Chapter 321 173: Officially Making the Core Roster, Competing in the Little Tour de France

Because France is hosting the Olympics this year, the most important race for a professional Road Cyclist, the Tour de France, will be held a bit earlier than usual, starting on June 29th.

However, before that, from June 2nd to 9th, what is arguably the world's most important week-long stage race will be held first: the Tour de Dauphine.

This race is also held in France, and as a warm-up for the Tour de France, it's not only known as the "Little Tour de France" but also gathers all the key riders to compete.

This year, with Vingegaard out due to his injury at the Tour of the Basque Country and Pogačar having just raced the Giro d'Italia, two of the main attractions were missing.

But aside from those two, the leaders and support riders from other teams who are scheduled for the Tour de France would basically all be attending this race.

Aldag wasn't secretive about the team's roster for this race. The day after the celebration banquet, he directly laid out Bora's lineup, with Huang Chong's name listed prominently.

In truth, everyone on the team had already known this was coming. After all, ever since returning to Germany from Hungary, he had been training with Roglič and the others.

The final roster was as follows:

Leader: Roglič

Support Riders: Huang Chong, Vlasov, Sindel, Sobrero, Jungels, and Nico Denz.

With a lineup like this, just add one more person, and it's basically the Tour de France squad.

And it wasn't just the Bora Team with a top-tier lineup; the other teams' rosters were also incredibly stacked, essentially being their Tour de France squads.

For example, there were Kuss, Jorgenson, and Benut from the Visma Team; Ayuso, Sivakov, Politt, Soler, and Wellens from the UAE Team; Amiel and Sam Bennett from the Decathlon Team; Evenepoel, Landa, and Van Wilder from the Quick Step Team; Pedersen from the Trek Team; Buitrago from the Bahrain Team; David Gaudu; Rodríguez and Tarling from the Ineos Grenadiers Team; Powless and Simon Quinn from the EF Education Team; Mas from the Jieke Team; Oier Lascano from the Movistar Team; and Derek Gee from the Israel-Premier Tech Team, and so on.

In short, aside from the two "Mars People," practically all the other teams' top riders were in attendance.

The Bora Team's goal for this race was also very simple: help Roglič win the overall title at the Dauphine.

As for his biggest rivals for the title, they were undoubtedly Evenepoel of the Quick Step Team and Rodríguez of the Ineos Grenadiers Team.

Of course, Jorgenson of the Visma Team was also a contender. After all, he was in frighteningly good form this year and had even beaten Roglič at Paris-Nice.

"Huang, I won't repeat things you already know.

As a professional Road Cyclist, you certainly know the significance of the Dauphine.

It's the most important multi-day stage race outside of the three Grand Tours.

Pogačar and Vingegaard aren't competing this year, so we have to ensure Primož takes the overall title.

You have only one task: to be the leader's personal support rider.

Specifically, you need to lead out Primož before the finish line on the climbs of every stage, helping him contend for the victory.

As for controlling the peloton, I'll have Vlasov and Sindel take care of that. You'll be responsible for the final pull."

Aldag made a point of telling this to Huang Chong before the team departed for France.

Huang Chong, of course, understood. Being the personal support rider meant he was the team's number two, second only to Roglič.

Tasked with leading out on the final climbs, he would also have an opportunity to contend for a high rank in the general classification.

If Roglič wasn't in good form, he could absolutely take his own chance to attack.

This was far better than being a domestique tasked with controlling the peloton.

After all, the job of a domestique controlling the peloton was completely different. It was primarily about chasing breakaway riders, which meant spending long stretches of time at the very front of the main bunch, constantly expending energy.

Huang Chong was only human. With his current strength, he was certainly capable of controlling the pace if asked.

But riding at the very front of the group was equivalent to riding solo. The energy expenditure would be massive, making it practically impossible to then contend for the overall classification.

He said bluntly:

"Don't worry, Director. I'll do my job and give Primož the best possible chance to win the title!"

Aldag now had immense trust in Huang Chong. Hearing this, he patted Huang's shoulder in appreciation and said with a smile:

"Excellent. Keep up the good work, Huang.

The Dauphine's route is very tough.

The team will be taking note of your performance."

...

When Huang Chong returned home and finished packing, he made sure to review the race's stages and terrain profiles before his departure.

Although the Dauphine is a week-long race, it actually has eight race days, including one individual time trial (ITT).

This stage race had two rather unique characteristics.

First, each stage had only one intermediate sprint point.

Second, every stage featured numerous high-mountain climbs; there wasn't a single purely flat stage in the entire race.

Even the Stage 4 ITT wasn't purely flat, but was a course with a gradual uphill gradient.

This was why, even though the teams sent their GC leaders and support riders for the Tour de France, top sprinters like van der Poel, Philipsen, Milan, Gillme, and others simply didn't come to compete in the Tour de Dauphine.

This stage race was simply too brutal for them.

Even though two stages ended with a flat sprint finish, if they were to participate, they would have been completely dropped on the earlier mountain climbs, never making it to the end to contest the sprint.