Chapter 325 - 174: Changing Past History, Starting the Lead-out for Big Brother in the Final 1 km (Part 3)

At the same time, they had to use the descent to close the gap on the five-man breakaway, which had pulled ahead by nearly four and a half minutes.

As a team favored to win the general classification, they couldn’t possibly let a breakaway get away on a summit finish stage like this, thereby causing Roglič to miss his chance at a stage victory.

With Denz controlling the pace, the peloton’s downhill speed far exceeded that of the breakaway riders. By the bottom of the slope at the 115 km mark, the gap between the main group and the breakaway had shrunk to only about three minutes.

On the long descent, they had clawed back a full minute and a half.

At this moment, besides the pace-setting Denz, there was only one Decathlon rider at the front of the peloton.

This guy wasn’t there to take a turn in the rotation; he’d been specifically placed at the front by his team to relay real-time data from the peloton to his teammate in the breakaway, Amiel.

Tactical coordination in professional teams is incredibly precise. It’s common for breakaway riders to work in concert with their teammates in the peloton to execute a strategy.

However, the next 27 kilometers, from the 115 km mark to the finish line at 142 km, would be entirely high-mountain climbing.

A mere three-minute lead was not a major challenge for the peloton to overcome.

As Denz’s turn at the front ended, a French rider from the FDJ Team took over the lead of the peloton, picking up the pace as they headed for the second Category 2 climb: the Cote de Saint-Georges-en-Couzan.

This kind of long, gradual, high-mountain climb wasn’t particularly steep. But with the pace deliberately increased to chase the breakaway, the bigger sprinters who had managed to hang on in the peloton until now began to fall behind one by one.

For example, Trek Team’s Pedersen in the Yellow Jersey; Decathlon’s Bennett, who was wearing the Dash King Green Jersey by default; the UAE Team’s flat-stage lead-out man, Politt; and even Froome—the former four-time Tour de France champion, now aging and riding for the Israel-Premier Tech Team—all began to get dropped during this acceleration.

For Huang Chong, who was positioned near the front of the peloton, a long climb of around 5.7% at an average speed of about 26 km/h was naturally no problem at all.

This climb would probably kill an ordinary person, but for the top Climbers of the World Tour, a gradient like this was something they could all handle with relative ease.

So, by the time the peloton finished the entire Cote de Saint-Georges-en-Couzan climb, the five-man breakaway, which had held a three-minute lead before the ascent, was now only 58 seconds ahead.

However, the race was far from over. There were still 18 kilometers to the finish.

The next 5 kilometers were on relatively flat roads, and the peloton managed to shave another 20 seconds off the breakaway’s lead.

As they reached the final Third Category Climb, Vlasov of the Bora Team shot to the front to lead the chase up the final 13-kilometer climb.

Soon after they passed the final Third Category Climb and officially began the decisive ascent of Lalogue Pass, four of the five breakaway riders had been caught.

The only rider still out in front was Amiel from the Decathlon Team.

Huang Chong, who was responsible for leading out Roglič, was not at all surprised by this outcome.

Amiel’s strength had been a cut above the other four breakaway riders from the start.

What surprised him, however, was that on the final 10 kilometers of the Lalogue Pass climb, the dense fog started to appear again. The riding conditions, which had been clear for the entire stage, worsened as they got closer to the summit.

Meanwhile, no matter how much Vlasov increased the pace—and even when Aldag sent Hindley up to take over the rotation with 5 km to go—Amiel, through sheer individual strength, consistently maintained a 30-second lead.

This started to make Huang Chong anxious.

’Damn it, what’s this guy on today?’

’He’s ridiculously strong—’

’Two of our team’s top domestiques have been taking turns pulling like maniacs for over ten kilometers, and they still haven’t closed this half-minute gap.’

’And we’re getting closer and closer to the finish.’

’The fog is getting thicker, too.’

’Even though we could see Amiel just up the road for most of the climb... if this keeps up, by the time we reach the final kilometer, the fog will be so thick we won’t be able to see ten meters in front of us.’

Huang Chong quickly got on the radio and asked Aldag:

"Director, are you sure Vlasov and Hindley’s current pace is okay?

We’re about to hit the 1-kilometer-to-go arch, and Amiel is still 25 seconds ahead. Should I go and close the gap?

The fog is really thick at this altitude.

I’m worried that if we lose sight of Amiel in this fog, it will affect our judgment!"

In truth, Huang Chong could have launched a solo attack himself at the 1-kilometer arch.

It was hard to say if he could have made the attack stick, but on a climb of less than 4%, he was absolutely capable of pushing 500 watts all the way to the finish line.

But that was the frustrating part of being a domestique. As long as Roglič’s condition was fine, he wasn’t the team’s core rider chasing the general classification; his job was to go all-out in the final stage to lead out his captain.

Hearing Huang Chong’s suggestion, Aldag asked directly:

"Huang, if you accelerate from the 1-kilometer mark, can you successfully pull Primož with you?"

Huang Chong was taken aback.

’Of course I can pull Brother Luo along,’ he thought. ’The question is, can the old veteran, who just recently returned to racing, keep up with me?’

He stated bluntly:

"I can do it!"

"Good. Get ready. I’ll tell Primož to get on your wheel and match your pace the second you reach the 1-kilometer arch!"