Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Chapter 169: Chapter 122: After a High-Intensity Struggle, Showdown at Zitong Ridge (Part 2)

"I don’t know why, but today’s China Team gives me the feeling of a suicide squad."

The mechanician from Kazakhstan said,

"Not only have they completely changed their usual steady style, but they also seem hell-bent on going head-to-head with our Alexey and Yevgeniy—

but what I don’t get is, at their competitive level, if they ride like this, can they even last until the 2-kilometer climb on Zitong Ridge?"

In fact, it wasn’t just the Kazakhstan coaching staff who thought this. The other Asian countries were also baffled when they saw the entire China Team join the breakaway.

Because in their minds, the China Team also preferred stability over taking risks.

Why were they so aggressive today?

Was this still the same China Team from their stereotype?

However, while the coaching staffs of the various Asian nations couldn’t decipher Coach Han’s tactics, Lutsenko—a World Tour Cyclist who had competed in hundreds of top-tier races—fully understood the China Team’s strategic intentions after riding for 50 kilometers with his younger teammate.

First, in a breakaway group of 20, nearly every rider would take part in leading the pack and doing rotations.

This was the most basic common sense for breakaway riders.

The China Team, of course, also had riders actively participating in the rotations, like Lü Xianjing and Ma Binyan.

But Huang Chong was the only one who drafted the entire time, never once taking a turn at the front.

Of course, besides Niu Yikui who was on water duty, the China Team actually had three riders in the breakaway group. As long as two of them participated in leading the pack, no one else could really complain.

But seeing this, Lutsenko still figured out the China Team’s tactic for the day. It was a simple "protect one" strategy, using three domestiques in a sacrificial lead-out to preserve their Core Commander as much as possible, allowing him to reach Zitong Ridge in peak condition.

After figuring this out, Lutsenko quickly rode up next to his younger teammate and told him his theory.

Hearing this, Yevgeniy couldn’t help but glance at Huang Chong, who was riding steadily at the back of the breakaway group but had decisively beaten him before. Then, he asked his senior,

"So what’s our move now?"

Lutsenko replied directly,

"We keep increasing the pace, especially on every climb. Since they plan to escort their main rider as far as possible, we’ll just up the difficulty and make their plan fall apart ahead of schedule!"

Yevgeniy had nothing to say to that. Although his competitive level might not be world-class yet, he had successfully completed the Tour de France this year without dropping out early, which was already quite an impressive feat.

Therefore, at their current cruising speed, raising the average pace a little more wasn’t difficult for him.

But while increasing the pace on the climbs didn’t affect them much, the other Asian riders couldn’t hang on once the cruising speed exceeded 46 km/h.

For example, riders from countries and regions like Mongolia, Thailand, South Korea, and even the Hong Kong Team were quickly dropped from the breakaway group.

And on the China Team, besides Huang Chong, the strongest rider, Lü Xianjing, was also dropped as the race approached the 100-kilometer mark.

After the Tour of Qinghai Lake, he had also participated in several UCI multi-day and one-day races, like the Tour of Binzhou, Tour of Tai Lake, Tour of Huangshan, and so on. He had even won the general classification in one of those multi-day races.

Such a series of high-intensity battles had taken too great a toll on his stamina!

Still, for him to last 100 kilometers before getting dropped was damn impressive, so the moment he fell back, Huang Chong gave him a thumbs-up.

At this point in the race, not many riders were left in the breakaway group.

They had also opened up a gap of a full two and a half minutes on the main peloton behind them.

Huang Chong glanced at the jerseys of the riders in his group and saw that only seven countries remained: Kazakhstan, China, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran.

Among them, only the China Team and the Kazakhstan team each had two riders left; all the other countries were down to their last man.

"These sons of bitches from Kazakhstan, they’ve pushed the breakaway pace this high today to obviously burn out all the other riders early. They’re trying to isolate you for a two-on-one showdown before the Zitong Ridge climb."

"Kid, we’re about 25 kilometers from Dragon Ridge. I can definitely hang on through this last stretch of rolling hills, but I won’t be able to stay with you on the long climb after that."

"Now that Brother Lü and Brother Niu have been dropped, it’s all up to you!"

Brother Xiaoma said, panting, after finishing his turn at the front and dropping back beside Huang Chong.

"It’s okay. You’ve all done your best. It’s my honor to fight alongside you."

"Don’t worry, Brother Ma. With Kazakhstan pushing the pace like this, I refuse to believe they aren’t burning energy themselves."

"When we get to the Zitong Ridge climb, I’m going to make them hurt!"

Brother Xiaoma felt a wave of relief wash over him when he heard Huang Chong say that.

To be honest, the only reason he had managed to hang on this long was that he was already on the verge of blowing up.

In fact, he was having an unusually good day; it was the only way he could have held on this long against the repeated accelerations from the two Kazakhstan riders.

Thankfully, Huang Chong’s response didn’t disappoint him. His desperate effort today had been worth it.

"You’ve improved so damn fast this year, kid. After this race, we’ll be invited to the Tour of Guangxi as the National Team again soon. You’ve got to show those World Tour Cyclists what you’re made of then!"

Hearing Brother Xiaoma still had the energy for small talk during such a grueling race, Huang Chong could only shake his head helplessly and reply,

"Give me a break, Brother Ma. If I screw up the second half of today’s race, Coach Han will probably exile me to the frontier and bench me indefinitely. Forget about the Tour of Guangxi, let’s just focus on the here and now!"

Brother Xiaoma laughed, and soon it was his turn to rotate to the front of the group and lead again.

As they pressed on, Dragon Ridge, at the 125-kilometer mark, finally came into distant view.

This was the dividing point of the entire course. The route would temporarily leave the main Lake Loop road, turning onto a village mountain road that led into Zitong Ridge.

The race organizers had deliberately added this to increase the climbing difficulty, as the roads of the Tour of Qiandao Lake itself didn’t have any long climbs of this magnitude.

As the breakaway group entered Dragon Ridge, just as he’d predicted, Brother Xiaoma blew up instantly on the short, steep slope with a total elevation gain of just 150 meters. He only managed a few pedal strokes upward.

It was a classic case of dying on the climb.

In the end, Huang Chong could only watch helplessly as his last teammate fell away behind him, rapidly disappearing into the distance.

But he didn’t have time to bid Brother Xiaoma farewell. The Dragon Ridge climb was too short. He quickly followed the other riders over the crest of the hill, at an altitude of about 200 meters, and plunged into a short descent.

After this short descent, they truly arrived at the foot of Zitong Ridge.

The next two kilometers would be the most difficult section of the entire course.

Lutsenko, at the very front of the group, glanced back as they reached the foot of Zitong Ridge and saw only a meager seven riders left.

Among them, only his own country still had two riders.

Without a word, he got out of the saddle and started rocking his bike. His power output wasn’t that high, only a little over 400 watts, not quite 500.

But after 130 kilometers of high-intensity attacks, on a 5% grade, this kind of sustained anaerobic riding was devastating. Riders started getting dropped instantly.

And after Lutsenko had ridden for less than 300 meters at this power output, the entire breakaway group was down to just four men: Huang Chong, Arashiro Yukiya of the Japanese Team, and his own teammate, Yevgeniy.

I have to say, the veteran from the Japanese Team was tough, managing to hang on until now.

But with the race at this point, Huang Chong wasn’t about to let Lutsenko completely dominate the proceedings anymore.

He pulled out a pre-prepared Rapid Recovery Energy Bar, downed it in one go, and the instant the gel hit his stomach, he shot up from the back of the group and got out of the saddle.

With a power output of over a thousand watts, he instantly gapped everyone on the climb, launching away like a rocket!