Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Their Core Commander, Almeida, seems to be having a bad day and has unexpectedly dropped to the rear of the pack.

As a result, Adam Yates and the others had to drop back to help him, and because of this reactive move, they all got caught up in the crash.

Given the situation, they’re likely to lose a massive amount of time on today’s stage. It’s just so unfortunate—"

"That’s right. No one ever wants to see a crash happen.

But in professional road cycling, the fight for position in the final kilometers, as they get closer to the finish, is where accidents are most likely to occur.

And it’s not just the UAE Team caught in the crash; the Red Bull Bora Team’s Core Deputy Commander, Vlasov, was also involved!!

Luckily, before the climb began, their Core Commander and another key deputy commander, Martínez, had already pushed their way to the front of the peloton, both managing to escape the chaos!"

"But let’s forget about the riders behind for a moment and turn our attention back to the main camera feed!!

We can see it clearly now—as the lead group officially starts the climb, Martínez, who hasn’t had any standout performances in the previous mountain stages, is launching an attack on an 18% gradient!!

There’s still a full 3.6 kilometers to the finish, but he’s leading out his Core Commander, Huang Chong, taking the initiative and attacking!!

Right on their wheels are the Core Commanders of several teams: Mas from the Movistar Team, Landa from the Quick Step Team, Antonio Tiberi from the Bahrain Victorious Team, Skjelmose from the Trek Team, and Rodríguez from the Ineos Grenadiers Team—

But O’Connor, second in the general classification, can’t seem to hold the pace!!

His weakness on steep climbs is being completely exposed right now!!

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

And as Martínez’s pull ends, Huang Chong, who was right on his wheel, gets out of the saddle and continues the attack!!

Can Mas, who is right behind him, stay with him?!

Oh, not a chance!!

Poor Mas, along with the other Core Commanders, is instantly dropped by Huang Chong on the steep gradient!!

His explosive climbing power is simply on another level compared to these other leaders—"

As Steve’s excited commentary faded, Huang Chong, with just a few powerful strokes out of the saddle on the 13% gradient, had already dropped Mas, Landa, Skjelmose, and the rest.

He glanced back at the other team’s Core Commanders, feeling completely unfazed.

’None of them have that explosive climbing power, so it’s no surprise I could drop them instantly.’

’Up ahead, however, there are still two breakaway riders desperately pushing for the finish: Lascano from the Movistar Team and Tejada from the Astana Team.’

There were less than three kilometers to the finish, but the gap between him and those two was still thirty seconds.

However, for a Huang Chong at full throttle, a gap like that was nothing.

A mere kilometer later, he had already caught Lascano, who had fallen behind his breakaway companion.

He then continued his high-speed seated climb, catching the final breakaway rider, Tejada, under the 1-kilometer-to-go arch.

Tejada, having fought so hard in the breakaway to get this far, certainly wasn’t ready to give up on victory. The moment Huang Chong passed him, he gritted his teeth and tried to jump on his wheel.

But the final climb of this stage was brutal. The last 800 meters had an average gradient of 9.9%, with the steepest sections hitting 13%.

So, seeing Tejada trying to hang on, Huang Chong deliberately waited for the steepest part of the ramp before getting out of the saddle and putting in a few more powerful pedal strokes.

That was all it took to put Tejada in a world of hurt. He could do nothing but start weaving across the road, his speed plummeting.

Finally, with about 500 meters to go, Huang Chong dropped Tejada without any trouble and rode solo toward the finish line.

He didn’t even need a final anaerobic push as he approached the white line. He simply raised his hands calmly, a smile on his face as he coasted across the finish.

He knew that after this stage, he would have put more than another minute into O’Connor.

...