Chapter 410 - 201: Vuelta a España Roster Announced, Number 1 in the GC Odds

After the Olympics ended, Huang Chong remained in Paris for several more days.

He spent most of this time giving interviews to major media outlets from China.

His victory in the Olympic road race made him an unprecedented record-holder. He had also taken a historic step forward for his country in the sport on the international stage. For China, such an accomplishment was both astounding and immensely important.

Reporters from CCTV, Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily, and other sports platforms like Tencent Sports, Migu Sports, Zhibo8, Meiqi, and Hupu—nearly every major platform conducted an exclusive interview with him over those few days.

Consequently, by the time he finished all his interviews and returned to the team’s headquarters in Germany with Chen Junyi, several days had already passed since the race.

The Red Bull Bora Team was also incredibly excited about him winning a gold medal for his country at the Olympics.

After all, their core rider was a world champion. For the team’s public relations, this was an absolute win with no drawbacks.

So when Huang Chong returned to the team, Ralph Denke, Rolf Aldag, the entire team staff, and even executives from Red Bull and Lightning were all waiting for him at headquarters.

The team had even prepared flowers, confetti cannons, and a celebratory banquet for him. They truly gave him a grand and dignified welcoming ceremony.

"Huang, congratulations on winning the gold medal in the Olympic road race. And congratulations to your country for achieving such a massive breakthrough in a major international competition."

Denke, who had a small mustache, was the first to give Huang Chong a hug. He then added with a grin,

"You must be a national hero in your country now, right?"

Hearing his boss’s question, Huang Chong couldn’t help but smile as he replied,

"Thank you, boss. And thank you, everyone, for preparing such a grand welcoming ceremony for me here at headquarters."

"As for being a national hero, I don’t think that’s for me to decide. That’s up to my 1.4 billion fellow countrymen to judge."

"But to be honest, I’m taking it all in stride."

"Because in my eyes, when my country—and the team, for that matter—placed their hopes in me and needed me to deliver, I simply did everything in my power and fought without holding anything back."

Ralph Denke was very pleased with Huang Chong’s emotionally intelligent response.

As the core rider who had just been re-signed to a lucrative contract, it was undoubtedly gratifying for Denke to see him place such importance on the team.

"Huang, I have to say, you gave the entire world a spectacular victory born from a defensive counter-attack."

Aldag then gave Huang Chong a hug as well, before adding his own praise.

"You know, when the race reached the first climb up Montmartre, I was watching on TV. Seeing you get instantly dropped by van der Poel and Van Aert... my heart sank. I thought:"

’You might be done for!’

"And I was honestly surprised that you didn’t immediately respond to van der Poel on the cobbled section—"

"But looking at the final result, it’s clear that deliberately conserving your energy laid the groundwork for your ultimate victory."

"Still, no matter how you look at it, that choice was a massive gamble."

"After all, if van der Poel had managed to shake off Van Aert—whose form has been relatively average this year—he probably would have gone all the way. And he certainly has the ability to do that."

"That’s true, but that’s professional road cycling for you. Your chances of winning are always fifty-fifty."

"You never know what’s going to happen until the race is over."

Denke, who was standing to the side, shrugged. He began leading Huang Chong toward the team’s lounge and continued in a teasing tone,

"For example, Van Aert’s performance on the World Tour this year has been absolutely abysmal."

"But on the cobblestones of Montmartre, he just so happened to shut down van der Poel’s attack."

"That allowed both you and Remco to launch an attack from the main group."

"Without him tying van der Poel down, you might not have been able to pick off the riders in the breakaway one by one on the subsequent climbs, and you wouldn’t have been able to create that 1v1 situation with Remco."

"Seriously, when I saw you on the final climb up the cobblestones of Montmartre, using your Sprinting Burst to completely shatter Remco, I was absolutely thrilled."

Trailing behind his boss, Huang Chong heard the two names Denke mentioned in his little rant, and he caught the distinct note of schadenfreude in his tone. Of course, he knew why.

During last year’s winter transfer window, when the Red Bull Group was planning to acquire Denke’s shares and invest in the Bora Team, they had made offers for both Evenepoel and Van Aert, hoping to bring them both over.

The Red Bull Group was even willing to pay the Quick Step Team a 10 million euro buyout clause to sign Evenepoel, who was still under contract.

Unfortunately, both of them rejected the olive branch that was extended.

Of course, as someone who had lived this life before, Huang Chong already knew that Evenepoel would eventually join the Red Bull Bora Team after the 2025 season.

He just hadn’t lived long enough to see him competing in a Red Bull Bora Team jersey on the World Tour before he was reborn.

But in this life, with him—a top GC contender who consistently dominated Evenepoel—on the roster, and considering Denke’s current attitude, it was highly unlikely that the Red Bull Bora Team would ever be interested in him again.