Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

Although he knew full well he’d been the first to cross the finish line of Stage 6, Huang Chong didn’t have an ounce of strength left to celebrate with the wildly cheering fans. His body was at its absolute limit, leaving him swaying unsteadily.

Fortunately, the Bora Team support staff, who were already waiting at the finish, rushed over the moment he crossed the line. They helped him off his bike and had him sit right on the pavement to let his racing heart slow down.

But even though Huang Chong felt like his heart was about to explode, his eyes remained glued to the finish arch.

He still had to calculate the stage times for the riders who finished after the trio of Williams, Narváez, and Del Toro. His focus was on the fourth-place finisher, Vismar’s leader Bart Lemmen, and the fifth-place finisher, Quick Step’s Alaphilippe.

After the previous stage, the two of them were fifth and sixth in the overall standings, respectively. They both had the exact same time gap, trailing the leader, Williams, by 13 seconds. Huang Chong, on the other hand, was 49 seconds behind Williams.

This meant that to jump from 29th into the top five of the overall standings after Stage 6, he needed to finish 36 seconds ahead of Bart Lemmen and Alaphilippe (ties in the time gap were broken by prioritizing the rider with the best stage finish).

Trying to overcome that time gap by just riding steadily in the peloton would have been next to impossible.

In fact, it was simply impossible.

That was why Huang Chong had deliberately joined the breakaway in the final stage.

He did it for the time bonuses: six seconds from the two intermediate sprints and ten seconds for the stage win. With those 16 seconds shaved off, the gap between him, Bart Lemmen, and Alaphilippe was down to just 20 seconds.

Soon, Bart Lemmen crossed the line in fourth. Huang Chong’s furious pace in the breakaway had made the race much harder, but Vismar’s training for their GC Cyclists was clearly top-notch. In the end, Lemmen finished only 11 seconds behind Huang Chong.

This meant that Lemmen had locked up fourth place in the overall standings.

Next, Alaphilippe came into view, riding toward the finish arch. He had been dropped by Williams and the others on the Lofty Mountain climb, losing some time, but had managed to break away from the riders behind him and was now riding solo.

Huang Chong watched Alaphilippe’s time intently. When Alaphilippe finally crossed the line 23 seconds behind him, the heavy weight in Huang Chong’s chest at last lifted.

Although his furious breakaway hadn’t been enough to clinch the overall title, Huang Chong was still thrilled to have successfully pushed his way into the top five of the overall standings.

The moment Alaphilippe crossed the finish line, a line of text from the system materialized before his eyes:

[Congratulations, Host, on completing your debut as a World Tour Cyclist. You have successfully earned 345 (60+60+225) UCI points. After conversion to Basic Optimization Value, your current Optimization Value balance is: 405]

...

Seeing this notification, Huang Chong’s mood naturally lifted.

He was far happier about this than about receiving the two bottles of premium Fox Creek red wine from the event organizers.

Combined with the 60 Optimization Value points he had left from last year, he could now increase his power by another 8W, bringing his FTP Power to 411W.

Of course, he owed this result to Alaphilippe.

The guy was French, after all, and he was known for his flashy racing style.

As a veteran, once he was dropped on the Lofty Mountain climb, he must have decided that with the overall title out of reach, there was no point in fighting for fifth or sixth place.

So, as he approached the finish arch, he didn’t even bother with a final sprint. He just casually rode the last few meters of the Tour of South Australia at a relaxed pace.

If Alaphilippe had put in even a few hard pedal strokes in the last 50 meters, that tiny three-second difference would have likely cost Huang Chong a spot in the rankings.

But for Alaphilippe, who was in the twilight of his career, it was all or nothing. He was either going to win the title or he wasn’t. At his age, he’d long since stopped caring about the difference between fifth and sixth place.

"Huang, your performance was absolutely incredible!!!"

"My God, you actually managed to hold off that final attack from Williams and the other two. That’s unbelievable!

You know, when I was behind you just now, I honestly thought those grim-faced bastards were going to catch you right before the finish line.

Thank God you held on and made all that effort count.

This is an absolutely magnificent victory!!"

After pulling the team car off the course, the Bora Team coaching staff immediately got out and rushed to Huang Chong’s side. The team director gave him a huge hug and heaped praise on him.

But Huang Chong noticed that, as happy as his own team was, the Israel-Premier Tech Team was in a state of true pandemonium.

Although Stephen Williams hadn’t won a single stage, he had finished with the same time as the winner in all six stages. He had also collected multiple time bonuses for top-three finishes. As a result, his total time was the lowest, and he had successfully clinched the overall title for this year’s Tour of Australia.

The Israel-Premier Tech Team was also the only wildcard Professional Team in the race.

For them to win the overall title, especially by beating the Bora Team—which had swept five of the stage wins—was an incredibly rare occurrence in the world of professional road cycling.

After the race, the host and commentator on China’s only official broadcasting platform, China Sports, began their summary. The host stated bluntly: