Chapter 299 - 168: From This Day Forward, Everyone Will See You in a New Light

He also understood now that there was a good reason these riders formed the core of top-tier teams and commanded such high salaries.

Admittedly, neither Sindel nor Vlasov were among the top contenders for a race like the Liège Race.

But their stability provided a solid foundation. For Huang Chong, this meant he could conserve as much energy as possible for the final stretch, which was already a huge advantage.

Soon after the leading group of contenders merged, the pack of over forty riders headed for the Rozier Pass.

This climb was the longest of the entire race, 4.4 km in length with a total elevation gain of 563 meters.

On paper, the climb didn’t seem too difficult. Aside from the first 500 meters, which hit a maximum gradient of 10%, the overall average was only 5.9%. But the riders had already covered 190 km over four hours and forty minutes. At this point in the race, even Huang Chong couldn’t judge the climb’s difficulty by the numbers alone.

His body may have been optimized by the system to its peak, but he was still flesh and blood. He was bound to feel tired.

He could clearly feel his own energy stores dwindling.

Finishing the race wouldn’t be a problem, but its difficulty was genuinely the highest he had ever faced in the World Tour.

"Huang, after the Rozier Pass, Vlasov won’t be able to help you anymore.

He’s just barely hanging on at the back of the group. On the next climb, the Côte du Desnié, you have to stay right on Sindel’s wheel.

This climb is going to be crucial!

I predict that once the leading group reaches the third-to-last climb of the race, the Côte de la Redoute—also known as Fortress Mountain—Pogačar will launch his final attack."

Hearing Aldag’s message over the radio, Huang Chong was stunned.

As the possessor of the Eye of God, it was no surprise that he knew where Pogačar would attack.

But he never expected that his own team director could also predict Pogačar’s point of attack so accurately.

He had to admit, the coaches of these top World Tour teams really knew their stuff.

In reality, Pogačar did attack on Fortress Mountain that year with about 35 km to go, dropping every other rider single-handedly to cruise to an easy victory.

However, before Fortress Mountain, the Desnié climb was the last chance to wear down and weed out the other team leaders.

This was a considerably difficult climb: 1.4 km long with an average gradient of 8.1% and a maximum of 10%.

The numbers showed it was a consistently steep climb.

As they officially started the short climb, the UAE Team switched their domestique at the front again, this time bringing Finn Fisher-Black forward.

This guy was known for his explosive pace-setting on short, steep climbs—the type to pull for one massive effort and then completely blow up and drop out.

So UAE sent him to the front on the Desnié climb not to drop the other team leaders, but to use his kamikaze-style pace-setting to drain the energy of the rest of the group one last time. The goal was to lay the final groundwork for Pogačar’s attack on Fortress Mountain.

And indeed, Black’s out-of-the-saddle effort was devastating. After all, the team had brought him to this race for this single climb.

Once he was done, he could clock out early. He couldn’t care less about blowing up.

But for the other team leaders, it was torture trying to keep up with his reckless, mad-dog attack, launched with no thought for self-preservation.

For example, Stephen Williams, the leader of the Israel-Premier Tech Team who had finished just ten meters behind Huang Chong at Flèche Wallonne, was instantly dropped to the back of the group as soon as the climb started.

This showed his true level.

At Flèche Wallonne, he could still contend for the podium. But here at the Liège Race, after 210 km of being worn down by the relentless pace of the top teams, he likely wouldn’t even crack the top twenty.

Sindel was still grimly holding his position in front of Huang Chong, refusing to get dropped on the climb.

But from his body language alone, it was clear that the brutal pace had pushed him to his absolute limit.

By the end of this climb, it was safe to say that nearly every team’s domestiques were completely spent.

UAE, however, had successfully achieved their tactical objective: delivering their undisputed leader to the foot of the Fortress Mountain climb.

The climb was picturesque, ascending an extremely steep slope covered in vibrant green grass.

Both sides of the road were packed with cycling fans from Belgium and other European nations who had come to watch.

In the Liège Race, any officially designated climb was typically flanked by spectators, but the fans on the Fortress Mountain climb were clearly different.

This was because it was the key climb that could decide the race’s final outcome.

After finishing his pull on the Desnié climb, UAE Team’s Black was immediately dropped. But they still had one last domestique skilled at leading the charge on short climbs: Hirschi.

As the Fortress Mountain climb began, he decisively took the lead and started to attack the incredibly difficult ascent.

Pogačar stuck firmly to his teammate’s wheel. Seeing this, Huang Chong made a snap decision, dropping Sindel who could no longer keep up, and pushed his way to the front of the group.

At that moment, with 35 km remaining to the finish, he too was without a single domestique.