Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Chapter 178: Chapter 127: Successfully Completing the Learning Mission of the First Career World Tour

October 12th, 11:30 AM.

The Tour of Guangxi S1 Stage, the Beihai Criterium, officially began.

After nearly a week of advance training, Huang Chong and his four teammates were ready, heading to the race venue together.

As members of the National Team, they were racing on home turf. During the team presentation, the organizers naturally had them appear last, after the other 14 World Tour Teams and 3 Professional Teams, as the grand finale.

Huang Chong, clad in his red National Team cycling kit, was deliberately pulled into the center "C" position by his four teammates after taking the stage, immediately drawing a wave of cheers from the fans.

After winning two gold medals at the Asian Games, he hadn’t felt much of a change himself, immediately throwing himself back into grueling training.

But as news of his victory spread across major sports websites, forums, and media outlets, he attracted the attention of countless cycling enthusiasts from all over China.

From the massive crowd, someone started leading a chant:

"Go, Huang Chong! You’re Asia’s new king of cycling! You have to take it to these foreigners!"

"Go, Huang Chong! Go, China Team!"

"Finishing the race is the baseline! Fight for a good placement!"

"They’re all human, just one mouth and two eyes like you! Huang Chong, don’t be scared! Just go for it!"

Hearing the local fans’ wild but supportive cheers, Huang Chong felt both happy and immense pressure.

This was the World Tour, the highest level of competition in the professional road cycling league.

The difficulty was absolutely beyond imagination.

Although Chen Junyi had specifically researched the rosters of the major teams before the race and told him that half of the participating World Tour Cyclists were newcomers, the other half were still long-time veterans of the World Tour circuit.

"Hey, handsome. Look at the fans’ reactions. Beating the famous Lutsenko at the Asian Games has really raised their expectations!"

"Looks like you’ll have to give it your all at this Tour of Guangxi and fight for a good spot in the general classification."

"Otherwise, you won’t have an answer for all these fans who came from all over China, just to see you race in Guangxi!"

After the presentation ceremony, as they headed to the starting arch together, Brother Xiaoma teased Huang Chong with a smile.

Hearing this, Huang Chong’s expression remained calm as he gave a clear-headed smile.

"Of course I’ll give my best performance to repay the fans who support me."

"But it’s not wise to set the bar too high for myself before the race."

"For today’s race, I’ll first focus on finishing safely with the World Tour Team pack and get a feel for their rhythm."

"This is the World Tour, Brother Ma. It’s no joke."

But in truth, despite what he said, Huang Chong had already ridden all six stages in the preceding days.

He had even made detailed data recordings for all the climbing sections in particular.

The real-time conditions of every climb in the Tour of Guangxi were now deeply etched into his mind.

Even though Coach Han hadn’t demanded any specific result from him in the general classification, he was definitely going to give it his all.

And he wouldn’t just be fighting for the general classification; he would also make sure to showcase his abilities on every difficult climb in each stage.

The team leaders and managers of the World Tour Teams would be following alongside the peloton the entire time. As long as he took the initiative to display his skills, they would be able to see it with their own eyes.

Top-tier coaches don’t just look at a rider’s general classification results; they also evaluate their overall performance in the battles against other riders during the race, according to the rider’s specialties.

In short, as a GC Cyclist, the more well-rounded your skills, the more sought-after you are.

Afterward, Huang Chong arrived at the start/finish arch, waiting for the race to begin on time.

The Beihai Criterium was a total of 135.6 km, with each lap being 45.2 km. The start/finish line was set on Nanzhu Avenue.

After 3.3 km, the course connected with Beihai Avenue, where riders would turn right onto it.

Then, they would make a U-turn and loop around to the seaside East Northern Gulf Road, ride back to Beihai Avenue, and head toward Crown Ridge Road for the only climb of the entire stage: the Crown Head Ridge climb.

After Crown Head Ridge, the descent would take them to Seaview Avenue, then onto the final stretch on Golden Coast Avenue, and back to the start/finish line.

On each lap, they had to cross a pink bridge: the Gaode Bridge.

As the starting gun fired, the entire peloton, led by the chief commissaire’s car, began with a steady neutral start.

Once the chief commissaire waved the small yellow flag and had the driver pull the car to the side of the road, clearing the course, the entire pack instantly accelerated.

These world-class cyclists, riding as if they were on steroids, cranked the speed up to 46 km/h in just over ten seconds—

This caught Huang Chong, who was drafting behind the main group, somewhat off guard.

"Damn, this really is the World Tour. These bastards are hitting such a high cruising speed right from the start. This is killer!"

"Exactly! If they made us go to the front and pull for the pack, we’d probably be dead after one lap!"

"Forget about pulling at the front. Let’s just do as Coach Han said and draft behind the main pack. Anyway, besides Brother Xiaoma, none of us are sprinters. As long as we finish the race without getting dropped, we’ll have completed our mission."

The race had just begun, and the sound of his teammates’ complaints already reached Huang Chong’s ears.

But he had to admit, drafting behind the main group really conserved power.

Even though the cruising speed was a staggering 46 km/h, they only needed to put out a little over 200 watts to keep up with the main group.

This was a completely different story from the riders at the front breaking the wind, who had to push over 300 watts to maintain that speed.

Huang Chong soon noticed that less than a kilometer after the peloton sped up, four riders from different teams had already launched a breakaway. They were from: