Chapter 395 195: Renewing the Max-Salary Contract, Hijacking the Best Lead-out Man

As they parted, Li Zifan said with a smile.

Zhou Ming, on the other hand, was more direct:

"I'm waiting for the good news of you winning gold!"

Hearing this, Huang Chong could only offer a wry smile in return.

"I'll do my best. Have a safe trip, everyone!"

But in truth, the difficulty of winning gold in the Olympic road race was immense.

Even someone as strong as Pogačar had only managed a bronze medal.

The event's outcome was not only heavily dependent on how well a rider suited the terrain, but radio communication was also banned for the entire race, making the presence of teammates crucial.

Plus, as a single-day race, riders were bound to attack relentlessly, creating a highly unpredictable outcome. The element of chance was simply too great.

Huang Chong truly couldn't guarantee that he would win.

His only advantage, as a reincarnator, was knowing that in his past life, the champion was Evenepoel. He could only plan to stick to him as much as possible during the race.

As for the final outcome, in a single-day classic of over 270 kilometers, without the robust logistical support of a World Tour Team, anything could happen.

But that was also the beauty of a single-day race. In such a fast-paced competition, riders held nothing back. Beyond raw power, the rider who made the fewest mistakes was often the one with the chance to win.

In short, you couldn't predict the winner of a single-day race based on reputation alone.

...

"Huang, over the past few days, I've conducted multiple rounds of in-depth negotiations on your behalf with all the World Tour Teams that are interested in you.

The Ineos Grenadiers Team is willing to offer you an annual salary of 2.5 million euros. They would consider you one of the team's dual leaders, on equal footing with Carlos Rodríguez.

The Visma Team is willing to pay you an annual salary of 2 million euros.

There's no word from the UAE Team yet, but I get the sense that with Tadej on their roster, they're unlikely to spend a fortune to sign another lead GC Cyclist.

However, there is another World Tour Team willing to offer a top-tier salary of 4 million euros to have you join: the Trek Team.

They're looking to change their team-building strategy and have promised that if you join, they will gradually build a complete Grand Tour squad around you.

By the 2026 season at the latest, the team's goal will be to contend for Grand Tour victories—

As for your current team, the Red Bull Bora Team, they've also offered a top-tier contract of 4 million euros. It's a long-term deal, for five years.

The final year of the contract is a rider option, meaning you can choose to renew based on your form, or you can opt out of the contract early.

Additionally, I've also negotiated extra performance bonuses and annual salary increases for the next five years with the Red Bull Bora Team.

Once the new contract extension takes effect, if you win a Grand Tour, for example, the team will award you one million euros under the additional bonus clause.

Furthermore, for each year that you meet the team's win requirement on the World Tour (ten or more victories in a single season), your annual salary will increase by another 1 million euros—

Of course, the annual salary, bonuses, and so on that the Red Bull Bora Team is offering will be paid for by the team's majority shareholder, Red Bull, and the sponsor brand, Lightning.

So if you sign this contract, you'll naturally become a brand ambassador for both companies, and they will have exclusive endorsement rights for you within their respective product categories."

After entrusting his business affairs to Alex Carera of the A&J agency, the agent proved to be highly efficient, quickly entering into talks with all the World Tour Teams interested in signing Huang Chong.

But without a doubt, looking at the overall offers, besides Trek and his own team—who were clearly deep-pocketed with ample budgets—the terms offered by the other teams were relatively limited.

This was especially true for the Ineos Grenadiers and Visma Teams. They might have wanted to sign him as a leader, but based on their offers, Huang Chong wasn't a fool. 'I can tell that both teams harbor some doubts about my abilities, afraid I might just be a flash in the pan.'

'The Visma Team's position is understandable. After all, they already have Vingegaard; they would naturally be cautious about signing another top-tier rider.'

'Their budget has already been drastically reduced after Jumbo pulled its sponsorship this year, so they definitely couldn't afford a top-tier, 4-million-euro contract for me.'

'As for the Ineos Grenadiers Team, however, their offer feels genuinely arrogant.'

'Rodríguez's performance in the Tour de France was an absolute blowout; I crushed him, leaving him with no ability to fight back.'

'And with that level of performance, he's supposed to be on equal footing with me, sharing tactical status as a dual leader?'

'Signing a contract like that would just be asking for trouble.'

In the end, without much hesitation, Huang Chong weighed the offers from each team and reached a verbal agreement to stay with his current team.

As he was finalizing the agreement with the senior executives from Red Bull, Lightning, and Denke, a piece of good news reached Huang Chong's ears during the meeting.

The news was about Jonathan Narváez, the former Ineos rider who had out-sprinted Pogačar in the S1 Stage of this year's Giro d'Italia. During the Tour de France, Huang Chong had strongly urged his team to sign him. Now, the team had successfully fulfilled his request. They had beaten the UAE Team in the bidding war and signed the all-around GC Cyclist from Ecuador.

Huang Chong was very familiar with Narváez's strengths and characteristics.

'Even Pogačar holds him in high regard, which is a testament to his formidable strength.'

'As a reincarnator, I would have been a fool not to intercept this move and allow Narváez to join the UAE Team, which would only have strengthened Pogačar.'

Both he and Pogačar excelled at short, explosive sprints. Narváez's explosive power on climbs made him the perfect personal lieutenant to provide a lead-out for an all-around GC Cyclist like them.

In addition, his climbing and classics abilities were also excellent, making him a top talent capable of leading the team in races that Huang Chong didn't enter.

'If the Red Bull Bora Team hadn't gone after him, I would have seriously considered joining the Trek Team.'

Most importantly, Narváez was also very fond of China, and he came to compete in the Tour of Guangxi every year.

If they became teammates, Huang Chong could invite him to help promote road cycling culture back home, which would be a great benefit for fans in China.

"Huang, thank you for your trust in the team and for agreeing to renew your contract.

We will move forward together and achieve even greater success in the future.

However, due to UCI regulations, we must wait until August 1st to officially announce your and Narváez's contracts."

Huang Chong was already aware of this rule.

Chen Junyi knew it like the back of her hand; she had already thoroughly studied all of the UCI's various rules and regulations.

So he had nothing more to say. He simply extended his hand to shake with each of the top executives, replying with a smile,

"I'm also very grateful to the team and to all of you here for your complete trust in me. I will give my all in every race I compete in to bring home great results for the team!"

With the contract extension officially settled, Huang Chong, having rested enough, immediately threw himself back into training.

Many riders on this year's Red Bull Bora Team roster were slated to represent their respective countries at the Paris Olympic Games.

For instance, Ryan Mullen from Ireland, Maximilian Schachmann from Germany, and Marco Haller from Austria were all among those who would be competing in the upcoming Paris Olympic Games.

Although Huang Chong would be their competitor at the Olympics, since the National Team hadn't arrived in Paris yet, they could all still train together as part of their pro team.

And the team wasn't the least bit stingy in this regard.

After all, a victory for one of their riders in a major international competition would be excellent publicity for the team as well.

However, once the National Team landed in Paris, Huang Chong and Chen Junyi traveled to France to join them.

The head coach of the National Team in charge of the cycling program was once again Coach Han.

Huang Chong felt a natural sense of warmth and familiarity upon seeing him.

Coach Han was truly a mentor to him. He had not only looked out for him back in China, but had also helped him immensely behind the scenes when he decided to join a World Tour Team.

It was fair to say that his career wouldn't have been so smooth without Coach Han's guidance and help along the way.

Therefore, even if only to repay the debt of gratitude for his mentor's support, he was determined to give his absolute all in the Olympic race.

...