Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

However, the way today’s race was unfolding was truly strange.

Huang Chong was tucked into the peloton with the Yellow Jersey. With only 66 kilometers to the finish line, the gap to the breakaway group up ahead was a staggering nine and a half minutes.

At this pace, it was clear the peloton was letting Stage 2 go.

Of course, the breakaway lineup today was indeed formidable.

Bardet and his teammate Vandenbroucke’s successful breakaway yesterday had clearly shown the other breakaway specialists that a stage victory was within reach.

A total of ten riders had chosen to break away. Besides Abrahamsen from the Uno-X Team, who was wearing the Polka Dot Jersey today and continuing his breakaway efforts, the other nine were from:

Kévin Vauquelin and Cristian Rodríguez from the Arkéa Team.

Constant Pash from the FDJ Team.

Harold Tejada from the Astana Team.

Nélson Oliveira from the Movistar Team.

Axel Laurance from the Alpecin Team.

Mike Teunissen from the Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux Team.

Hugo Uer from the Israel-Premier Tech Team.

And Jordan Rega from the TotalEnergies Team.

With such a powerful lineup of riders in the breakaway and the peloton taking it easy for the whole race, trying to close a nine-and-a-half-minute gap in the final 66 kilometers would undoubtedly be extremely difficult.

However, there were still four climbs remaining. When the peloton finally started to put in a real effort, after just the Fourth Category Climb of Bottega di Zocca and the Third Category Climb of Montecalvo, the time gap between the main group and the breakaway had already been cut by four minutes.

Of course, with such a terrifying increase in pace, the sprinters, especially the veteran Cavendish, were immediately dropped by the peloton again.

By the time Huang Chong and the peloton reached the first ascent of the Saint Luke climb, Van Aert of the Visma Team shot straight to the front and began to lead the charge, rocking his bike furiously.

His objective was clear: to use his powerful abilities as a classics rider to forcefully thin out the peloton and help his team leader, Vingegaard, gain an advantage.

During this climb, Huang Chong wasn’t gapped by Van Aert.

But he also stopped staying safely in front of Roglič, instead moving up on his own to stick to the Visma riders and Pogačar at the very front of the group.

Those two were the strongest contenders for the overall title. Even if he couldn’t beat them in this year’s Tour de France, he was determined to burn himself out to see just how big the gap between them really was, and where exactly those differences lay.

Only by directly confronting the strength of his rivals could he find the best way to improve his own weaknesses and shore up his shortcomings.

However, just as they were about to reach the summit of the first Saint Luke climb, Huang Chong noticed that Pogačar, who had been sitting slyly behind Vingegaard, suddenly stood up on his pedals and shot to the very front of the group.

But Huang Chong remained unfazed and didn’t respond.

Vingegaard, however, saw it and quickly accelerated to follow.

But as it turned out, just like Huang Chong himself had done yesterday, Pogačar’s acceleration was just a move to grab a musette bag from the UAE Team, which had been pre-positioned on the side of the road!

It had to be said, the entire Visma Team, from the coaching staff to the riders, was a bundle of nerves.

But this also fully demonstrated just how sharp and efficient their reactions were as the world’s top team for strategy.

A powerful and terrifying ability to execute their plan was the very foundation of the Visma Team’s success.

As the first climb of Saint Luke ended, under the watchful eyes of the dense crowds lining both sides of the road, Huang Chong stuck close to the front of the group and began the high-speed descent.

They pressed on, and by the time they reached the second ascent of the Saint Luke climb with only 14.2 kilometers to go, the time gap to the breakaway group was still over three minutes.

With a gap like that, and with the breakaway group already starting the final steep climb, catching them was now completely impossible.

"Huang, Vauquelin from the Arkéa Team has started accelerating hard.

We’re not aiming for the stage win today, so you don’t need to worry about the breakaway riders up front.

After yesterday’s stage, all of their overall times are too far behind yours.

So your only job right now is to stick to Pogačar and Vingegaard like glue.

Whatever you do, don’t get dropped on this final climb.

As long as you can cross the line with them, without losing more than a four-second gap, you’ll have a chance to wear the Yellow Jersey after this stage."

Hearing this message from Aldag just before the final Saint Luke climb, Huang Chong instantly grew nervous.

’The Yellow Jersey is so close.’ This was undoubtedly immense pressure, but at the same time, it was unprecedented motivation.

If he could wear the overall leader’s Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France, how important would that be? Not just for him, but for his entire country?

Even if he could only wear it for a single day, the meaning it carried was still so profound, so far-reaching!

He immediately replied:

"Understood!"

After that brief exchange, the peloton charged into the final ascent of the Saint Luke climb.

Adam Yates of the UAE Team shot straight to the front of the group and began to furiously drive the pace.

In his past life, Huang Chong had watched the UAE Team race more than almost any other. How could he not understand what it meant when they sent Adam Yates to the front to lead the charge?

So he didn’t hesitate. Even though the road on the Saint Luke climb was packed with dense crowds on both sides, and the atmosphere among the fans had reached a fever pitch, he still found a gap and, with an extremely aggressive riding style, forced his way in right behind Pogačar.