Chapter 377 - 189: The Tour de France’s Most Important Stage Arrives, All Team Leaders Attack

"Right now, my feelings are... well, complicated."

"That’s understandable. But if you’ll forgive my bluntness, I’m very curious—before the race started, did you anticipate this outcome at all?"

"I didn’t."

Huang Chong shook his head and answered truthfully:

"But the team and I had certainly considered the possibility that we would lose some time on one of the mountain stages.

So while I couldn’t predict the exact outcome of the race, I was mentally prepared for this result. I can accept it!"

"I see. In that case, are you optimistic about the upcoming mountain stages? For instance, about taking back the Yellow Jersey!"

"I’ll do my best!"

Huang Chong thought for a moment before adding,

"However, compared to taking back the Yellow Jersey, considering Tadej’s form this year, I think defending a spot on the final podium is probably more realistic!"

When Huang Chong finished his interview and returned to his team, Aldag and the others weren’t discouraged about him losing the Yellow Jersey.

In truth, the entire team had already anticipated this outcome.

They had watched Pogačar and Vingegaard’s strength in the mountain stages, especially their performance on the long, steep HC Level climbs, for four years. They knew just how terrifyingly strong they were.

For Huang Chong to challenge them right from the get-go was simply unrealistic.

Besides, even if Huang Chong were on their level, he was far behind in terms of race experience.

Pogačar and Vingegaard had participated in the Tour de France for four and three years, respectively, and in those years, their results were either first or second place.

There was no way Huang Chong could immediately make up for that kind of accumulated big-race experience and control over the competition.

"Huang, you worked hard!

Your performance today completely met the team’s expectations.

It’s a bit of a shame that we lost the Yellow Jersey, but you held onto it for so long, wearing it all the way from Stage 2 until now. And you even won two stages. When you add up all the race days so far, we are the most successful team in this year’s Tour de France.

The upcoming races will certainly become more and more grueling for the general classification riders.

But I think it’s time we shift the focus of our race."

After giving Huang Chong a big hug, Aldag continued,

"I think, given our team’s current roster, having the domestiques help you attack Tadej’s Yellow Jersey is no longer realistic.

Losing the Yellow Jersey has, in a way, also lessened the burden and pressure on you and the team.

So, I believe the team’s core mission now must be to immediately adjust our strategy to focus on securing your second-place finish in the general classification.

Right now, you’re still 33 seconds ahead of Jonas in the GC standings.

If we can coordinate our tactics well, it’s possible for you to hold onto that advantage in this position until the very end of the Tour!"

Huang Chong wasn’t the least bit dissatisfied to hear Aldag adjusting their strategy.

His personality was very rational, and he had a clear understanding of his own abilities. He knew that settling for the next best thing in the general classification was the optimal choice.

Stubbornly fighting for the overall championship when you know you have no hope of winning isn’t the mark of a mature Professional Cyclist.

’Anyway,’ he thought, ’with my ’cheat,’ as long as I keep winning, even if I don’t take the overall victory in many races, I’ll eventually catch up to those ’Mars People’ as long as I get points.’

Therefore, cutting his losses, immediately adjusting his strategy to fight for second place in the Tour de France, and earning a large amount of points and prize money to solidify his status as this year’s best young rider was what truly mattered most to him.

He nodded and replied simply:

"I have no problem with that. I’ll follow the team’s plan!"

...

July 14th, Stage 15 of the Tour de France, was about to begin.

Today was Bastille Day in France, and it was also a Sunday—a golden race day. While it might not decide the overall winner of the Tour de France, this stage was undoubtedly one of the most important race days of the entire event.

Unprecedented crowds of spectators already lined both sides of the roads on every mountain.

Countless RVs were parked all over every mountain along the route.

The fanaticism of the local fans, as well as the fans who had come to France from all over the world to watch road cycling, had reached its absolute peak today.

Unfortunately, there were no particularly outstanding general classification contenders among the French riders in this year’s Tour, so it was destined to be difficult for any of them to put on a great performance in this stage.

The stage was 197.7 km long, running from Loudenvielle all the way to the very famous Baiye Plateau.

The total elevation gain was a staggering 5,071 meters.

There were a total of five officially categorized climbs.

The first four were all extremely difficult First Category Climbs, and the last one was, without a doubt, an HC Level climb: the ascent to Baiye Plateau.

In addition, at the 147.5 km mark of the stage, there was also an uncategorized climb.

It was 4.4 km long with an average gradient of 5.4%.

With such a dense concentration of super-long climbs, one could only imagine how difficult it would be to finish this stage.

As the final battle of the second week, it was clear that the Tour de France organizers had meticulously planned today’s stage route.

However, the goals of the major general classification teams for this stage were clearly completely different.

With Pogačar having successfully put on the Yellow Jersey, the UAE Team now held a lead of several dozen seconds in the general classification. Their strategy was naturally to be defensive, just needing Pogačar to be ready to defend and counter-attack on the final climb.

Meanwhile, the ambitious Visma Team, aiming to defend the title, would of course have to go on the offensive in this stage.

In fact, after Vingegaard lost 39 seconds yesterday, they had already announced their objective for today’s race at the post-race press conference.

Their goal was for their team leader, Vingegaard, to fight for the stage win and close the gap on Pogačar and Huang Chong.

They believed the Baiye Plateau climb in the final part of this stage was the mountain terrain best suited for Vingegaard’s attacks.

At the same time, the Quick Step Team’s goal was to have Evenepoel attack with full force in this stage to close the time gap to Huang Chong.

Their goal from the very beginning had been the best young rider’s White Jersey and a spot on the final GC podium, but now Evenepoel had fallen too far behind Huang Chong.

If he didn’t launch an attack soon, his hopes of turning the tables for the White Jersey would become increasingly slim.

The third week of the race was comprised mostly of stages with a large number of climbs.

How would Evenepoel perform in the final week? In truth, no one on his team had any real idea.

Therefore, attacking on the last race day of the second week was definitely the best time.

After all, another rest day was coming up right after today’s race. Even if Evenepoel pushed himself a little too hard, he would have the best possible chance to recover during the break.

So if not today, when?

As for the other general classification teams, like Ineos, Trek, Bahrain Victorious, Israel-Premier Tech, and so on, they would also surely be giving it their all and attacking in this stage.

This was because it would determine whether their lead riders—C. Rodríguez, Ciccone, Buitrago, Derrick Gee, and others—could break into or solidify their positions in the top ten of the general classification before the end of the second week.

As for the Red Bull Bora Team, their core tactic was, of course, still to protect Huang Chong.

However, the importance of today’s race day was simply too great for every World Tour Cyclist.

Therefore, even though the race started immediately with a First Category Climb, a large number of top riders still chose to join the breakaway group.

It even included some teams’ Core Commanders, who also chose to join the breakaway today.

Ben Healy of the EF Education Team, needless to say, was once again a key player in the breakaway.

In addition, the leader of the Movistar Team, Mas, and the leader of the Jieke Team, Simon Yates, also joined the breakaway group.

As for the Bora Team, they naturally sent two riders to join the breakaway as well: the lead-out man Jungels, and Sobrero, who has some climbing ability.

In short, this was the ultimate stage that every leader of every World Tour Team wanted to win!

...