Chapter 456 - 216: A Leisurely Stroll to the Fifth Victory

"It wasn’t until Stage 19 that we truly got to see just how powerful the Red Bull Bora Team is when they completely unleash the strength of their domestiques.

Looking at it now, it’s clear the major media outlets were justified in naming Huang Chong the top favorite for the overall victory after seeing the start list for the Vuelta a Espa?a.

Not only is his individual ability exceptional—enough to seize victory on his own—but even if his performance had been merely average up to this point, with a domestique lineup like the Red Bull Bora Team’s to support him in the final stages, his chances of winning the overall title would still be significantly higher.

Just look at their performance on this steep climb of over 9%—it’s like they’re riding on flat ground.

As for the leaders of the other teams, while they can still hang on to the Red Bull Bora Team’s lead-out train for now, I don’t think a single one of them will be able to keep pace when Huang Chong gets into position and launches his real attack."

"That’s absolutely right.

We can see a hint of that in Huang Chong’s riding posture right now.

His teammates are at the front of the group, giving it their all and attacking out of the saddle, yet he’s remained in an incredibly stable, seated pedaling position.

The ability to maintain such stable, powerful core strength and power output for so long on a steep climb, making it look as effortless as a leisurely stroll, creates a stark contrast with the other riders. I’ve only ever seen that from Tadej.

If they keep riding at this pace, I expect Huang Chong will launch his attack with about 5 kilometers to go to the summit finish.

We all know he’s going to attack solo, but the real question is, how big of a gap will he have pulled on everyone else by the end?

That’s probably something only he knows—"

No sooner had Jimmy finished speaking than Aleotti, after pulling at the front for about a kilometer on the steep climb, finished his work with 6.4 kilometers remaining to the finish line.

He handed the responsibility over to his teammate, Martínez, who was right behind him.

Martínez’s performance throughout the entire Vuelta a Espa?a had been fairly average, but today, he was on another level.

After taking over at the front, he put down a massive seated effort. In just 400 meters of a suicidal, all-out pull, he blew the main contenders’ group, including O’Connor, to pieces.

Just like that, he and Vlasov, with Huang Chong in tow, had dropped the main group and quickly opened up a 15-second gap.

With just 5.5 kilometers to go, Martínez blew himself up and peeled off, while Vlasov took over, continuing to pace Huang Chong up the steep climb.

It wasn’t until the 5-kilometer mark that the last domestique for Red Bull Bora finally finished his work for the day.

Huang Chong gave a thumbs-up to Vlasov—whose soaring heart rate had him grimacing in pain—and then, holding nothing back, he immediately kicked it up by several dozen watts over his teammate’s pace and attacked solo for the summit finish.

After that, with every kilometer he rode, he managed to pull another half-minute or so on the group of main contenders behind him.

And he did it all without ever getting out of the saddle.

By the time he smoothly crossed the finish line in first place, he even had the luxury of slowing down. Starting from a hundred meters out, he smiled and reached out to high-five the fans who were waiting by the side of the finish arch, screaming wildly for him.

As he crossed under the finish arch, he also turned to the broadcast camera on the motorcycle that was dedicated to filming him and held up his right hand, all five fingers spread wide.

It was obvious: he was celebrating his fifth stage victory at the Tour of Spain.

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