Chapter 311 - 171: I Will Attack Directly on Entering the Final 3km Steep Climb

"Looks like you were right. I really need to get into the team’s core lineup as soon as possible.

That’s the only way I can focus all my energy on the World Tour.

After all, I still haven’t participated in a single one of the seven major stage races on the World Tour!"

Chen Junyi hummed in agreement, but made sure to remind him,

"But for this Tour of Hungary, even though the field of competitors isn’t that strong, you’re still the betting companies’ top favorite for the overall win.

Still, you have to give it your all and keep that victory firmly in your grasp.

I have a feeling that after the Spring Classics, the team definitely wants to see more of your multi-day stage race abilities.

You know that after the Giro d’Italia and before the Tour de France begins, there are two top-tier stage races in between: the Tour de Dauphine, known as the ’Little Tour de France,’ and the Tour of Switzerland.

If Aldag really intends to send you to the Tour de France, then you have to be selected for the Tour de Dauphine roster and compete in it.

It’s traditionally the warm-up race that most of a team’s leaders participate in before the Tour de France. Our team’s Roglič will also be making his comeback in this race."

When Huang Chong heard this, the casual expression on his face instantly vanished, replaced by a serious one. He said,

"Yeah, I get it. I’ll give it my all in the Tour of Hungary and try to win with a big enough lead."

...

「May 8th. The Tour of Hungary officially began.」

Although the first two were flat stages, Huang Chong was still very diligent in completing the pre-race reconnaissance rides.

In professional road cycling, a rider’s familiarity with the route is paramount; there’s no room for carelessness.

This not only greatly reduces the risk of crashing but is also crucial for securing a victory.

Although the lineup for this race wasn’t particularly strong, there were still 20 teams and 120 riders participating.

Among them, besides the Bora Team, there were seven other World Tour Teams: Trek, Astana, UAE, DSM, Jieke, Bahrain, and the Ineos Grenadiers Team, making for a total of eight.

As for the remaining 12 teams, eight of them were Professional Teams: Lotto, Tudor, TDT, Corratec, Porti Kometa, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Balovas, and the Q36.5 Team.

And for the final four, one was the Hungarian National Team.

The remaining three were Intercontinental Teams participating on wild cards: the Slovenian Pierre Baguette Team, the Italian MBH Bank Team, and the local Hungarian Epronex Team.

It’s worth mentioning that on the Slovenian Pierre Baguette Team was Peter Sagan, the former star sprinter for the Bora Team. Now well past his prime, he was also participating in this Tour of Hungary.

After the S1 Stage began, the Bora Team was built around Huang Chong as its absolute leader. However, everyone knew this stage was designed for their flat-stage sprinter, Welsford.

But the climbing domestiques still protected Huang Chong closely, helping him conserve as much energy as possible.

For this race, the four domestiques sent by the Bora Team were Ben Zwiehoff, Alexander Hayek, Cesare Benedetti, and Emanuel Buchmann.

Among them, the two veteran German riders, Buchman and Zwiehoff, were perfectly capable of contending for the general classification in a race of this caliber if Huang Chong weren’t there.

But as the team’s season had progressed, the three of them—who had once been leaders with Huang Chong as their domestique during the UAE Tour—had now completely switched roles.

And given Huang Chong’s current upward momentum, his position as a leader on the team would only become more secure in the future. It was now impossible for them to ever reverse their roles again.

The result of the S1 Stage was also no surprise. Although the Bora Team didn’t even have a lead-out man for the flat stage, Welsford latched onto the back of the Astana Team’s train and, after launching a solo sprint for the finish, miraculously won, securing an opening victory for the team.

It had to be said that Cavendish, in his final season, was clearly showing his age and was too slow to get into race form.

However, on the second day of the race, Welsford was hit by a rider from another team 1km from the finish line. His bike suffered a mechanical failure, causing him to be dropped immediately, and he didn’t even participate in the sprint. In the end, Cavendish smoothly took the S2 stage victory.

Huang Chong made no moves in the first two stages. He just sat in the main peloton to conserve energy, waiting to cross the line with no time gap.

But on May 10th, after the third day of racing began, the stage for him finally arrived.

This stage started in the northern Hungarian city of Kazincbarcika and headed toward Kekes Peak, the highest summit near Gyöngyös City.

The stage was 182.7km long—not short, but the route was mostly flat, so cruising in the peloton required little effort.

There were two intermediate sprint points, at the 24.5km and 104.5km marks.

It also included two mountain climbs. One was a category-two climb, the Matrahaza, located at the 112.5km mark.

This short climb wasn’t very difficult overall. Although it was a high-mountain climb with a total ascent of 714 meters over 8.6km, the average gradient was only 4.7%, with a maximum of 5.5%.

A climb like this would pose no difficulty at all for a World Tour Cyclist.

The other climb, of course, was the ascent to Kekes Peak, which was also the finish line.

As the highest peak in Hungary, this climb had a total ascent of 989 meters over 12.1km, with an average gradient of 5.6%.

Looking at the average gradient alone, it didn’t seem too hard, but its defining feature was the final 3km, with gradients of 8.1%, 8.1%, and 8.0% respectively.

Gradients of over 8.0%, especially after the energy expended on the preceding 9.1km of continuous climbing, were not something that could be easily handled by anyone who wasn’t a true climbing specialist.