Chapter 491: The Last 2 Races of the Season

After the awards ceremony concluded and the national flag was raised to the melody of the anthem, Huang Chong, dressed in the Rainbow Jersey, returned backstage to continue with interviews from different media outlets from all over the world.

China’s mainstream state media had also arranged for many of their own reporters to be on-site in Zurich.

However, these types of post-race interviews are generally not very long.

This is because the cyclist’s own post-race rest and recovery must be taken into account.

So, the reporters’ questions, and his answers, were all very brief, standard fare.

As for longer interview shows, like the special sports features that the state broadcaster produced for world champions, Huang Chong knew those would only officially begin after he returned to China.

It was safe to say he didn’t even need to guess how packed his schedule would be back home once the European season officially ended for the year.

This was part of the burden one had to bear after becoming famous, or rather, after becoming a prominent public figure.

At least when it came to his personal schedule, he would no longer be his own master for a very long time.

Perhaps only after he officially retired would the ordinary, peaceful, and simple days he once knew gradually return.

After finishing all his interviews, Huang Chong’s first stop was naturally the National Team’s support quarters.

This year’s Road World Championships had come to a close. Although the team’s haul was only the gold and bronze medals won by Huang Chong, this achievement was completely unprecedented.

As for whether anyone would follow, and how long the wait would be, that was something no one could predict.

Unless, of course, Huang Chong himself continued to make such breakthroughs at the World Championships during his professional career.

But regardless, thanks to the many incredible victories he had achieved on European soil this year, the sport of road cycling itself had reached an unprecedented level of popularity back home.

The scale of the road cycling community was now even larger than in his previous life. At the same time, knowledge of professional cycling culture, race rules, and more was spreading rapidly among the general public.

If one could take a bird’s-eye view of the current infrastructure development, they would surely discover that in countless cities across the nation, the number of official cycling greenways being built around urban centers, along with the hosting of various cycling competitions, was booming.

At its core, cycling wasn’t just a major international sport; it also held intrinsic value for public promotion.

After all, in an era that emphasizes environmental protection and reducing carbon emissions, people choosing greener modes of transportation inherently aligns with developmental needs.

Of course, figuring out how cycling enthusiasts could ride on city roads reasonably, legally, and without disrupting normal traffic—that would take time to sort out.

“Huang Chong, you’re fucking incredible now. To think, this time last year, we were teammates, getting ready for the Asian Games together.”

“A year later, and my power output hasn’t gone up one bit.”

“But look at you! You started killing it on the World Tour right after you joined, winning all kinds of top-tier races right out of the gate.”

“And the craziest part is, you beat Pogačar today to win the World Championships! That’s just…”

“Seriously, how is a guy at my level supposed to hang out with you now?”

…

“That’s right. Last year, Huang Chong was still a rider for the Hengxiang Team, competing against us in the domestic league.”

“Even though he crushed us all year and basically swept up every championship title there was.”

“But looking back on it now, it’s like, if you weren’t the one winning the championship, who else was even worthy?”

…

“Brother Huang, share some of your secrets with us! After you made that huge leap last year and got into the Red Bull Bora Team, what’s your training like over there?”

“How did your performance improve so fast? It’s like you strapped yourself to a rocket.”

“Is the training system over there completely different from ours back home? Does it just max out your potential right from the start or something?”

…

The evening after the World Championships, before the National Team prepared to head home, Coach Han got special approval from the higher-ups for celebration banquet funds. They held it right there in Zurich to thank Huang Chong for his diligent efforts and give him a proper reward.

At the banquet, however, after eating and drinking their fill, Xue Ming and the others—who Coach Han had brought along for the team time trial (TTT)—couldn’t help but shower Huang Chong with compliments.

At the same time, they couldn’t stop lamenting the fact that, in just one year, the gap between their competitive levels had become as wide as the sky and the earth.

The thought of catching up to Huang Chong—no, of even just getting a little closer—seemed impossible in this lifetime.

As Professional Cyclists, every one of them dreamed of joining a World Tour Team, winning on the World Tour, and competing in the three Grand Tours and the five Monuments.

But reality was cruel. For a Chinese rider to have a World Tour Team extend an olive branch, they first needed to achieve some respectable results.

Winning a domestic league championship was hardly enough to catch the eye of the European Teams.

The Tour of Guangxi, the Tour of Qinghai Lake, and the Tour of Hainan Island were the only stages where domestic riders could prove their mettle to the World Tour Teams.

But winning the overall title at these top-tier UCI World Tour or Pro Level races was incredibly difficult.

After all, international riders competed in those races, and the Tour of Guangxi meant going head-to-head with a dozen or so World Tour Teams.

They weren’t Huang Chong. It was impossible for them to thrash World Tour Cyclists before they had even set foot in Europe.