Chapter 387 - 193: A Do-or-Die Attack, the Yellow Jersey Is the Best Backdrop

"A rider is attacking from the peloton on Bonneville Pass!!

Let me see who it is!!

He’s wearing a white jersey... It’s the Chinese rider from the Red Bull Bora Team: Huang Chong!!

Jesus!! What is he thinking, attacking at this point? Is he trying to fight for the climbing points on Bonneville Pass?"

The moment Huang Chong started rocking his bike out of the saddle, the race camera focused on him.

This immediately sent a jolt through Steve, who had been commentating calmly, and his voice instantly filled with excitement.

"No, this is impossible!!

According to the race data, Huang Chong has less than forty climbing points!!

The six breakaway riders ahead already passed through Bonneville Pass and snapped up most of the climbing points. For him to be the first from the peloton to cross the arch is completely meaningless!!

Could this be the Red Bull Bora Team’s tactic for today?

But looking at the situation, the GC contenders from the other teams clearly didn’t expect him to attack here. None of the leaders have reacted, including Tadej in the overall leader’s Yellow Jersey!!"

"This attack is so explosive!!

Look at his speed as he left the peloton! The power in his first few pedal strokes must be over a thousand watts!!

Jonas from the Visma Team and Remco from the Quick Step Team hesitated for a moment, but they’re finally giving chase!!!

But the gap in their short-burst explosive power compared to Huang Chong is just too obvious!!

In the blink of an eye, Huang Chong has already opened up a gap of nearly fifty meters on them, and he’s about to cross the summit arch of Bonneet Mountain!!

Let’s see if he’s going for the climbing points, or if he’s planning to continue the attack—"

And as Steve and Jimmy were commentating excitedly, the team managers for Visma and the Quick Step Team were undoubtedly stunned.

After all, this was a mountain stage. Having just completed two HC Level climbs, anyone would have burned a massive amount of energy, and every rider has a very limited anaerobic reserve on any given race day.

Huang Chong was attacking now, and while this two-hundred-meter anaerobic effort wasn’t huge, after the descent, there was still a 16.1 km, Level 1 long climb to get over before the finish line. What was the point?

You have to remember, the UAE Team’s lineup of domestiques still included four riders: Adam Yates, Almeida, Soler, and Sivakov.

With them leading the peloton in pursuit, how could he possibly get away on the final climb?

But even though they couldn’t guess Huang Chong’s true intentions, they still got on the radio and immediately ordered their own team leaders to chase Huang Chong, just to prevent any surprises.

They weren’t like the UAE Team, which had it all: a full complement of domestiques, a large enough lead in the general classification, and Pogačar’s climbing ability, which had been on full display in this Tour de France. They were confident they could let Huang Chong go on the descent and still maintain their lead by the end of the race—

However, even though Vingegaard and Evenepoel reacted quickly, their explosive power was far inferior to Huang Chong’s. Not to mention, they hadn’t predicted that Huang Chong would suddenly attack at this point. So by the time the two of them passed through the summit arch, Huang Chong had already dropped them by about forty or fifty meters and begun his solo descent down the deserted mountain road!

That’s just how the Tour de France is. The climbs are always swarmed with fans, but on the high-speed descents, spectators are few and far between.

This is because Professional Cyclists’ speeds on descents are simply too fast. And besides Pidcock in 2022, practically no rider ever attacks on a descent.

The reason was simple: attacking on a descent is just too dangerous.

A single serious mistake would be as terrifying as jumping out of a speeding car in a thin swimsuit and crashing, or simply plummeting off a cliff!!

But after dropping Vingegaard and Evenepoel, Huang Chong only glanced back at the two pursuers. Seeing no sign of Pogačar behind them, he immediately turned his eyes forward again, focusing all his attention on the winding mountain road ahead.

After that, he never looked back. He began to attack the descent with all his might, pushing to the absolute maximum speed he could manage!!

"75 KM/H—"

"80 KM/H—"

"90 KM/H—"

"99 KM/H—"

"106 KM/H—"

"Oh my god, what is Huang Chong doing?!"

"This is insane!! Look at his speed, his line, and his cornering speed right now! He’s pushing the limit on the exit of nearly every single turn!!!

I’m sure of it, if his rear wheel moves just 10cm further toward the outside shoulder, he’ll fly right off the cliff!!"

"Incredible!! Truly incredible!!

We all knew his descending ability was outstanding, but who would have thought that in all the previous stages, he was still holding back!!

Look at the time gap between him and Jonas and Remco behind him! In just a short 10km descent, he’s already pulled ahead by almost 30 seconds!!

I have to say, compared to Huang Chong, the fluidity of these two top-tier riders on the descent makes them look like rookies!!"

"Jimmy, you know, this Chinese rider’s attack right now can’t help but remind me of one person: Thomas Pidcock from the 2022 season!!

I never would have imagined we’d get to see such an extreme descending performance again on the roads of the Tour de France!!!"

"That’s right. But while the excitement of the race is certainly invigorating, I have to give a friendly reminder to all the fans watching at home: The bike handling skills of Professional Cyclists are the result of countless days and nights of grueling training and refinement. Please, do not try to imitate this at will!