Chapter 369 187: I Must Rely on My Own Efforts to Defend My Title on the Leaderboard

Steve's excited voice continued on the live broadcast, but at this moment, Huang Chong was so exhausted he could barely keep his bike steady.

Only he knew how he had managed to win this stage.

It was a victory born entirely from cheesy tactics, one he had painstakingly eked out.

If Vingegaard hadn't dragged him along in a frantic chase of Pogačar for the entire stretch after Mary Mountain—

Or if his team leader, Roglič, hadn't been holding things down from behind after Pertu Pass, forcing Vingegaard and Pogačar to burn themselves out leading the pace—

—he never would have had the chance to conserve that last bit of energy for the final 150-meter sprint.

And most importantly, the race committee responsible for designing the stage route had performed a stroke of genius at the 3km-to-go mark.

This devilishly clever terrain design gave Huang Chong a two-kilometer-long descent right before he completely fell apart, allowing him to catch his breath. This was the final piece of the puzzle that allowed him to clinch another victory.

In short, winning another stage in S11 was a case of the right time, the right place, and the right people. Every single factor for victory had fallen in his favor.

Otherwise, if it had come down to pure, raw strength, he estimated that just keeping up with the two "Mars People" until the finish line would have been his absolute limit.

He definitely wouldn't have had any extra energy in the final stretch to contest the finish-line sprint with those two monsters.

As for Pogačar only finishing third in the sprint, that was, of course, no true reflection of his actual strength.

Instead, it was because after a grueling 40-kilometer solo breakaway, his team had failed to get him supplies for the entire duration.

He had completely exhausted his energy reserves prematurely, which was why Huang Chong and Vingegaard were able to catch him and then overtake him on the gentle incline just before the finish.

...

"So strong!!! Huang Chong's riding in the last few dozen kilometers was a bit cagey, but as long as you win the stage, it's the most rational tactical choice!!"

"Well said! When he followed Vingegaard to catch Pogačar on Pertu Pass, the two 'Mars People' were still fighting for the Category 2 climb points at the summit arch. Huang Chong didn't even flinch. I thought he'd already bonked—"

"but it turns out he was saving what little energy he had left for the final sprint! You have to admit, that was an incredibly smart move!"

"Fucking awesome!! The two victories Huang Chong has in his first Tour de France have both come from beating the two 'Mars People' in a final sprint."

"If this keeps up, no one's going to dare go to the finish line with him in the upcoming mountain stages!"

"With the S11 victory, not only did he successfully defend the Yellow Jersey, but the next two days are flat stages. We can already start getting hyped for Stage 14!!!"

"I hope Brother Luo's crash 2km from the finish wasn't serious!! The Red Bull Bora Team has already lost their Core Deputy Commander, Vlasov. If they lose Brother Luo too, things are going to be way too hard for Huang Chong!!!"

...

After Huang Chong's trio crossed the line, the rider in the second group who finished fourth was, naturally, the Quick Step Team leader, Evenepoel—the one who has been wearing the White Jersey for best young rider in Huang Chong's stead.

In the U-turn two kilometers from the finish, Evenepoel took advantage of Roglič's crash, decisively accelerating away solo to ultimately cross the line 25 seconds behind Huang Chong's group.

As for Roglič, although he crossed the line with a real-time gap of 56 seconds to Huang Chong's group...

...because of the special time protection rule for crashes within the final 5km, his final finishing time was recorded as the same as Evenepoel's, who was in his original group. His deficit on the general classification was therefore only 25 seconds.

However, after this stage, Roglič's time gap in the general classification standings had undoubtedly widened. He was now more than two minutes behind Huang Chong.

Shortly after the top five riders in the general classification had all crossed the line, a small group of exactly five riders arrived at the finish.

They were Ciccone from the Trek Team;

Almeida and Adam Yates from the UAE Team;

Landa from the Quick Step Team;

And C. Rodríguez from the Ineos Grenadiers Team.

This meant that with these ten riders crossing the line first in the mountain stage, the general classification standings were immediately updated.

Ayuso, who had been ranked sixth overall after Stage 10, dropped 4 minutes and 39 seconds in this stage and had fallen to tenth place overall.

Meanwhile, Jorgenson, who was originally tenth overall, finished in the same group as Ayuso today, also losing 4 minutes and 39 seconds. He has now dropped to 12th overall, a staggering 8 minutes and 56 seconds behind the leader, Huang Chong.

In the end, after Stage 11, the new top ten in the general classification standings were as follows:

1. Huang Chong, 45:00:23

2. Pogačar, +0:11

3. Vingegaard, +0:44

4. Evenepoel, +1:05

5. Roglič, +2:13

6. Almeida, +4:20

7. C. Rodríguez, +4:40

8. Landa, +5:38

9. Adam Yates, +6:59

10. Ayuso, +7:09

...

With the first mountain stage of the second week concluded, the team most dissatisfied with the result was undoubtedly the UAE Team.

Before the race, they had been dead set on having Pogačar take the Yellow Jersey from Huang Chong in this stage.

But they hadn't expected that while Pogačar did indeed drop Huang Chong and Vingegaard on the Mary Mountain climb, and even extended his lead to 34 seconds on the descent—

—it all came undone because of their team's grave miscalculation with their leader's nutrition, which left him with no energy replenishment for the final three climbs.

In the end, the indomitable Vingegaard, with Huang Chong in tow, managed to catch him sooner than expected.