Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

The Nanning criterium was over, and the atmosphere within the team was noticeably less cheerful than the previous day.

The Qingxiu Mountain climb had taken a heavy toll on Brother Xiaoma and the other three, exposing the gap in their abilities.

Although Huang Chong managed to stay with the main peloton, as the miles piled up, the stamina gap between his teammates and the World Tour cyclists was becoming increasingly apparent.

If all his teammates were dropped, achieving a good result in the subsequent stages would undoubtedly become extremely difficult for him.

Isolated and without support, if a World Tour Cyclist were to target him, he would be powerless to respond.

"Coach Han, I want to join the breakaway tomorrow!"

After dinner, Su Haoyu, who had lost a minute and a half in the general classification that day, voiced his plan.

He had decided to leave it all on the road, with no regrets.

However, Huang Chong had seen this race in his past life, so he wasn’t surprised by Su Haoyu’s desire to break away during the Nongla Stage.

In fact, Su Haoyu had managed to stay in the breakaway on that very stage until he was very close to the finish line, earning him the stage’s combativity award.

Coach Han felt no pressure for results in bringing the team to this World Tour event; it was purely for the experience and training.

After all, Huang Chong had single-handedly completed all of his goals for the year, from the Asian Championships in June all the way through the Asian Games.

In fact, he had exceeded all expectations.

Huang Chong had not only secured two spots for the Olympic road race but had also swept both gold medals at the Asian Games—all new historic records.

With achievements like these, while one couldn’t say they would never be surpassed, they were certainly unprecedented.

So when Coach Han heard that Su Haoyu wanted to join the breakaway group, he had no objection and replied directly:

"You got it. I’ll be right behind you in the team car the whole way to make sure you’re well-supplied."

Then, he turned to Huang Chong.

"Huang Chong, what are your plans for tomorrow?

You’ve been riding with the World Tour teams for three days now, so you should be familiar with their race pace.

Tomorrow’s climb up Nongla Mountain is perfect for you. Are you planning to make a play for the general classification?

If you are, I can have Xiaosu work for you. We’ll try to get him to the foot of Nongla Mountain so he can give you a final lead-out on the climb.

Also, the first part of the stage tomorrow is mostly flat with some gentle climbs. I can have Xiaoma and the other two set the pace for you. The entire strategy will be built around you."

Huang Chong listened to Coach Han’s proposal. Although he knew the tactic might not work, he still nodded and said,

"Alright, Coach Han. I’ll give the general classification a shot on Nongla Mountain. Since we’re here, I don’t want to just ride through all six stages without making some noise."

"Good. In that case, Xiaoma, you and the other two will work like you did at the Asian Games. Lead for Huang Chong and break the wind for him.

Xiaosu, you join the breakaway and try to make it to Nongla Mountain.

I’ll have Huang Chong attack early to bridge up to you. You’ll need to time it right and give him a final boost, like a mid-air refuel."

Brother Xiaoma and the other three had no objections, replying in unison:

"Yes, Coach Han."

Among the five of them, Huang Chong was already in a league of his own.

The guy could beat Lutsenko, which meant he was on par with any of the cyclists competing in the Tour of Guangxi.

The only gap was that Huang Chong didn’t have a World Tour-level team to back him up.

But now, the four of them still had the opportunity and the energy to help him contend for the general classification, so of course they wouldn’t refuse.

After all, if Huang Chong could gain a time gap at the Nongla Mountain Peak in the Tour of Guangxi, he’d have a real chance to wear the overall champion’s Red Jersey.

And once he conquered Nongla, then even if they were too exhausted to keep up in the fifth and sixth stages, as long as Huang Chong himself wasn’t dropped from the main peloton, he could hold onto his lead just by riding defensively.

In any case, over the past year, Huang Chong had achieved an incredible string of highlight-reel results right before their eyes:

A silver medal at the Asian Championships, overall victory at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, and a double crown at the Asian Games.

Not to mention the pile of championships he’d won in the domestic leagues—

With that kind of dominance, why couldn’t he achieve something new at the Tour of Guangxi?

They all knew it could be many, many years before China produced another cyclist like Huang Chong, one who could sweep up so many titles in a single year.

And now, they had the honor of participating in this legendary journey, of being a part of his continued success. Naturally, they had no reason to refuse.

Besides, the World Tour teams themselves were quite arrogant.

The riders they’d sent to compete were either neo-pros from their own development camps, set to join the team next year, or second-string riders from the main squad who weren’t even part of the primary rotation.

Since they were so confident, it was the perfect opportunity for Huang Chong to show them what he was made of and catch them completely off guard.

...

「December 15th.」

The Tour of Guangxi S4, the Nanning–Nongla stage, was officially underway.

The weather today had returned to bright and sunny skies.

Since today’s stage was particularly difficult, the start time had been moved up by nearly an hour to 10:40 AM.

But even so, at 161.4 kilometers long and with numerous climbs, the stage was expected to take nearly four hours to complete.

This meant the cyclists would still have to compete through the hottest hours of the day.

The race was sure to be a hot one, but the scenery from Nanning to Nongla would truly showcase the beauty of Guangxi.

Although Huang Chong had ridden this beautiful route before during his training, he was still looking forward to racing it again.