Chapter 393 - 194: The Tour de France Officially Concludes, Carving Up the Massive Rewards

The Individual Time Trials (ITTs) at the Tour de France always have three time checks, located at 11.2 km, 17.1 km, and 28.6 km.

But as a climbing ITT for the final stage, it was far more difficult than the flat ITT of Stage 7.

Starting at the 2 km mark, the riders had to climb an 8.2 km long, Category 2 climb with an average gradient of 5.7% and a maximum gradient of 6.7% on their TT bikes.

After reaching the summit and descending a short stretch, they immediately faced another 1.6 km climb—a short, steep pitch with an average gradient of 8.8% and a maximum of over 13%.

To be honest, on an ITT stage like this, Evenepoel had no advantage whatsoever against those three.

Huang Chong was indeed a fair bit behind Vingegaard after the first two climbing time checks, trailing by almost 38 seconds.

But from the 17.1 km mark to the finish line, it was all a long descent followed by flat roads.

So in the end, his finishing time was only eight seconds slower than Vingegaard’s.

As for Pogačar, who had already locked up the Tour de France overall championship, he was simply inhuman in the final ITT. He finished a full 1 minute and 3 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Vingegaard.

He was also the only rider whose total time in the final ITT broke the 46-minute barrier.

But none of that mattered to Huang Chong anymore. He had given it his all and had secured his position as the overall runner-up and the winner of the Best Young Rider’s White Jersey in his very first Tour de France.

After the race, Evenepoel was seen crying his heart out.

Huang Chong was moved by the sight, but that was the nature of competitive sports.

After he secured second place in the general classification, the Red Bull Bora Team began to celebrate wildly. Their jubilant scene was in no way inferior to that of the UAE Team, which had won both the overall title and the team classification.

After all, if they hadn’t brought Huang Chong, with Roglič’s early withdrawal due to injury, they would have ended up with nothing—dead last among all the World Tour Teams.

And after all the racing was done, it was time for the Tour de France awards ceremony.

Pogačar was the first to take the stage to accept the award for winning Stage 21. After him, Cavendish came up to receive a special award for his historic achievement of 35 Tour de France stage wins.

Notably, the award presenter for Cavendish wasn’t one of the hostesses or race officials arranged by the Tour de France organizers. Instead, it was the legendary French former NBA player, Tony Parker—the star point guard who won four NBA championships with the Spurs, became the first non-American to win the Finals MVP, and earned the nickname "The French Flash."

Next, Carapaz took the stage to receive this year’s Super Combativity Award for the Tour de France.

As a madman among breakaway artists, he was a truly deserving winner of the award.

Then, all the members of the UAE Team, dressed in yellow championship jerseys, came on stage to accept the Best Team award.

However, Brother Suo, who had withdrawn from the race early on, did not join them on stage in the championship jersey.

’Sigh, what a poor guy!’

After the Best Team award, it was time for the presentation of the four distinctive leaders’ jerseys.

Huang Chong, as the owner of the White Jersey, was naturally the first to take the stage, clad in his Tour de France White Jersey. He was followed by Carapaz in the Polka Dot Jersey, Girmay in the Green Jersey, and finally, the overall winner, Pogačar, in the Yellow Jersey.

After the four honor jerseys were awarded, it was time for the final podium ceremony for the top three in the general classification.

Huang Chong changed back into his Red Bull Bora cycling kit and took the stage with Pogačar and Vingegaard for the award presentation.

Unfortunately, since he was only the runner-up this year, the band on site naturally played only the national anthem of Slovenia.

But Huang Chong had no regrets. After all, his haul from this Tour de France was already massive.

First, there were the UCI points. The runner-up position was worth 1,040 points.

Three stage wins earned him 630 points (210 x 3).

On top of that, he earned 150 points for a second-place stage finish.

Five third-place stage finishes added another 550 points (110 x 5).

Plus, for wearing the Yellow Jersey for 12 days, he received an additional 25 points per stage, totaling 300 points.

All told, his total points came to 2,450.

This was equivalent to another four-watt increase in his FTP Power, which would bring it up to 467 watts.

And aside from UCI points, he also received a huge sum of prize money from the Tour de France.

Runner-up: 200,000 euros.

Three stage wins: 33,000 euros (11,000 x 3).

One second-place stage finish: 5,500 euros.

Five third-place stage finishes: 14,000 euros (2,800 x 5).

days in the Yellow Jersey: 6,000 euros (12 x 500).

days in the White Jersey: 5,700 euros (19 x 300).

And finally, winning the overall Best Young Rider’s White Jersey came with a 20,000 euro prize.

So, his total pre-tax prize money amounted to 284,200 euros.

Of course, taxes in Europe are extremely high, and for World Tour Teams, most of a rider’s prize money is managed by the team.

So, the actual amount of prize money Huang Chong would pocket wasn’t that much.

However, compared to this prize money, the fact that he had placed second overall in the Tour de France in his very first year on the World Tour—even beating last year’s defending champion, Vingegaard—meant his upcoming contract negotiations were the real prize.

He knew that in the coming days, he would surely start receiving contract offers from the Red Bull Bora Team, as well as from the other major powerhouse teams on the World Tour.

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