Chapter 384 192: Launching a Kilowatt Attack on a 2800-Meter High Mountain

July 19th.

The Tour de France, spanning over twenty days, was finally entering the three-part grand finale for the general classification contenders.

As the first of the three stages, Stage 19, the riders would journey from Embrun to Isola 2000.

The total distance was 144.6 km, with a staggering total elevation gain of 4,512 meters.

There was an intermediate sprint point located at the 21.5 km mark of the stage.

This was undoubtedly fantastic news for the flat-road sprinters.

They could break away early to grab sprint points before the difficult climbs began, which would significantly reduce the difficulty of their ride.

Otherwise, if the intermediate sprint was placed after an HC Level climb, it would have been a near-death experience for the sprinters.

After all, at this stage of the race, everyone's physical fatigue had basically reached its breaking point. Just finishing the remaining stages would require gritting their teeth and persevering.

The terrain of this stage, judging solely from the official elevation profile, was actually extremely similar to the previous Stage 14.

Both had only three categorized climbs, two of which were HC Level climbs.

The difference, however, was that the final climb of Stage 19 was not an HC Level climb, but a 16.1 km long First Category high-mountain climb.

This meant the other two HC Level climbs had to be tackled in the early and middle parts of the stage.

The summit of the first HC Level climb was at the 42.5 km mark, named the Col de Vars.

It was 18.9 km long, with an average gradient of 5.6% and a maximum gradient of 9.2%.

This meant that after passing the sprint point at 21.5 km, all the riders would begin a long period of climbing.

The summit of the second HC Level climb was located at the 87.5 km mark, named the Cime de la Bonette.

It was 23.1 km long, with an average gradient of 6.8% and a maximum gradient of 10%.

The final few kilometers approaching the summit were the steepest.

It's also worth noting that the Cime de la Bonette reaches an altitude of 2,860 meters, the highest point of this year's entire Tour de France.

Therefore, the first rider to cross this summit would not only receive double climbing points, a direct 40 points, but would also win the special "Summit Prize" award, which came with a €5,000 reward.

Of course, it was impossible for Huang Chong to win these rewards.

As a general classification contender, he couldn't join the breakaway group right from the start.

The other teams' GC contenders would certainly never let him get into a breakaway.

After passing the highest point of the Bonette, the 41 km stretch from the 87.5 km mark to the base of the final First Category climb at 128.5 km would be entirely a high-mountain descent.

As for the final First Category climb to Isola 2000, it wasn't as difficult.

It was 16.1 km long, with an average gradient of 7.1% and a maximum gradient of 10.1%.

The most difficult section was concentrated in the first 8 km.

The average gradient of the last 8 km would drop significantly, with the maximum gradient per kilometer not even exceeding 7%.

After the race began, a large number of sprinters, as usual, were the first to attack.

But by this point in the race, the number of riders had already dwindled from the initial 176, with a sharp drop of 35, leaving only 141 still competing.

Among them, the legendary veteran Cavendish, who had been at the bottom of the general classification from the very beginning, had managed to persevere until now, which was truly admirable.

However, the difficulty of Stage 19 was immense. Combined with the two preceding hilly stages where numerous breakaway riders had attacked relentlessly to fight for the stage win, most had already exhausted their energy. Thus, today, the number of breakaway riders dropped sharply after the intermediate sprint.

For example, the EF Education Team's breakaway specialist, Ben Healy, no longer had the strength to continue breaking away today.

Of course, although the breakaway group wasn't as large, the strength of certain riders within today's breakaway contenders made all the GC contenders feel a sense of apprehension and danger.

For instance, the Ineos Grenadiers Team's Core Commander, Carlos Rodríguez, chose to break away today.

In addition, there was the Jieke Team's leader, Simon Yates.

The EF Education Team's leader, Carapaz.

Visma Team's Jorgenson and Kelderman.

Arkéa Team's Cristian Rodríguez.

Quick Step Team's Van Wilder.

Decathlon Team's Prodhomme.

Team DSM's Oscar Onley, and so on.

"Huang, Visma Team and Quick Step Team have new tactical arrangements today.

They've sent their domestiques, Jorgenson, Kelderman, and Van Wilder, into the breakaway.

They're probably planning a satellite rider tactic for the final climb. They'll wait for the main group, then give their leaders an 'aerial refueling' on the ascent!"

As the main group officially began the Col de Vars climb, Aldag's voice immediately crackled over the radio, seeing that the breakaway composition was completely different from usual.

Huang Chong, who had already studied and analyzed this stage in detail with the team, heard the news and replied without a second thought:

"Have Sindel join the breakaway group as well, Director!"

Aldag was clearly taken aback by this, and he hesitated before replying:

"But he's the only climbing domestique we have left on the team.

If he goes in the breakaway, there will be no one to set the pace for you on the first two HC Level climbs!"

"Don't worry about me. Since the Visma Team dared to send their best-performing climbing domestique into the breakaway, it means their tactical focus is on the final climb.