Chapter 363 - 185: The Second Week of the Tour de France Kicks Off

"You’re only five seconds ahead of Tadej right now. That’s a practically negligible lead."

"So, I expect you to hold on to that lead in the second week!"

Huang Chong was pretty stunned to hear the sports director’s words.

’To be honest,’ he thought, ’among all the World Tour Teams, Red Bull Bora Team is definitely one of the more aggressive ones.’

’As long as a rider on the team has the skill, they really give them a stage to perform. That must be the advantage of being a newly restructured powerhouse team.’

’The team is desperate for good results, so everyone has to push toward that goal.’

’They aren’t like some of the old powerhouse teams where politics, seniority, and the star riders’ contracts completely hamstring any newcomer.’

’No matter how talented you are, you have to follow the unwritten rules of European pro cycling and warm the bench for a season or two.’

"I understand. I’ll do my best to stick with Tadej and Jonas on the climbs!"

Huang Chong nodded, his reply concise.

Actually, after the first week of racing, he had a pretty good read on the abilities of the top five riders in the GC.

Of the so-called "Big Four" of road cycling, Pogačar and Vingegaard were undoubtedly the two with a distinct advantage on the climbs.

As for Evenepoel and Roglič, they were a tier below.

’And as for myself, strictly speaking, I’m somewhere in between them, ranking around third.’

’My instantaneous burst of power is, of course, the best of the five.’

’Even Pogačar couldn’t beat me in a final sprint.’

’But when it comes to sustained, high-intensity output on long mountain climbs, I probably can’t out-ride Vingegaard and Pogačar at my current level.’

’The climb up Galibier Mountain, for example, had been a probe from the UAE Team.’

’"Mars People" only launched his attack in the last 800 meters. The goal was obvious: to test the condition of the four of them.’

’Of course, if Pogačar had managed to break away and build a lead like he did in my previous life, that would have been ideal.’

’But the fact that he didn’t get away this time wasn’t a major issue.’

’If he had really wanted to create a gap on Galibier Mountain, he could have attacked much earlier.’

’If he had, the gap to me and Vingegaard at the summit would have been much more than just seven seconds.’

’Pogačar, as of this year, is in a sense stronger than Vingegaard.’

’Of course, this is definitely related to Vingegaard injuring his lung at Euskaltel and subsequently not racing to maintain his form right up until the Tour de France.’

’As someone living a second life, I even know that the Visma Team deliberately concealed Vingegaard’s injury during the Tour de France. The man is currently racing with a plate in his body.’

’To be able to ride at such an incredible level under these circumstances... In my heart, I deeply admire this Danish rider who is usually a man of few words, even somewhat introverted, and who stays away from social media.’

’Of course, admiration is one thing, but since he’s here to race and we’re on different teams, we’re inherently rivals.’

’I’ll definitely give it my all and be in top condition to fight him for the final spot in the overall standings.’

In the Tour de France, every single place higher in the final general classification affects not only a rider’s reputation and UCI points but is also directly tied to prize money.

Although the team takes most of the prize money, a portion is still distributed to the riders.

Huang Chong was on a rookie contract this year with a pitifully low salary, so this prize money from the race was definitely very important to him.

After a brief talk with Aldag, he dedicated himself to relaxing and resting.

Even though it was a rest day and the team didn’t restrict the riders’ freedom, Huang Chong thought about it and decided against contacting his best friends to meet up.

He’d known since before the Tour de France that his three friends—Dewey, Zhou Ming, and Li Zifan—were coming to France to watch the race and conduct market research.

So he had already made introductions for them with his team’s senior management.

After the Tour de France ended, they would most likely visit the German team’s headquarters together and negotiate with the Red Bull Bora Team about things like distribution rights within China.

But Huang Chong couldn’t interfere or get involved in these business matters.

His only role was to act as a middleman and make the introductions.

’What I don’t get, though,’ he wondered, ’is that Dewey and the others should have arrived in France long ago, according to their plan.’

’They kept saying they were coming to watch me race, and I’ve already completed five stages in France, but I’ve only seen other Chinese fans supporting me along the roads, not a sign of those three.’

Huang Chong wasn’t worried about them, though. It’s not like he thought they’d gotten into some kind of trouble.

’Zhou Ming and Li Zifan are both well-known "Brother Fus" from Hangcheng, and Dewey’s family is plenty wealthy too. Traveling abroad is child’s play for them; there’s no way they’d have gotten lost.’

’More likely, those playboys know how to live it up. They must have gone off to have some fun somewhere in France first!’

’That’s understandable. Other than Stages 2 and 4, the first week of the Tour de France was mostly flat sprint stages, which aren’t suitable for a GC rider like me to make a move.’

’It’s perfectly normal for a bunch of rich kids like them to go on a spending spree overseas first.’

...

「July 9th.」

The second week of racing officially began.

First up was Stage 10, a flat stage as expected.

The route ran from Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond.

The stage covered 211 kilometers, with an intermediate sprint point at the 57.5-kilometer mark.

There wasn’t a single categorized climb on the entire route; it was pancake flat in the truest sense.

But the weather wasn’t great. Though it didn’t rain during the race, the sky was overcast.

And with the rain from the previous night, the roads were a bit slick.

Flat stages often cross open plains where crosswinds can be severe, so it was still a challenging ride.

After Vlasov’s withdrawal due to injury, Huang Chong voluntarily took on the duty of a key domestique, pacing for Roglič just as he had in the Tour de Dauphine.

While there was no need to fight for a stage result on the flat, the team’s objective was for him to protect his leader.

Ultimately, with Huang Chong setting the pace, they completed the day’s race successfully, riding safely all the way to the finish line.

As for the final showdown at the finish, the Alpecin sprint train, refreshed after a rest day, finally delivered.

They took control at the front of the peloton in the final kilometers. The final lead-out was left to van der Poel, who put in a massive effort, leading their star sprinter Philipsen toward the finish line.

Philipsen, who had already finished second in several stages of this Tour de France, lived up to his team’s expectations. With the full support of his teammates, he blew away Green Jersey-wearer Girmay, crossing the line first by a margin of nearly two and a half bike lengths.

This stage showed that on a pure flat stage, as long as the Alpecin Team could execute a proper lead-out—unlike in the first week when they were constantly caught in chaotic battles within the peloton before the finish—their sprinting power was unquestionably the strongest of any team this year.

Huang Chong crossed the line with the main peloton, easily defending his Yellow Jersey.

’Honestly, it feels amazing to keep holding onto this prestigious jersey.’

’Never mind all the daily TV coverage and high exposure; there are also extra UCI points and prize money.’

’The last two don’t amount to much, but hey, it’s better than nothing!’

However, after Stage 10, a new question inevitably arose.

How much longer could he keep the yellow leader’s jersey with its slim five-second advantage?

Stage 11 was a mountain stage, the kind of terrain where Pogačar excelled.

Although there were no HC-level climbs, the categorized climbs were all clustered in the final part of the stage, starting around 40 kilometers from the finish.

It included both First and Second Category climbs.

As everyone knows, in the Tour de France, even First and Second Category climbs are incredibly difficult.

They are on a completely different level from the climb classifications in regular week-long stage races or one-day classics.

Could Huang Chong fend off Pogačar’s attacks again on Stage 11?

This was undoubtedly the biggest question on the minds of cycling fans around the world heading into the eleventh day of the Tour de France.

Beyond that, there were other questions. After losing dozens of seconds in the time trial, could Vingegaard close the gap on Pogačar in the first mountain stage of the second week?

After winning the Stage 7 individual time trial, could Evenepoel leverage that performance to overtake Vingegaard, who was only five seconds ahead of him?

And could Roglič, after this stage, claw back his deficit of over a minute in the general classification to less than a minute?

These, of course, were all key storylines to watch for in the upcoming stage.

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