Chapter 386 - 192: Launching a Kilowatt Attack at 2800 Meters

Only Coach Li, who always took an unconventional approach, picked the breakaway rider, Simon Yates.

Meanwhile, Ji Cheng, who had actually participated in the Grand Tours, steadfastly chose Huang Chong.

Ji Cheng’s choice was completely understandable.

He, more than anyone, knew just how difficult it was for a Chinese rider to even make it to a Grand Tour.

Let alone someone like Huang Chong, who was winning top-tier races, securing Tour de France stage victories, and had a shot at the best young rider’s White Jersey and a spot on the final GC podium—all in his first year.

So his reasoning for his prediction was simple: he purely wanted to support Huang Chong, who was fighting so hard on the World Tour, and he wanted to see him take his third stage win of this Tour de France.

Whether it would actually happen didn’t matter to him; his choice was based purely on sentiment.

As Huang Chong rode in the peloton past the first HC Level climb, the Valles Pass, the breakaway group had already opened a gap of about four minutes.

They then descended, maintaining that time gap, and continued toward the second HC Level climb, which included the highest point of this year’s Tour de France: Bonneville Mountain Peak.

However, the second climb was clearly much more difficult than the first.

After eighteen days of racing, many riders’ stamina was so depleted they could no longer keep up with the fast pace.

Riders like Lascano of the Movistar Team, who had been in constant breakaways in previous stages; the Ineos Grenadiers Team’s former Core Commander, Thomas; and other Visma Team domestiques like Tranic and Bart Lemmen were all quickly dropped on this climb.

Huang Chong glanced at the peloton; it was visibly shrinking.

One by one, they also reeled in the riders who had formed the initial breakaway.

The wildest part was that the person setting the pace on this second HC Level climb was none other than Politt, the UAE Team’s flat-road Deputy Commander.

Since transferring from Bora to the UAE Team, the guy had become a completely different person.

With 9.2 km left to Bonneville Mountain Peak, he finally ran out of gas, pulling over and dropping from the peloton.

As Huang Chong, who was in the group, passed him, he saw the big-toothed rider take both hands off the handlebars mid-climb to make a heart shape for the live camera—

’I never would have guessed this German giant had such an adorable, gentle side.’

Then, two other UAE Team Deputy Commanders, Sivakov and Soler, moved to the front of the peloton, continuing to pull the large group toward the summit.

The closer they got to Bonneville Mountain Peak, the smaller the breakaway group became.

In the final stage of the climb, only seven riders remained:

Carapaz, Jorgenson, Kelderman, Simon Yates, Sindel, C. Rodríguez, and Cristian Rodríguez.

But despite the steep gradients in the final kilometers to Bonneville Mountain Peak, the seven riders extended their lead to nearly four and a half minutes.

Because Carapaz had been in so many previous breakaways, he had already accumulated a significant number of climbing points.

So, upon reaching the summit arch at Bonneville Mountain Peak, he decisively accelerated to the front of the small group, crossed the line first, and claimed a full 40 climbing points.

This vaulted him past Pogačar, who had 77 climbing points, bringing his own total to 90 and securing the Polka Dot Jersey.

Now with a 13-point advantage, if he could get into the breakaway again in tomorrow’s Stage 20 and pick up points at a few more First Category Climbs, he would completely lock up the Polka Dot Jersey for this year’s Tour de France.

After all, tomorrow was the final stage of this Tour de France with climbing points on offer.

However, as the breakaway riders passed the summit arch on Bonneville Mountain Peak one after another and began to regroup for the descent, the peloton, four and a half minutes behind, seemed a world away.

It was some time before Huang Chong and the others approached Bonneville Mountain Peak.

At an altitude of 2,800 meters, the view from the peak was immense.

Vast mountain ranges rolled into the distance, but their color palette was noticeably muted compared to the lower elevations.

At this altitude, the mountainsides were smooth and bare, as if hewn by a giant’s axe, with not a single tree in sight.

Only thin, fragmented patches of meadow green were scattered across the gray-brown peaks.

But the roadsides near any climb were always packed with hordes of fans who had come to watch.

They were all waiting for the riders to sprint before the summit, chasing climbing points.

But by the time the peloton reached the summit, the breakaway riders had already taken all the climbing points, so there was naturally no need to contest them.

But to everyone’s surprise, with only 200 meters to the summit arch, in a peloton where no one expected any action, a rider suddenly bolted from his position right behind the group of UAE Deputy Commanders, rocking his bike as he sprinted away.

Unleashing an explosive anaerobic burst of over a thousand watts, he instantly dropped every single GC contender in the sub-20-rider peloton, leaving them all behind!

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