Chapter 163: Chapter 119: God of the Final 1km Corners (3)
The race wore on. Riding at his maximum lactate threshold for over forty minutes, occasionally mixing in anaerobic bursts on the climbs, was an excruciating experience.
Not only was his heart rate soaring, but his entire chest felt like it was being squeezed tight, making it so hard to breathe he felt like he was suffocating. His ears were ringing, as if countless electric currents were scrambling through his brain.
But even in this state, Huang Chong heard clearly that he was now almost five seconds behind his rival.
The finish line was drawing closer.
On the main roads of the Tour of Qiandao Lake, his raw power was indeed a little lacking compared to the seasoned Lutsenko.
A gap of only five seconds after 38.6 kilometers was small, but a gap was still a gap.
If he couldn’t make it back in the final kilometer, it would be the difference between a gold and a silver medal.
And Huang Chong had already reached his limit; he couldn’t possibly gain even a single second more.
He didn’t have the spare energy to answer Chen Junyi either.
In the last kilometer of the ITT, the riders had to turn off the main road of the Tour of Qiandao Lake and onto a single-lane, winding path—a veritable goat track—to reach the entrance of the Jieshou Sports Center.
Without a doubt, this kilometer-long, technically complex path was his last chance to close the time gap.
Guided by the gestures of the course marshals, the right-angle turn from the main road onto the path was just ahead.
Because Huang Chong had ridden this section before during the National Championships and even put in extra practice on it, he knew the course conditions well.
So, as he neared the turn where the previous thirteen riders had all slowed considerably, the marshal directing traffic saw him barely drop his speed at all as he charged straight for it.
His entire body was practically scraping the wall of the corner as he shot into the turn, as if sliding.
This move made everyone watching the live broadcast—whether family, friends, casual fans, or even Lutsenko himself, who had already finished and was now watching him ride the final stretch—break out in a cold sweat.
Because his cornering speed and his line were so damn aggressive and tight.
Even the slightest mistake would have sent him crashing head-on into the wall at over 50 km/h, leaving him a bloody mess.
Yet, Huang Chong made it safely through the turn. Relying on his memory from riding this section countless times before, he hugged the apex of every subsequent curve, taking the shortest possible line as he flew through the winding path.
A TT bike, with its solid disc rear wheel, is undeniably much more cumbersome than a standard road bike.
But at this moment, with him alone on the course and the live broadcast camera locked on him, he looked like he was born on a bicycle.
On the twisting, winding path where other riders had to constantly vary their pace, he maintained an incredibly smooth and fluid speed, charging all the way to the final turn before the finish arch.
Then, like an arrow, he shot out of the last corner.
With about 100 meters left to the arch, and in full view of the fans at the finish line craning their necks in anticipation, he didn’t even wait to straighten out the bike after the turn. He was already out of the saddle, furiously rocking the bike in an all-out sprint.
An anaerobic power output of 1200 watts instantly propelled his speed in those final 100 meters far beyond his previous average.
Lutsenko and the Kazakhstan coaching staff, also waiting for the results at the finish line, stared intently as Huang Chong charged toward them head-on.
Amid a sky filled with shouts of "Go, China Team, go!" they watched their greatest rival cross the finish line. The total race time on the arch stopped at 01:12:03.813.
They didn’t have time to pull out their phones and subtract the 24 minutes of Huang Chong’s start time from the total race time before the big screen displayed his individual time for the ITT:
48:04.198.
Seeing that time, Lutsenko instantly understood. Huang Chong had completely relied on that god-like performance in the final kilometer’s corners to reverse the advantage he had built on the main road. He had finished 1.198 seconds faster, pulling off a comeback to snatch the incredible ITT gold medal.
"This Chinese rider is really—"
As a battle-hardened veteran past his peak, Lutsenko wasn’t too emotional about losing the race.
He had seen and tasted victory and defeat too many times on the World Tour over the years.
But seeing Huang Chong fight so desperately for the gold medal in that final kilometer, he felt as if he were seeing himself from when he had just entered the World Tour.
The same will to win, the same aggressive spirit.
The same reckless abandon!
...
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