Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Unfortunately, having failed to respond to O’Connor immediately, Huang Chong was now stuck behind Vine and could no longer catch up to him.

With two hundred meters to go, O’Connor—who had maintained a roughly 15-meter lead over him and Vine—decisively got out of his saddle and launched a final, furious charge.

Vine saw this and got out of his saddle to follow, constantly glancing back over his shoulder at Huang Chong, who was glued to his wheel.

He was genuinely surprised. ’This rookie from the Bora Team is incredibly strong. To think he could still stick to my wheel during that final surge from the group.’

When they were only 150 meters from the finish, Vine turned his head again to watch Huang Chong.

But the instant Vine turned his head forward again, Huang Chong, without the slightest hesitation, decisively ramped up his power, unleashing a sudden burst of nearly a thousand watts as he launched his sprint for the finish arch.

After the grueling 19-kilometer climb, Huang Chong was naturally unable to produce his maximum power output of 1300W.

But even at just under a thousand watts, this close to the finish, Huang Chong still easily overtook Vine, who, despite responding immediately, found himself several meters behind.

O’Connor, at the very front, also had to keep looking back to check on the situation behind him.

When he saw the Bora cyclist in the White Jersey sprinting furiously to catch him, he certainly couldn’t afford to be careless. In the final 50 meters, he dug deep and gave it everything he had, launching one last anaerobic attack.

40m—

30m—

20m—

10m—

As O’Connor crossed under the massive, square archway first, Huang Chong was practically on his rear wheel, finishing in second place.

If the finish line had been another 10 meters away, he might have overtaken him.

But Huang Chong knew this was only a theoretical possibility.

’If this climb had been another 10 meters long, I wouldn’t have had the strength for one last push.’

In the end, he and O’Connor were separated by less than a bike length, crossing the line in second with no time gap.

As for Vine, caught by surprise by Huang Chong’s move at the 150-meter mark, he lacked the explosive power to respond and ended up finishing five seconds behind.

Right behind Vine, a group of 11 riders crossed the line together with no time gap.

The time gap didn’t appear again until the 15th-place rider, who finished 12 seconds behind.

Among them, McNulty of the United Arab Emirates team unexpectedly lost 14 seconds to O’Connor and Huang Chong in just the final 1.4 kilometers.

Meanwhile, the Bora Team’s leader, Zwiehoff, dropped a full 20 seconds in the last 1.4 kilometers, ultimately crossing the line in 23rd place for the stage.

And so, after Stage 3, the general classification standings were updated once again.

By winning the stage, O’Connor earned a 10-second time bonus. His deficit to Huang Chong, which was seven seconds after the previous stage, was now reduced to just three seconds.

Huang Chong, who took second, earned a 6-second time bonus. Combined with finishing five seconds ahead of Vine and earning two more bonus seconds than him, his deficit to Vine was cut from thirteen seconds to just six.

As for McNulty, the overall leader after the last stage, he lost a full 20 seconds today and has now dropped to fourth place in the general classification.

After Stage 3, the top five in the general classification are as follows:

1. Vine - UAE - 7:39:44

2. Huang Chong - Bora - +0:06

3. O’Connor - AG2R - +0:09

4. McNulty - UAE - +0:11

5. Van Wilder - Soudal Quick - +0:21

With these results, the ownership of the four leader’s jerseys has changed. While Huang Chong and Stewart would keep the White Jersey and Black Jersey respectively, the Leader’s Red Jersey would now be worn by Vine at the start of Stage 4.

As for the Green Jersey, awarded to the King of the Mountains, it would undoubtedly go to O’Connor, who was first across the line and secured 20 mountains points.

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