Chapter 360 - 184: Battle for the Yellow Jersey, the First Week of Racing Ends

With every rider forced to go solo, losing a top spot in the general classification would be a devastating blow to the team.

After Stage 7 concluded, Stage 8 was another flat stage.

The riders would travel from Semur-en-Auxois to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, a total distance of 183.4 km.

However, this stage was different from the purely flat route of S6. It featured not only two Third Category Climbs but also three Fourth Category Climbs.

Moreover, the entire route was full of repetitive, short, rolling hills, though none were particularly difficult.

Of course, the sprinters had all taken it easy and rested during the Stage 7 ITT. No one would be foolish enough to waste energy on a meaningless time trial.

So, after their rest, this group could easily keep up with the peloton and stay with them to the finish, even on a rolling route like today’s.

In the end, Wanty cyclist Girmay—who had already taken a flat stage win and a second-place finish, earning him the Dash King Green Jersey—once again claimed victory in this stage.

Meanwhile, Alpecin’s Philipsen once again took second place.

But today, he didn’t swerve erratically before the finish line and trigger a penalty. It was a second-place finish earned through his own raw power.

As for general classification contenders like Huang Chong and Pogačar, the rankings remained unchanged. Huang Chong still led Pogačar by 5 seconds, continuing to hold the Yellow Jersey.

...

July 7th.

The final race day of the first week, Stage 9, officially began.

This stage, a first for the Tour de France, featured the most distinctive terrain of all 21 stages in this year’s race: a Strade Bianche-style stage.

For Huang Chong, winning this stage was out of the question.

So, his primary mission was still to defend the Yellow Jersey.

The good news was that the UAE Team’s top climbing domestiques were not particularly effective on gravel terrain, just like the riders of the Red Bull Bora Team.

Conversely, the Visma Team’s domestique lineup was full of Classics specialists, making this terrain perfect for them.

Of course, while the stage contained 14 gravel sections of varying difficulty, the sections that included climbs were all concentrated in the first half and middle of the course.

The final dozens of kilometers were completely flat, making it incredibly difficult for a general classification rider to try and win the stage.

This was especially true with riders like van der Poel and Van Aert present.

If the breakaway riders couldn’t make it to the end, even Pogačar and Huang Chong couldn’t win a flat sprint against Classics specialists from the main peloton.

The stage was 199 km long, with the start and finish lines in the exact same place: Troyes, France.

After leaving the start, the riders had to complete a massive loop before returning to the starting point.

The course included 14 gravel sections. The first, second, fourth, and fifth of these also featured climbs rated as Fourth Category.

As for the remaining 10 gravel sections, just like the rest of the course’s terrain, they were all on flat roads.

"Huang, Stage 9 is a purely defensive battle for us.

We don’t need to win this stage.

After all, our domestiques and our leader, Primož, aren’t skilled on this kind of terrain. You’re the only one with the profile of a one-day Classics rider.

So, after the race starts, you have to stick to UAE Team’s Tadej like glue.

You’ve trained on gravel roads, so you should know their main characteristic is that they make the rear wheel slip easily.

Therefore, do not, under any circumstances, get out of the saddle on the climbs! Otherwise, you will pay a heavy price!

If you can just survive this stage, you’ll carry the Yellow Jersey into the second week.

This will be incredibly important for the team’s media exposure.

I expect you to give it your all and defend against Tadej’s attacks."

As the race began, Aldag directly laid out the team’s objective for the day to Huang Chong.

’Honestly,’ he thought, ’defending the general classification lead all by myself, with my teammates unable to provide any help, is a bit of a tall order for me.’

It was only because the UAE Team’s domestiques were also unsuited for this stage; otherwise, he would have absolutely no confidence in defending the Yellow Jersey.

Today’s route was relatively flat. The four gravel sections with climbs constituted all of the race’s major difficulties.

They were located at the 51.5 km, 67.5 km, 108.5 km, and 123 km marks of the stage, respectively.

The first climb, Côte de Bergères, was 1.7 km long with an average gradient of 4.9%, but the maximum gradient hit a steep 9.8%.

The second climb, Côte de Baroville, was 2.8 km long with an average gradient of 4.3% and a maximum of 9.2%.

The third climb, Côte de Val Frion, was 2.2 km long with an average gradient of 4.9% and a maximum of 8.9%.

The final climb, Côte de Chacenay, was 3.0 km long with an average gradient of 4.2%. The steepest section was the 400 meters before the summit, which reached 6.9%.

After the Côte de Chacenay climb, the remaining 76 km to the finish consisted entirely of flat roads interspersed with gravel sections.

Due to the stage’s generally flat terrain, the peloton was clearly unwilling to let the breakaway group get too far ahead today.

This was especially true since the initial five-man breakaway included Derrick Gee of the Israel-Premier Tech Team and Powless of the EF Education Team.

Both riders had the strength to make a breakaway stick to the finish. If they were given too much of a lead, catching them would be difficult.

As the race reached the 163 km mark, just as the peloton was about to enter the first gravel climb, Côte de Bergères, van der Poel saw that the peloton was still not chasing the breakaway and decisively launched an attack.

The result was no surprise. With the number one Classics rider personally launching the chase, the five-man group that had broken away first was completely reeled in on the first gravel climb.