Chapter 406 - 199: Deciding the Winner Early on the Final Montmartre Climb

[HOLY SHIT!! Huang Chong is a beast! He finally caught Brother Sharp, who was in the breakaway for so long!!]

[Keep pulling!! Huang Chong!!]

[With a lead of several tens of seconds, I feel like Huang Chong needs to hurry and widen the gap on Fan Debiao before the second cobblestone section, or he’s going to get dropped by Both Fan again!]

However, if Huang Chong knew what the fans were thinking at this moment, he wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

With about 30 kilometers still to go, if he kept pulling the whole time, he would just be giving the group behind him a free ride.

So, after catching Ben Healy, he flicked his bike to the side, changing his line on the road.

The message was clear: he wanted Evenepoel, who was riding his wheel, to take a turn in the rotation.

But Eve was a true man. Seeing Huang Chong pull over, he immediately took the front and began to attack furiously on the flats.

At this point, their group was down to just six riders. The other three were Stefan King, Madouas, and Huang Chong’s World Tour teammate, Marco Haller.

Their lead over the main peloton, which was being furiously pursued by Dutch Team lieutenant Van Baarle, was a mere 34 seconds.

Such a small gap was obviously not enough to hold off van der Poel, so Huang Chong didn’t let Evenepoel do all the work at the front.

He cooperated fully, joining him in the rotation. On the flat road, they put their prowess as time trial specialists on full display.

As a result, Van Baarle, chasing at the front of the main group, was completely unable to close the distance on the flats. In fact, the time gap only grew larger.

By the time they reached the second ascent of Montmartre, with only 29 km to the finish, the main peloton had fallen 1 minute and 12 seconds behind.

Upon reaching the cobblestones again, Huang Chong held nothing back. While he didn’t launch an anaerobic attack, just by maintaining a threshold power of 460 watts with a furious seated pedal stroke, he managed to drop two more riders from the six-man group.

Stefan King and his own teammate Marco Haller couldn’t hang on through his brutal, seated effort on the steep cobblestone climb and were decisively dropped.

After the cobblestones, they returned to the flats. As Eve came through to share the work, Ben Healy, who had been in the breakaway for some seventy or eighty kilometers, finally cracked. Only one rider remained with them: the French cyclist Madouas.

Huang Chong glanced back at Madouas, gesturing for him to come through and take a pull.

But Madouas just shook his head, refusing him on the spot.

This instantly pissed him off.

’This guy has been drafting for so long, and he won’t even cooperate on the flats? What kind of sportsmanship is that?’

And so, when the race reached the final 15 km, as they hit the last 600-meter short, steep climb of the second lap, it was Huang Chong’s turn to lead. He immediately got out of the saddle, went anaerobic, and started rocking his bike up the climb, dropping Madouas instantly!

However, a climb like this was no threat to Evenepoel, who of course had no trouble sticking to his wheel.

With Madouas gone, the race was officially down to a 1v1.

[HOLY SHIT!! Huang Chong is insane! How can he still launch attack after attack this late in the race?!!]

[Look at his form in these last twenty-plus kilometers! He’s dropped every other breakaway rider all by himself with wave after wave of small attacks!]

[Now only Beloved Consort is left with him. Do you think he has a shot at the gold medal?]

[As long as they aren’t caught by van der Poel on the final cobblestone section, it’s totally possible! After all, Eve’s sprint is no match for Huang Chong’s!]

[HOLY FUCK, THE PLAN HAS CHANGED! INITIATE OPERATION: WIN THE GOLD!!!]

...

And just as fans all over China were eagerly discussing and dreaming of a scenario where Huang Chong and Evenepoel would work together all the way to a final sprint showdown—

Only 10 kilometers remained to the finish.

As Huang Chong and Evenepoel rode into the final cobblestone ascent of Montmartre, surrounded by the deafening roar of a frenzied crowd, Huang Chong attacked! On the toughest part of the climb, the 8% gradient, he got out of his saddle and started rocking the bike!!

An initial power output of over a thousand watts made him look like a cannonball on the steep slope, instantly surging up the climb.

"Huang Chong is attacking on the steepest part of the cobblestone road!!!

Instead of waiting for a final sprint, he clearly wants to settle things with his rival right here on this steep climb!!

Evenepoel immediately got out of the saddle to follow, but can he hold Huang Chong’s wheel?!"

Director Xiao’s passionate roar hadn’t even finished when Evenepoel, after following for only forty or fifty meters, cracked. It was a repeat of what happened in the mountain stages of the Tour de France.

And so, on the 300-meter-long, 8% gradient climb, Huang Chong rapidly opened a gap.

meters—

meters—

meters—

By the time Huang Chong crested the cobblestone climb, he had opened a gap of nearly 80 meters on Evenepoel.

This distance amounted to a 15-second lead, but for Huang Chong, it was more than enough!

Because after finishing the Montmartre section, the route changed, heading all the way to the finish in the direction of Trocadero Square.

A 9km stretch of Daping Road lay ahead. Having completely dropped Evenepoel on the climb, he began a solo attack, leaving everyone else in the dust!!

"Huang Chong has successfully dropped Evenepoel!!!

His lead is growing—it’s 20 seconds now!!!

Can he hold this advantage all the way to the finish line?!!"

Watching Huang Chong attack solo off the front, Director Xiao’s voice trembled as he commentated.

Faced with such a scene, it would be weirder if he wasn’t excited!!

Meanwhile, the fans across the country watching the race live went into a frenzy when they saw Huang Chong decisively drop Evenepoel!

But no matter how excited they were, everyone had to force themselves to suppress the urge to celebrate early. Not until Huang Chong crossed the finish line.

At this moment, every person in China was wishing for time to speed up.

’This is the Olympic Road Race!!’

Many riders only get one chance in their entire lives to win it!

And now, a rider from their own country not only had a decisive lead but was also this close to the finish—

As passionate cycling fans, how could they not be hoping for their home rider to win this incredibly precious Olympic gold medal?

However, as if the heavens themselves had heard the fans’ prayers, something extraordinary happened. Just as Evenepoel was furiously chasing Huang Chong on the flats, looking like he might actually start closing the gap, his bike suffered a sudden mechanical failure coming out of a corner. There were only 3.8 km to go.

Huang Chong, riding like a madman at the front, was oblivious. But while his rival was changing bikes, he unknowingly gained another ten seconds.

Finally, unsurprisingly, he was the first to arrive beneath the Eiffel Tower. He crossed an empty Jena Bridge and became the first to return to the starting point:

Trocadero Square!

...