an injured rider who hasn’t fully recovered on the start line. Do you understand?"

Huang Chong replied immediately,

"I can’t feel any pain at all, Director!

German orthopedics is the best in the world, isn’t it?

If you’re really not comfortable with it, I can get an X-ray done here with the team.

We’ll go with whatever our attending physician, Charlie, says. How does that sound?"

Aldag was silent for a moment. He finally set down the half-finished roster in his hand and said in a low voice,

"In that case, let’s do it. I’ll go with you.

But let me be clear, Huang. If your injury isn’t one hundred percent healed, you’ll have to wait until May to make your comeback!

I hope you understand the team’s health protocols!"

Huang Chong was absolutely confident in his recovery. After all, the system’s miracle medicine had never let him down. All the abrasions on his skin had healed completely, without leaving a single scar.

He nodded and replied,

"Of course. The team’s decision is final."

Hearing this, Aldag breathed a sigh of relief.

Honestly, when a Professional Cyclist’s skill and reputation grow, it’s often not just their salary and commercial value that increase, but also their temper.

As someone who had been deeply entrenched in the world of professional racing for years, he’d seen far too many star riders and team leaders who liked to run a one-man show.

And to guarantee results, the team often had no choice but to coddle these difficult personalities like their own children for the duration of their contracts.

Since entering the World Tour, Huang Chong had claimed one victory after another, and his fame had naturally skyrocketed.

Especially after his comeback victory at Crossing Flanders despite a crash, he was now regarded as a rising superstar among the World Tour Teams and was the undisputed frontrunner for this year’s hottest rookie.

Online, droves of Bora fans were already comparing him to the likes of Pogačar and Evenepoel, buzzing with excitement about his future.

Aldag knew full well that once the UCI transfer window officially opened on August 1st, Huang Chong—who was currently on just a one-year rookie contract—would see his salary skyrocket. Moreover, the Bora Team would undoubtedly be flooded with offers from other teams trying to poach him.

Some teams might even be willing to pay his buyout clause to snatch him from the Bora Team before the season even ended.

But thankfully, while Huang Chong was as ferocious as a wolf on the race course—if Aldag had been Jorgenson during Crossing Flanders, for example, the sight of a blood-soaked Huang Chong would have probably left him with lasting psychological trauma—

once the race was over and he returned to the team, he became incredibly polite and humble.

He never complained about the team’s plans and was always courteous when interacting with the staff.

Furthermore, during his recovery, even with his right hand out of commission, he still completed one hundred percent of his daily training regimen.

And most commendably, in order to better communicate with the team, Huang Chong had been diligently studying German. He could now hold a normal conversation with them.

Since both Aldag and Denke were Germans, a foreign rider who was willing to spend so much time learning their native language outside of racing naturally scored major points with them.

If nothing else, Huang Chong’s willingness to learn German, in Aldag’s eyes, at least proved he wasn’t averse to Germany or the Bora Team. ’Could he even be planning to build a long-term career in Germany?’

Of course, Huang Chong, who was on his way to the team lab with Aldag to have his right arm examined, had no idea what the director was thinking. If he did, he would have burst out laughing internally.

It was true he was learning German, but what no one knew—not even Chen Junyi—was that ever since he’d acquired the system’s language-learning package, he had spent the last few months not only learning English, German, and Italian, but also Flemish, French, Spanish, Slovenian, and more. He’d learned them all.

As for his willingness to build a long-term career in Germany with Bora, well, that would depend on whether the team was prepared to offer him a contract that matched his worth during the transfer window.