Chapter 445: None of Them Are Getting Away Today

Chapter 445: Chapter 213: None of Them Are Getting Away Today

The conversation the two European Sports commentators were having was perfectly reasonable and well-founded.

For the final race day of the Vuelta a España’s second week, nearly every general classification team had laid out its tactics and strategy in advance.

For Huang Chong, despite his enormous lead in the general classification, the pressure was just as immense.

With every World Tour Team aiming to attack and dethrone him, he could clearly feel the pressure of being their sole target, even as they gathered under the starting arch.

These guys had been taking it easy for five straight days in the second week. It was obvious they were about to make their move.

However, as the top rider who had donned the Red Jersey on day one and never relinquished it, he certainly felt the pressure, but it also fueled his motivation.

They were hoping to dethrone him today. In turn, he was relishing the opportunity to crush their hopes once and for all.

“Huang, before the race begins, let me quickly go over our team’s strategy with you again.

The pace of today’s race will definitely be very fast, so be prepared for a war of attrition.

I’ll have the Core Deputy Commander handle any complex situations to prevent other teams from stretching you thin. I’ll also have our main deputies respond first to other teams’ attacks on the earlier climbs. This will ensure you can advance steadily within the main group and reduce unnecessary energy consumption.

For this stage, Lipowitz and Adrià will do whatever it takes to pace and protect you in the main group.

All you need to do is mark the other teams’ GC riders and save as much energy as you can for the final climb.”

While the Vuelta a España organizers were holding the final ribbon-cutting ceremony, Huang Chong, positioned in the Red Jersey grid at the very front of the pack, heard Aldag’s voice come over the radio.

He reached up, pressed his earpiece, and lowered his head slightly to get his mouth closer to the microphone before replying:

“Roger that. I’ll mark the other teams’ leaders the entire way. None of them are getting away today!”

Just as their brief communication ended, the clock struck 13:50, and the final race day of the second week finally began.

For the first 5 km, the lead commissaire’s car still led all the riders in a neutral procession.

Then, when the commissaire waved the flag to signal the official start of racing and the car pulled away, the entire peloton began to accelerate.

Although the stage’s total distance wasn’t long, its four climbs were very evenly distributed, spaced roughly 30 km apart. The entire route was a gradual incline, making it ideal for launching an attack right from the start.

But without a doubt, everyone knew today’s stage was for the GC contenders. So, when the race began, the riders who initiated the first breakaway weren’t from the teams that had been seeking publicity or stage wins in the previous days. Instead, they came from teams with high-ranking GC leaders.

However, the peloton’s pace today was completely different from the past five days.

The GC teams that hadn’t sent a rider into the initial breakaway were clearly unwilling to let other teams’ deputies escape easily, so they drove the pace of the peloton extremely high.

As a result, after the official start, the race continued up a gradual incline for seven or eight kilometers with constant attacks and counter-attacks, yet a breakaway group still hadn’t formed.

It wasn’t until nearly 10 km into the race, as the riders hit a short kicker, that six riders finally managed to break away from the peloton and form the first breakaway group.

They were Kasper Asgreen from the Quick Step Team.

Ruben Thompson from the FDJ Team.

Antonio Jesús Soto from the Kern Pharma Team.

Jonas Gregor from the Lotto Team.

Txomin Juaristi from the Euskaltel-Euskadi Team.

And Riley Sheen from the Israel-Premier Tech Team.

Of these teams, Landa of the Quick Step Team, David Gaudu of the FDJ Team, and George Bennett of the Israel-Premier Tech Team all held relatively high positions in the general classification standings as of the end of Stage 14, ranked fifth, ninth, and twelfth, respectively.

The time gaps between them and the riders ranked around them were very small, so it was no surprise that they would send deputies into the breakaway ahead of time. This would allow the deputies to act as relays for their leaders later in the race, adding to their tactical options.

However, the UAE Team was especially active today. They consistently sent riders to the front of the main group to control the pace, not allowing the six-man breakaway to build a significant lead, and instead holding the gap at around thirty seconds.

The strange part was, their desperate chase didn’t seem to be for their own leader, Adam Yates.

After Stage 9, Yates had used his superb climbing ability to fight his way back to fifth in the overall standings. However, he had crashed early in the season at the UAE Tour and only returned to racing just before the Tour de France. His race schedule had been too light, and as a result, his form at the Vuelta a España was simply mediocre.

By the end of the first five breakaway-focused stages of the second week, the standings for most other teams’ GC riders had remained largely unchanged.

Adam Yates, however, was the exception. He had given back much of the ground he’d fought so hard to regain, and had now slipped to tenth place in the overall standings.

Given his inconsistent form, the UAE Team had clearly decided that pinning their hopes on a podium finish at the Vuelta a España was no longer a reliable strategy. Instead, they had shifted their focus to pursuing the Polka Dot Jersey and stage victories.