Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

In the Tour de France, Huang Chong could even compete for the white jersey: the award for the best young rider (under 25 years old).

Now that he’d finally made it to the World Tour, not being able to show his full potential was naturally frustrating.

She thought for a moment before offering some words of comfort.

"Don’t worry, Huang Chong. Just take it slow."

"As long as you perform well and successfully complete the tasks the team assigns you, from what I know about professional sports in Europe, they won’t just ignore it."

"Westerners are profit-driven, but they’re also conservative and risk-averse."

"This is just your first official race with the team. You can’t blame Aldag for wanting to test you out first!"

"But once he confirms that you’re really at an upper-mid-tier level for a World Tour Cyclist, he’ll definitely give you a more important role in the team."

"And once the team thinks you have what it takes to win, given how profit-driven they are, they’ll be itching to throw you into the most important races and let you dominate."

"In this age of capitalism, nobody turns down a chance to make money."

"So you have to be patient and get through this initial, boring rookie phase."

"With your talent, I believe you have a smooth road ahead of you."

Although he knew Chen Junyi was just trying to make him feel better, Huang Chong was still greatly comforted. He nodded and said:

"Yeah, I only ever complain like this to you, just to vent a little."

"Once the race starts, I promise I won’t do anything reckless."

"So what if I have to be a water carrier?"

"I’ll make sure they know what a world-class water carrier looks like!"

Chen Junyi couldn’t help but laugh at Huang Chong’s slightly childish declaration. She could only reply:

"Alright, as long as you can reliably do your job for the team, I’ll be relieved!"

...

「January 16th.」

The Tour of South Australia officially began.

Huang Chong followed his team to the pre-race presentation ceremony. To his surprise, he found many Chinese fans in the crowd, holding small Chinese flags and there specifically to cheer him on!

It was said that Chinese people were everywhere, that they could even turn a foreign home ground into a Chinese one. It was no exaggeration.

He was wearing the Bora Team kit today, a combination of yellow and army green.

Although he had worn the new season’s kit during training, this was his first time wearing it to represent the team in a race, and it felt completely different.

At the same time, his race bike had also been upgraded to the Lightning S-Works SL8, which was released last year.

The bike’s paint job matched the Bora Team’s primary color: army green.

As for the difference between the SL7 and the SL8, Huang Chong, who had always ridden a Lightning, couldn’t feel much of a change.

The only obvious difference between the two models was the head tube; everything else was pretty much the same.

After the presentation ceremony, Huang Chong got on his road bike and followed his teammates to the arch at the starting line.

With a Chinese rider participating in the 2024 World Tour season, even a relatively minor race like the Tour of South Australia was getting major attention. As the nation’s sole official broadcaster for the event, China Sports had its cameras focused on the race scene early on.

So, when fans back home saw Huang Chong at the presentation ceremony, the live stream’s chat, comment sections, and everything else had already blown up.

In truth, for a road cycling race, the most exciting part is usually only the final few dozen kilometers.

For at least the first two-thirds of the race, the peloton just cruises along, chasing the breakaway riders. There isn’t much to see.

But that was the power of a star.

With Huang Chong as the lone Chinese rider on the World Tour stage, fans back home would watch the entire race from start to finish and give him their full support, no matter how uneventful it was.

As the race official standing to the side of the start/finish arch pulled the trigger of the starting pistol, the first World Tour road race of the 2024 season was officially underway.

Perhaps the race organizers found the idea of a Chinese rider in the World Tour novel, as they deliberately kept the camera focused for an extended period on Huang Chong, wearing bib number 83 and riding in the middle of the peloton, during the initial stage of the race.

Immediately, the two commentators for the Eurosport cycling channel, who were already familiar with Huang Chong from their broadcast of the Asian Championships, picked up on the camera’s focus and began to discuss him.

"Take a look, Jimmy. Who is that rider? Does he look a bit familiar to you?"

"Steve, my memory hasn’t gotten that bad yet. That’s Huang Chong, a Road Cyclist from China!"

"That’s right. I even remember that back in June of last year, we broadcast the Asian Championships held in Thailand together."

"When I saw him clinch that last-second victory over the Astana Cyclist Yevgeniy at the finish line, I said I couldn’t wait to see him on the World Tour stage."

"And sure enough, this year he really did join the Bora Team and is now here at the Tour of South Australia."

"It’s truly exciting and makes you eager to see what he’ll do!"

"Exactly, Steve. I remember saying back then that as long as he could get good results in a Pro Level stage race and prove he wasn’t just a flash in the pan, he would definitely get an offer from a World Tour Team."

"And now it seems he’s undoubtedly done just that."

"What’s more, I just logged onto the official UCI website to look at his race history again. Comparing it to what I saw last year, the difference is night and day. It’s actually astonishing!"

"Oh, Jimmy, you know I’m not one for guessing games. Go on and share what you found about Huang Chong’s record, so cycling fans everywhere can get a quick sense of this Chinese rider’s capabilities."

"Of course. I’ll lay it all out."

"But before I do, I need to give a little context for all the fans watching this race."

"Before last year’s Asian Championships, Huang Chong had never participated in a single UCI-sanctioned event."

"So back then, not only was he a complete rookie, he was a rider with zero UCI points."

"And yet, in just the second half of last year, he won several major championships."

"That includes the overall title at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, a Pro Level stage race."

"He also won double gold at the Asian Games, in both the road race and the ITT."

"And at the end of last year, he participated in the only World Tour race held in China, the Tour of Guangxi, as a special invitee with the China National Team."

"And guess what happened, Steve? He beat out over a hundred other World Tour Cyclists to take the overall victory at the Tour of Guangxi!"

"And I have to emphasize, in some of these victories—for example, at the Asian Games—he beat Astana’s team leader, Alexey Lutsenko, twice."

"Then, at the Tour of Guangxi, he out-sprinted Vader Milan from the Visma Team—the team formerly known as Jumbo—at the Nongla Mountain Peak finish!"

"My goodness, that’s truly incredible!"

After hearing his colleague’s rundown, the host, Steve, adopted a perfectly timed tone of disbelief and continued in shock.

"So you’re saying this Chinese rider was already a World Tour race winner before he even officially joined a World Tour Team?"

"That really raises my expectations for what he’ll do next."

"As we all know, across all of Asia, and especially in China, the development of road cycling is still in its infancy compared to Europe."

"But I never expected a top-tier talent to emerge from the country—one who progressed at lightning speed and could already dominate World Tour Cyclists while still in his domestic league."

"I’m genuinely excited to see if he’ll become the next top-tier superstar in the world of road cycling, like a Tadej Pogačar, a Jonas Vingegaard, or a Remco Evenepoel."

"And as for that question, I’m sure all the fans watching this race, who just heard Jimmy’s detailed introduction to this Chinese rider, already have their own answers in mind!"

"So, for now, let’s all focus our attention on this Chinese rider."

"Let’s see what kind of performance he’ll deliver in his debut as a World Tour Cyclist for the Bora Team, competing in the highest echelon of road cycling events!"

...