Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

On both sides of the climb, local residents of Belgium—men and women, young and old—had come out to watch the race. They screamed wildly at the pack of riders, making the already crowded road feel even tighter.

But Huang Chong found the atmosphere, with everyone getting involved, to be quite thrilling.

As a Professional Cyclist, having fans watching live naturally gave him a stronger desire to perform and more motivation.

After he passed the second climb, the summit immediately gave way to another stretch of cobblestones: Holleweg.

This caused the group, which had struggled to reach the summit, to fracture once again.

Huang Chong glanced to his side and saw that among his teammates, only Van Boppel was still holding tight to his wheel. The others, though not dropped completely, had been swept to the back of the long, stretched-out peloton, as if carried away by a mudslide.

Fortunately, the cobblestone section was followed by a descent. He began to lead Van Boppel, sticking close to the Vismar group, who were furiously pushing the pace.

However, the approach to the third climb at the 88km mark, the Hotond, was extremely difficult. It was a stretch of more than ten kilometers of forest road—officially unmarked, but full of constant ups and downs.

’As a sprinter-type classics rider, could Van Boppel hang on?’ Huang Chong honestly didn’t know.

The only good news was that Aldag had told him before the race that if he felt he had a chance at victory, he had permission to break away on his own.

Besides, he had just rested for over ten days, and his condition so far felt excellent; he wasn’t feeling any particular difficulty.

And Van Boppel’s performance was also quite respectable. Although he stayed on Huang’s wheel the whole time, with no energy left to take a turn pulling at the front, he gritted his teeth and didn’t get dropped. He followed him all the way over the Hotond climb—a climb of 0.8 km with 156m of total elevation gain, an average gradient of 5.2%, and a maximum gradient of 9.5%.

The next ten-plus kilometers were a long descent, a chance for the main group to take on supplies. Riders drank from their bottles and ate energy gels, frantically refueling to prepare for the Knokteberg-Trieu climb at the 95.5 km mark!

The Knokteberg-Trieu is one of the most iconic climbs in the Tour of Flanders.

Although this climb was also short—only 1.2 km—its average gradient of 7.6% was the second steepest of the entire race.

The steepest section hit a gradient of 12.2% and was located in the final 300 meters near the summit.

So on this climb, as Vismar and the Ineos Grenadiers Team furiously increased the pace, the group of seventy or eighty riders fractured once more, shedding twenty to thirty of them.

When Huang Chong reached the steepest section, he turned to look at Van Boppel, who was still glued to his wheel but now wore a mask of agony. After a moment’s thought, he asked:

"Are you okay, Daniel? Should I slow the pace a bit on the climb and pull you over? We can speed up on the descent to catch back up to the lead group."

Van Boppel was touched by the offer but replied with a resolute expression:

"Thank you, Huang, but you can’t do that.

It would mess up your own rhythm.

I’m fine. The race is only halfway through. I can still hang on.

Just ride at whatever pace is comfortable for you!"

Although it was obvious his teammate was just gritting his teeth on the climb, since he had said so, there was nothing more for Huang Chong to say. He just nodded.

"Alright. I’ll stick to the lead group as much as I can. If you need a change of pace, just let me know ahead of time!"

Van Boppel replied:

"Yeah, I know."

And so, the two of them—the only Bora Team riders remaining in the lead group—pushed on with the main pack. They went over the Kortekeer climb at 103 km (0.9 km long, 6.6% average gradient), the 2.4-km-long Mariaborrestraat cobblestone section at 106 km, and finally the Berg Ten Houte climb (1 km long with 108 meters of total ascent and a 5.7% average gradient). After that, they would face the most difficult climb of the entire route, the Kanarieberg, at the 135.5 km mark.

The Kanarieberg was also short, just 1 km, but its average gradient was a staggering 8.8%, with a maximum of 12.1%.

Based on experience from previous races, Huang Chong knew this was the peloton’s last chance to make a selection.

The targets of this selection, of course, were the classics riders and sprinters who posed a threat in a flat finish.

Riders like Van Boppel.

However, just as Huang Chong was strategizing how to get his team leader over this most difficult of bergs, disaster struck. As they descended at high speed from the summit of Berg Ten Houte and rounded a right-hand bend, a massive crash occurred in the lead group—now down to about 50 riders—towards the rear and right-hand side of the road.

Huang Chong was also on the right side of the road. Since it was his rear wheel that got clipped by a falling rider, and not having eyes in the back of his head, he had no way to react and was instantly caught up in the crash.

But in the instant he lost his balance, his ankles twisted, and he managed to unclip his cleats from his pedals just as he went down.

THUD!

A sharp, searing pain shot through his right arm.

Even though Huang Chong had managed to separate himself from his bike, wearing only a thin layer of lycra, he still made solid contact with the asphalt road.

But having taken the system’s mental enhancement potion, his reflexes were simply too fast. The moment he came off the bike, he executed a landing worthy of a parkour athlete, rolling twice along the road to cleverly dissipate the force of the impact.