Chapter 343 - 179: Unlocking the Highest Competition Achievement Honor Badge and Becoming a High-level Professional Cyclist (Part 3)

However, Aldag had also made it clear to him before the race that if he had a personal opportunity to win, he was free to compete for the stage victory based on his condition on the day and make the choice that best served the team’s interests.

After all, the Tour de France is different from a week-long race. Focusing the goals of all eight team members solely on the overall Tour de France victory was something probably only the UAE team would do.

Even the Visma Team wouldn’t do that.

Because they had a Classics specialist like Van Aert, who was perfectly capable of competing for wins on hilly stages.

At the Tour de France, every stage victory is like winning one of the one-day Spring Classics.

Whoever wins brings immense exposure to their team.

It was a golden opportunity for self-promotion that no sponsor would want, or be willing, to miss.

...

June 29th. The weather was clear and the sun was shining brightly.

In the scorching 31°C summer heat, the S1 Stage of the Tour de France, Florence (Firenze) to Rimini (Rimini), was finally about to begin.

This stage was a hilly route, covering a total distance of 206 km with 3,821 meters of total elevation gain.

The Tour de France organizers had set up seven categorized climbs that awarded points on this stage, along with one intermediate sprint point (at the 86 km mark).

Three of them were Second Category Climbs, and four were Third Category Climbs.

This stage could be considered the most difficult opening stage in the history of the Tour de France.

The first climb was a Second Category Climb called Colle Tre Faggi, with its summit at the 49 km mark.

It was 12.6 km long, with an average gradient of 5.4% and a maximum gradient of up to 7.8%.

The second and third climbs were both Third Category Climbs: the Cote des Forche at 77.5 km and the Passo del Carnaio at 98 km.

The former was 2.5 km long, with an average gradient of 6.7% and a maximum gradient of 7.7%.

The latter was 10.1 km long, with an average gradient of 4.7% and a maximum gradient of 9.5%.

Following that were two consecutive Second Category Climbs at the 135.5 km and 157 km marks: the Cote de Barbotto and the Cote de San Leo.

The Cote de Barbotto climb was 5.9 km long, with an average gradient of 7.6% and a maximum of 9.8%, making it the most difficult climb of the S1 Stage.

The Cote de San Leo climb was 4.8 km long, with an average gradient of 7.7% and a maximum of 9.7%, second only to the previous one in difficulty.

After that, the riders would come to the final two Third Category Climbs at 167 km and 179.5 km: the Cote de Montemaggio and the Cote de San Marino.

The Cote de Montemaggio climb was 4.3 km long, with an average gradient of 6.6% and a maximum of 9.1%.

The Cote de San Marino climb was 7.1 km long, with an average gradient of 4.7% and a maximum of 5.7%.

Once past the Cote de San Marino climb, the riders would face no more climbing pressure.

Everyone could then enter a 10 km high-speed descent, followed by a final 16 km ride on a gentle urban downhill slope all the way to the finish line arch.

But without a doubt, both the density and difficulty of the climbs, as well as the 206 km distance, made this opening stage exceptionally hard.

In fact, in other races, this amount of climbing would qualify it as a mountain stage.

It was only because the highest point of the stage was 978 meters, just shy of a thousand, that it wasn’t classified as one.

After officially setting off from Florence with his team, Huang Chong followed the race official’s car in a ceremonial ride for a full 45 minutes.

It was the longest ceremonial ride he had ever experienced in his professional career.

This was because upon reaching the city center, all the teams had to stop to meet with legendary local Italian cyclists and some highly respected veteran road cyclists.

Unfortunately, although Huang Chong was a Professional Road Cyclist, he was completely ignorant of the long and distant history of road cycling in Europe.

He didn’t recognize a single one of the white-haired legendary figures before him.

And when the lead commissaire’s car had led all the riders past the ceremonial section to the white line marking kilometer zero of this year’s Tour de France, a long-unseen system notification suddenly appeared before Huang Chong’s eyes:

[Congratulations, Host, on participating in the highest-level professional road cycling event: the Tour de France. You have unlocked the Supreme Participation Achievement: Medal of Honor.]

[Reward Granted: All lowest stats +5 points, Special Recovery Energy Gel x2]

[Special Recovery Energy Gel: This gel is an enhanced recovery supplement. After consumption, it can help the Host instantly recover from up to one week’s worth of physical fatigue. Limited quantity, please use with caution.]

[Note: After increasing all lowest stats by 5 specialized optimization points, the Host has reached the level of a High-level Professional Cyclist. From this moment on, Basic Optimization Values can no longer increase your FTP Power at a 50:1 ratio. The ratio has been adjusted to 500 Basic Optimization Value points to increase the FTP Power Value by 1.]

...

Seeing this last notification, Huang Chong was so shocked he almost spat blood.

’This damn system changing the rules right before the Tour de France, isn’t this just purely messing with my head?’

’He had been so close to Pogačar’s level.’

’With this ratio change, the time it would take for him to catch up would be drastically extended.’

He had originally thought that even if he couldn’t win the general classification at the end of this Tour de France, he could at least place in the top few and match his rival’s power—

However, he had long anticipated that the system’s rules would change.

He just hadn’t expected the conversion ratio for Optimization Value to FTP Power to jump so drastically with each increase in his cyclist level; it was practically increasing by an order of magnitude.

’At this rate, if he were to advance from a High-level Professional Cyclist to some kind of "Cycling King," he’d probably need 5,000 UCI points to raise his FTP Power by a single point in the future.’

But regardless, even though the system’s rule change had greatly slowed his efficiency in raising his FTP Power, the 5-point boost to all his lowest stats was still a terrifyingly large improvement.

Huang Chong checked his personal data panel and saw that the numbers had undergone a massive change:

[Host: Huang Chong]

[Weight: 65 kg]

[FTP: 463W]

[Cadence: 93]

[Max Heart Rate: 214]

[Sprinting Burst: 91]

[Car Control Techniques: 90]

[Cornering Ability: 90]

[Terrain Prediction: 65]

[Mental Fortitude: 93]

[Basic Optimization Value: 15]

[Overall Evaluation: You have reached the level of a High-level Professional Cyclist. You are just a stone’s throw away from becoming a Cycling King. Keep up the good work!]

...