Cycling: Racing into the Headwind

If his teammates were too weak, it wouldn’t matter if he handed them a feast fit for an emperor mid-race; they were still bound to lose.

But he couldn’t defy the team’s orders. After a successful hand-off with the team car, he got out of the saddle and hammered the pedals, unleashing over 400 watts of anaerobic power. Braving the 40°C heat, he began to chase down the peloton ahead.

He successfully merged back into the main group before the descent and found his six teammates.

He handed out the custom-formulated water bottles from the team nutritionist to his teammates one by one, and also distributed the Energy Gels from his supply bag.

His actions were, of course, captured by the race broadcast director and shown on the live feed.

When fans back in China saw that he had joined a World Tour Team only to end up as a water carrier, they grew indignant.

Cyclists new to the sport, who didn’t yet understand team tactics, were particularly outraged. They even spammed the live comments, accusing the Bora Team’s coaching staff of racial discrimination and deliberately holding Huang Chong back.

In their eyes, why should a rider from their own country travel all the way to Europe just to be a water carrier for a bunch of Europeans?

This was just too insulting!

But soon, as the storm in the live comments intensified, both the hosts and commentators on China Sports and the independent streamers using VPNs to provide free broadcasts from foreign networks began to explain the team rules of road cycling.

They thoroughly explained the significance of a water carrier, clarifying that while it might seem like the lowest-ranking role, it was actually one of the most crucial positions on the team.

Given the intensity of the World Tour, without a water carrier providing round after round of supplies, never mind contending for the win—just finishing the stage before the time cut would be an achievement.

After Huang Chong completed his first water run and the peloton had successfully descended from the Fourth Category Climb and passed back through the start-finish arch, the race entered its final 45-kilometer lap.

Without a doubt, this final lap would be the most difficult, and he still had at least two more supply runs to make.

He soon received a call from the team leader, dropped back to the team car, and began his second supply run.

"Good work, Huang. Hang in there. There’s just over an hour of racing left; you can definitely complete the team’s mission.

But the temperature is dangerously high now. Do you need an ice pack to lower your body temp?"

The team leader glanced at the car’s dashboard display. At 1:40 PM in Tananda, the temperature had reached a damnable 41°C.

In such heat, a normal person would probably suffer heatstroke just from standing in the sun for half an hour doing nothing.

Yet Huang Chong had to repeatedly push into an anaerobic state in this heat, all to ensure his teammates could reach the finish line and contend for the victory—

it was clearly a tremendous effort and sacrifice.

Yet, as the temperature surpassed 40°C and Huang Chong began to feel dizzy from his anaerobic effort, a long-awaited line of text from the System materialized before his eyes:

[Host detected operating in temperatures exceeding 40°C. Persist to the end of the race to receive reward: Anti-High Temperature Coolant x1]

[Anti-High Temperature Coolant: After consumption, the Host will adapt to high-temperature racing environments. It automatically lowers body temperature and provides immunity to heatstroke, ensuring the Host’s safety and performance in extreme heat.]

...

Huang Chong was very pleased that the System had issued this mission.

He had previously taken the Anti-Cold Heart and Lung Adaptation Pills, making him completely unafraid of racing in low temperatures.

But his ability to handle high temperatures hadn’t yet been optimized by the System.

This reward was a godsend.

Road cycling is an outdoor sport, after all. Mid-year races, like the Tour de France held every July, could have low-altitude stages so hot they were literally deadly.

For the past two years, Pogačar had been helpless in the face of high temperatures, which allowed him to be relentlessly targeted by Vingegaard and the Visma Team.

So even the most powerful Road Cyclist in the world is still human, and they all fear extreme weather conditions.

For Huang Chong to build up his resistance to both high and low temperature extremes in advance was undoubtedly laying a more solid foundation for future victories.

"NO!"

As he took the last water bottle, Huang Chong used a single word to refuse the team’s offer of an ice pack.

Some might wonder why he didn’t explain his reasoning in detail. The truth was, he simply couldn’t form a complete sentence in a foreign language.

Realizing he was practically a mute without Chen Junyi around, Huang Chong silently resolved to learn a foreign language from her after the race.

He had to learn English at the very least. Being unable to even communicate with the coaching staff during a race was just pathetic.

As for why he refused the ice pack, it was, of course, because it was too heavy.

’Sticking a lump like that on my neck just takes up space and adds weight,’ he thought. ’It’s completely unnecessary.’

’Besides, after today’s final 45 kilometers, I’ll be able to solve this heat problem once and for all. I don’t need a little bit of help like that.’

After the hand-off, he once again started hammering on the flat, powering through an anaerobic effort to chase down the main group and continue delivering supplies to his teammates.

His six teammates couldn’t help but feel a surge of admiration, and they all gave him a thumbs-up.

For him to be able to provide supplies nonstop in this weather was incredibly important to them.

They couldn’t even imagine how long they would last in such scorching heat if their water bottles ran dry.

As the peloton passed the final Fourth Category Climb, Huang Chong didn’t even need a prompt from the team leader. He preemptively dropped back from the group and returned to the team car for his third supply run.

"Huang, this is the final supply run.

Same as before, make sure you get these to your teammates before the descent starts.

After that, just stick with the peloton and finish the race safely.

I know you must be exhausted, but try not to lose any time on this first stage if you can help it."

Huang Chong only half-understood the team leader’s instructions.

But no matter what he was told, he knew nodding was enough.

So, after grabbing the third round of supplies, he unleashed another anaerobic burst, catching his teammates once again just before the descent.

To contend for the stage win, the Bora Team members had already formed a train at the very front of the peloton, controlling the pace.

Moreover, the pace on the final lap was meant to be high to stretch the field and drop other teams. For Huang Chong, weighed down by a load of water bottles, to catch a group already riding at over 50 km/h, he had to maintain a nearly full-on anaerobic effort just to keep up.

By now, from the intense heat and the blood pumping through his veins, his skin was flushed completely red.

The live broadcast director naturally captured this heroic scene.

In today’s race, other teams had to sacrifice two riders just to handle water-carrying duties.

Yet Huang Chong had accomplished this most arduous task all by himself.

This not only left the Bora Team, who had signed him, feeling very satisfied, but also changed the minds of many casual spectators who had previously thought little of him.

And his teammates, thanks to his three powerful rounds of resupply, had successfully made it to the final phase of the race.

With only 3km to go, as the peloton roared into the Tananda District, all six Bora Cyclists, with the exception of Huang Chong, moved to the front. They initiated their lead-out train, taking over pacemaking duties and accelerating toward the finish.

With each passing kilometer, one Bora Cyclist would pull off and drop back, their energy completely spent after a furious turn at the front.

Even so, as the race entered the final kilometer, there were still three Bora Cyclists at the head of the peloton.

At the 1km mark, Ryan Mullen launched his attack, getting out of the saddle and leading out Danny van Boppel. He pulled for as long as he could, only peeling off with about 300 meters to go.

Immediately, Danny van Boppel took over the lead-out, also attacking out of the saddle, his power output even higher than Ryan Mullen’s.

He was the final lead-out man, tasked with pulling the team’s star sprinter, Sam Welsford, for another 150 meters before finally swinging aside.

The instant Van Boppel peeled off, Sam Welsford was like a beast unleashed, launching his final sprint toward the finish-line arch now just meters away.

He shot forward, leaving everyone in his dust. Capitalizing on the perfect lead-out created by his teammates, he crushed the competition, winning the first stage of this year’s Tour of Australia nearly a full bike length ahead of the runner-up, Phil Bauhaus of the Bahrain Victory Team!