Chapter 302 - 169: You Have to Do Everything You Can to Secure Our Home Victory

The reporter’s question was incredibly sharp. Pogačar could only smile and say,

"At the World Tour level, the riders’ abilities are all very close.

The one-day Classics are also characterized by their unpredictability. Anything from crashes during the race to external factors like weather changes can affect the final outcome.

No one can guarantee a win every time in the Classics, or maintain absolute dominance.

I don’t think it’s just Huang Chong. In reality, all the team leaders have a chance. It just comes down to who performs best on the day!"

Hearing this evasive answer, the reporter tactfully decided not to press the issue. After congratulating Pogačar one more time, he moved on to interview the second-place finisher, Huang Chong.

"Congratulations, Huang. To get second place in your first appearance at one of the five major Classics is an incredible result.

The moment you responded to Pogačar on Fortress Mountain was absolutely thrilling. I think it’s definitely one of the best highlights of the year.

My question is, are you satisfied with this result?"

’Satisfied? Satisfied, my ass—’

’At Flèche Wallonne, I was on top of the world, but today I’m Stephen Williams,’ Huang Chong grumbled internally.

But to be honest, he had anticipated this outcome before the race.

After all, his current power-to-weight ratio was still below 7.0. Even with a world-class cardiovascular system, trying to beat Pogačar was unrealistic.

In fact, taking second place and finishing ahead of van der Poel and the other top team leaders was the best he could have possibly done.

He let out a sigh-like breath and gave a faint smile.

"Of course. Second place is the closest you can get to being the champion, so to miss out on the top spot against the best rider is always going to be a little disappointing.

But rationally, I know I performed at my absolute best today.

So both I and the team are very satisfied with this result."

"That’s right. We all know that the Bora Team is focusing on the Grand Tours this year, but now you’re repeatedly achieving great results in the one-day Classics. This must be an unexpected and pleasant surprise for all the Bora fans.

When I interviewed Tadej just now, he also had high praise for your performance.

You know that when you reach this level, people will inevitably start comparing you to him.

Although you narrowly missed out on the win today, the final gap between you two was much smaller than anyone predicted.

Do you have the confidence to continue challenging Tadej in the future, and perhaps even beat him?"

Huang Chong had a prepared answer for this kind of shallow but provocative question and replied without hesitation,

"As a Professional Cyclist, fighting for victories for the team is just part of the job.

Take the attack on Fortress Mountain today. Carapaz from EF Education actually responded even before I did.

I don’t think there’s a single Professional Cyclist who wouldn’t want to win a top-tier race like Liège-Bastogne-Liège and have their name listed alongside the great champions who have won it before.

Tadej is undoubtedly the strongest rider of our generation. It’s not just me; all the top riders on every team are constantly training hard, trying to catch up to him and close the gap!"

The reporter saw that Huang Chong had also given an evasive answer, easily deflecting the tricky question. He could only smile, offer a few more words of congratulations, and then end the interview.

As the runner-up, Huang Chong stood on the podium for the first time alongside the man destined to be his greatest career rival: the greatest genius to ever come out of Slovenia, Tadej Pogačar.

True, the step he occupied on the podium was one level lower than his rival’s. But as he stared at the system reward notifications that appeared before his eyes after the race, he knew. He might lose for now, but he would never lose forever like other riders.

The second-place finish at the Liège Race alone was worth a whopping 620 UCI points. This directly boosted his FTP Power by another 12 points, from 436 watts to 448.

And with this new FTP Power, his power-to-weight ratio was just a hair’s breadth away from 7.0!

...

The conclusion of Liège-Bastogne-Liège also marked the end of the Spring Classics season.

Next up for all the World Tour Cyclists was the Grand Tour season.

However, before the first Grand Tour of the year, the Giro d’Italia on May 4th, there were still two races: the Tour de Romandie, a week-long World Tour stage race in Switzerland, and Eschborn-Frankfurt, a one-day race in Germany.

The Tour de Romandie was scheduled for April 23-28. Having just competed in the latter two races of the Ardennes Triple Crown, there was no way Huang Chong could participate; the intensity would be far too high.

Therefore, for this stage race, Aldag’s lineup consisted of six riders: Sindel, Vlasov, Lipowitz, Adrià, Anton Palzer, and Sergio Higuita.

The lineup showed just how seriously the team was taking this race. With the exception of Roglič, who had withdrawn injured from the Basque Country tour, and Huang Chong, whose focus was temporarily on the one-day Classics, nearly all of the team’s main riders were participating.