Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

The later a Grand Tour gets, the more it becomes a battle of wits and schemes. This isn’t just because race organizers love to stack the difficult high-mountain climbs in the third week; the riders’ own fatigue also accumulates daily.

So, when everyone’s legs start to give out, small, impromptu tactics can often play a crucial role and decide the race’s outcome.

Of course, given the way the Vuelta a España stages are designed, the riders are already exhausted after the first week.

After all, neither the Giro d’Italia nor the Tour de France would schedule four full mountain stages in the first week.

The Vuelta a España is just pure torture for the riders—utterly brutal!

"The riders taking turns at the front of the peloton have been keeping the time gap to the breakaway group under three minutes.

The peloton is now about 132 kilometers into the stage, having completed most of today’s descents.

They are only about 27 kilometers from the finish line—

Judging by the peloton’s current pace, they are still steadily closing the time gap to the breakaway riders.

It seems that today’s stage, which was originally perfect for a breakaway, has been turned on its head. Because O’Connor of the Decathlon Team has already opened up a lead in the general classification, the GC leaders of the other teams have been forced to change their tactics.

If I’m not mistaken, the GC leaders of every team are definitely going to start a fierce battle early on today’s final Third Category Climb, even though this stage should have been one for the breakaway!"

On European Sports, Steve watched as the peloton, after passing the second-category climb, continuously accelerated on the twenty-plus-kilometer descent, cutting the gap to the breakaway by another thirty seconds.

With his years of experience watching races, he could naturally read the signs.

Jimmy, sitting beside him, nodded in agreement and replied:

"I agree with your assessment, Steve.

O’Connor’s current time in the general classification is just too precarious.

Huang Chong, in the Red Jersey, needs to mark him closely. That goes without saying.

Meanwhile, the leaders of other teams, like Mas from Movistar Team and Almeida from UAE Team, want to close that gap as soon as possible to avoid carrying such a huge deficit into the second week.

What’s more, tomorrow’s stage is a true high-mountain affair. It’s not only the last day of racing in the first week, but it also has the toughest climbs yet.

If some of the strong GC teams can chip away at O’Connor’s lead on today’s stage, then they can devise a detailed strategy for tomorrow’s difficult triple-header of high-mountain climbs and completely turn the tables on their GC deficit."

Meanwhile, back in China, the commentators on China Sports had reached a similar conclusion to their counterparts around the world. They all agreed during the live broadcast that the GC leaders would launch powerful attacks on the final Third Category Climb.

As for who would win the stage, the Chinese commentators, along with every fan watching back home, were all unequivocally rooting for their countryman: Huang Chong.

There was no question about it. He was one of their own, and he possessed top-tier climbing and sprinting abilities to boot.

If you weren’t going to bet on him to win, who else was there?

But as the peloton’s pace grew faster and faster, with still two kilometers to go before the final Third Category Climb, UAE Team’s GC rider, Almeida, was suddenly the first to be dropped.

At this point, they hadn’t even reached the final 4.3-kilometer short, steep climb. They were just on a gentle rise.

For Almeida to be dropped now was definitely not normal.

But regardless of why he was dropped, every team director and rider on a World Tour Team is incredibly cunning and an expert at seizing opportunities as they arise.

So, almost simultaneously, the riders of various teams got the news over the radio from their team cars: Almeida had been dropped.

This immediately prompted the teams with riders in the top ten of the general classification—Israel-Premier Tech, Bahrain Victorious, Movistar Team, and Decathlon Team, among others—to surge to the front of the peloton, forming their trains side-by-side.

The pace was so fast that Huang Chong glanced at his bike computer—their speed had shot past 60 km/h.

’Damn, these animals,’ he thought. ’To completely blow up the UAE Team’s leader and eliminate a major GC threat, they’re all riding like they’re on steroids—’

’But I guess it’s understandable. After all, the UAE Team’s roster of domestiques is terrifyingly strong.’

’If they let Almeida recover, if they don’t kick him while he’s down and finish him off now... forget about his final GC ranking, he’d at least snatch one of the podium spots.’

’There’s only one winner, but there are three spots on the podium. The odds are much better, and the difficulty much lower.’

’And since you’ve come to a Grand Tour, what team doesn’t dream of making the final podium?’

However, as the peloton frantically accelerated, it was clear something was truly wrong with Almeida’s condition today. He was not only dropped straight to the back of the group, but as they reached the final Third Category Climb, the Cazorla climb, the road entering the town suddenly narrowed. A crash erupted in the rear of the peloton.

"Oh, damn it!!

The final climb has just begun, and there’s been a massive crash in the peloton!!

Let’s see which important riders are caught up in it?!

Ah, it looks like the UAE Team in their white kits has suffered the heaviest losses!!"