Chapter 159: Chapter 118: The Strength of the Asian King of Cycling Is the Real Deal
"Xiao Shijun, the reason you’ve been sent to compete in tomorrow’s ITT is to conserve Mr. Arashiro’s energy."
"Just do your best in the ITT. It’s not your specialty, so even if you lose to the Chinese cyclist, it’s no big deal."
"But in the road race on October 5th, we must fight the Chinese cyclist to the very end. We can’t let them leave us far behind again like at the Asian Championships."
"So you must do everything you can to protect Mr. Arashiro and ensure he wins against the Chinese cyclist."
"Remember, this isn’t just a competition between cyclists; it’s a battle between our nations. We must claim victory!"
Hearing this, Koishi Yuma and Arashiro Yukiya felt immense psychological pressure.
As Professional Cyclists, they knew to just listen to this kind of manipulative pep talk from their boss and let it go.
After all, it was easy for him to talk tough, but how hard would it be for them to actually pull it off?
Besides, they knew full well that although the coach didn’t mention a specific name among the Chinese cyclists, he clearly meant for them to beat Huang Chong.
But it wasn’t like they were unaware of Huang Chong’s strength.
Not only was he young and full of vigor, but his rise had been incredibly rapid.
He had won so many domestic championships he’d lost count, and he’d even defeated four European Professional Teams plus one New Zealand Professional Team in a Pro Race.
This was a rider who could go head-to-head with the cyclist from Kazakhstan at the Asian Championships and successfully draw blood. How could he be someone they could beat just because their coach said so?
Of course, in their culture in Japan, a junior would never dare talk back to a senior’s instructions.
As for whether they could actually meet his demands in the end, that was another matter. At worst, it would just mean apologizing and repenting afterward.
So, Koishi Yuma could only brace himself and reply in a firm, resounding tone:
"Coach, please rest assured. Mr. Arashiro and I will definitely give it our all in the race and defeat the Chinese cyclist!"
...
「October 3rd, Chun’an Jieshou Sports Center.」
The Asian Games road cycling events, which included four gold medals, officially began.
Being the Asian Games, the competition order broke from the domestic league format, with the women’s division competing first.
At nine in the morning, Huang Chong trained while watching the live broadcast of the women’s race at the sports center.
The women’s ITT was only 18.3 km long, less than half the length of the men’s 39.6 km race.
However, the final result was unsatisfactory. The China Team’s entry, Wang Tingting, finished in only seventh place, barely reaching the mid-tier among the 14 participating countries.
The women’s champion was Olga Zabelinskaya from Uzbekistan, the runner-up was Eri Yonamine from Japan, and third place went to Rinata Sultanova from Kazakhstan.
All in all, in women’s road cycling, Kazakhstan was not the strongest nation in Asia.
By two in the afternoon, the weather had turned from sunny to overcast, which was relatively good news.
After all, if the sun were blazing at 2 p.m. in Hangcheng in October, the heat would be absolutely killer.
As the last competitor to start, Huang Chong would basically have to wait 24 minutes after the race began for his turn.
This was because the start interval between each cyclist was two minutes.
Most of the earlier cyclists were of average skill. By the time a real contender appeared, it was Liu Yunyou of the Hong Kong Team.
The entire course was 39.6 km, not particularly difficult in terms of length.
But because the Qiandao Lake Loop road had one short climb after another, making it a rolling course, the difficulty was considerable for a time trial, an event that requires maintaining threshold power for the entire duration.
In the middle, they also had to pass through the 1-km-long Sheyun Tunnel, which had both curves and a gradient.
The race course was not a single leg; at the 20.4 km mark, riders had to go through a turnaround point and return along the same route to the Jieshou Sports Center.
Liu Yunyou’s pace was very fast. Shortly after he started, Huang Chong was still warming up on his trainer.
He watched Liu Yunyou’s real-time average speed the entire time, noticing that after passing the sole checkpoint—which was also the turnaround point—he was averaging around 47.2 km/h.
This speed was currently the fastest on the course.
Right behind Liu Yunyou was a South Korean cyclist who was also averaging 47 km/h.
As for the remaining cyclists, none had an average speed exceeding 47 km/h.
However, because there were so few competitors—only 14 in total—Huang Chong had to head to the starting platform before he could even see Liu Yunyou finish his race.
In an ITT, the starting location and the finish line are not the same.
The starting gate was set up on the main street by Qiandao Lake, but the finish line required riders to traverse a winding path in the final kilometer to return to the entrance of the sports center.
Lutsenko, the Asian King of Cycling, who was starting ahead of him, had already set off two minutes prior.
He was, of course, riding the bike sponsored by the Astana First Team: a William TT Car Turbine SLR.
Huang Chong had no particular feelings about this bicycle brand.
His only impression of it was that it was the bike Cavendish had ridden to his record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage victory, making him the greatest of all time.
But in 2025, the Astana Team started using the Xidesheng-sponsored X-LAB War Vehicle. The team then went on a tear in the World Tour and successfully avoided relegation.
And this domestically-produced road bike received unanimous praise from World Tour Cyclists.
Huang Chong was still riding a Lightning TT bike, but the one he had now was no longer the one Dewey had given him.
Instead, it was a new bike assigned to him by the National Team.
As a Professional Cyclist, he couldn’t possibly ride the same bike forever.
Basically, after a fixed period of time or after reaching a certain mileage, it was time to switch bikes.
The old bike was kept for regular training.
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