Chapter 251 - 158: The Hope of the Entire Team, First Time as the Core Commander
"For them to have Huang Chong race in the Tour of Australia right off the bat was an incredibly bold move."
"But judging by his performance, their tactic clearly paid off, and paid off big time!"
The sports director said in a low voice,
"And let’s not forget, Huang Chong was last year’s overall champion of the Tour of Guangxi.
The sight of him out-sprinting Vader Milan on the Nongla Mountain Peak was certainly enough to earn him some special clauses in his contract with an ambitious team like Bora, or even with other mid-tier teams gunning for the general classification."
"That’s true. In any case, judging by his performance in these two World Tour races, whatever contract terms Bora Team gave him, they’ve definitely struck gold.
What’s particularly rare about this guy is his ability to instantly put out over a thousand watts on a steep climb.
For other climbers, that’s an absolute nightmare!"
"Exactly. So, for the final stage, the pressure on us is going to be immense.
We not only have to watch out for O’Connor from Decathlon Team breaking away and going solo again like he did today, but we also have to stop that rookie from Bora Team from launching the same kind of attack on Vine a second time.
Our lead is down to just six seconds. Six seconds, gentlemen. That’s too dangerous.
We’re the host team, carrying the hopes of our sponsors. We sent such a stacked lineup this time, and yet we’ve been backed into a corner like this. We have to do something!"
"Director, based on what you’re saying, and considering Vine’s riding style, if we want to keep the lead, our only option is to have our domestiques drop O’Connor and Huang Chong on the final climb. Otherwise, if they all reach the peak together for a final sprint, Vine won’t stand a chance."
"You’re right. That’s the plan. We’ll drop our rivals on the climb early so Vine can get ahead and have a clear ride to the finish."
...
With the first three race days over, the next three stages—Stage 4, Stage 5, and Stage 6—were all completely flat.
During those stages, aside from Lotto Team’s climbing leader, Van Eetvelt, frantically snatching up time bonuses at the intermediate sprints, the racing was largely uneventful.
Aside from a few crashes, it was all about watching Tim Merlier of Quick Step Team completely dominate the final sprints.
He took the wins on Stages 1, 4, and 6, locking up the sprint classification ahead of the final stage.
On Stage 5, although he didn’t take the win, he was just a finger’s breadth away from the winner, Vismar’s lead sprinter, Kooij.
As for Bora Team’s Welsford, who had scored a hat-trick of sprint stage wins at the Tour of Australia, his performance in this race was a different story. His only result was a third-place finish on Stage 5, his one and only trip to the podium. You could almost say he came away empty-handed.
That was the difference between him and a top-tier sprinter like Merlier. Even when Welsford was in a perfect position, with Van Boppel delivering a flawless lead-out, Merlier still managed to come from behind, bide his time, and surge past him for the win at the last second.
Naturally, this meant that by the time the final day, Stage 7 of the UAE Tour, arrived, Bora Team had pinned nearly all of its hopes on Huang Chong, who was still sitting in second place overall.
When it came time to plan the team’s strategy for the final day, the team director didn’t hesitate for a second. He ordered the entire team to ride in service of Huang Chong, designating him as the absolute Core Commander and tasking him with challenging for the overall title of the UAE Tour!