Chapter 417 203: Either Lose the Red Jersey, or Extend the Lead Again

"Holy shit, what a performance from Huang Chong!!"

"Did he really just sweep all four leader's jerseys in a Grand Tour??"

"Forget about the overall championship for a second. Just the achievement of sweeping all the leader's jerseys by himself... even Wen Bo never managed that. I mean, who else can even compete??"

"Awesome! Before the Vuelta a España started, everyone outside of Spain was roasting them for their bizarre route design. But looking at it now, if they hadn't made the first stage an ITT, Huang Chong would never have been able to pull off the achievement of wearing all four leader's jerseys at once!"

"And it's all thanks to Huang Chong being under 25. If he were any older, he'd never have a shot at the White Jersey again, which means he'd never be able to pull off a feat like this in his entire life!!"

After the Vuelta a España's S1 Stage concluded, the fans back in China were undoubtedly ecstatic as they watched the broadcast show Huang Chong sweeping all four leader's jerseys.

Although with Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel not participating, this year's final Grand Tour seemed a bit lacking in star power.

But as long as the sole Chinese rider was competing, all of China's cycling fans were sure to tune in live and follow the entire Vuelta a España.

And as it turned out, their vigil in front of their screens was not in vain.

If they hadn't watched the Vuelta a España live, how could they have personally witnessed Huang Chong make history with a "grand slam" in a Grand Tour?

You have to understand, in the century-long history of professional road cycling, there have indeed been riders who collected all four leader's jerseys across different Grand Tours.

But within a single Grand Tour, no one had ever managed to wear all four leader's jerseys at once.

Granted, holding the four leader's jerseys after the Vuelta a España's S1 Stage was completely useless in terms of time bonuses for the general classification.

But for Huang Chong to have such a unique achievement in his professional career, he would be remembered for a long time.

In any case, Vingegaard and Pogačar could no longer achieve this particular honor in their careers.

Because they were both past the age to qualify for the White Jersey, the most they could ever do was hold three jerseys at once, never four.

"Jesus, look at Huang Chong's performance in the opening show of this tour. What do you even call this?

It's absolutely insane!!"

Steve, from European Sports, had a rather strange look on his face as he watched the Vuelta a España officials award all four leader's jerseys directly to Huang Chong after the ITT.

He went on to exclaim:

"Not only did he take the unprecedented four leader's jerseys, but after just the S1 Stage, he's already opened up a massive time gap on the other teams' GC contenders.

Look at the Ineos Grenadiers Team's leader, Rodríguez; the Trek Team's leader, Ciccone; the Visma Team's leader, Kuss; and the Decathlon Team's co-leaders, Gall and O'Connor.

After just 12km of racing, they are already trailing Huang Chong by 57 seconds, 1:09, 1:08, 1:08, and 1:07, respectively—

Right now, only the UAE Team's Almeida and Adam Yates are even remotely close, and they're still behind by 34 and 49 seconds, respectively.

What's even the point of racing anymore!!

Don't tell me Huang Chong is going to wear the GC Red Jersey from the very first stage all the way to the finish, is he?"

After hearing his partner's commentary, Jimmy couldn't tell if it was spoken out of amazement or frustration.

But what he did know was that Huang Chong's climbing ability was already terrifyingly strong.

Now, after just one time-trial stage, he was already ahead of the other teams' leaders by such a huge margin. For them to try and reverse that deficit would be next to impossible.

You could even say that as long as Huang Chong doesn't completely implode on his own, it's nearly impossible for the other GC leaders to make up a gap of more than half a minute on him in the mountains.

"I don't think we can rule out that possibility—"

Jimmy shook his head with a wry smile and began his analysis:

"Although the Vuelta a España organizers awarding all four leader's jerseys to Huang Chong was simply a move born of necessity.

After all, the S1 Stage didn't contain any categorized climbs or intermediate sprints, so the Polka Dot Jersey and Green Jersey had to be provisionally awarded to the rider with the best overall time—

But the Red Jersey and White Jersey were won fair and square on his own merit.

As it stands, the only person who could possibly stop him from achieving the incredible feat of wearing the Red Jersey for the entire Grand Tour is Van Aert, who is currently only 17 seconds behind him.

After all, the next two stages, S2 and S3, are both on hilly terrain, which will most likely come down to a sprint finish for the sprinters.

If Van Aert can win both of the next two stages, it's possible for him to overtake Huang Chong in the general classification with the ten-second time bonus for each stage victory.

But if he can't turn it around in these next two stages, then once the race returns to Spanish soil and they face the first week's high mountain stages, it's going to be incredibly difficult for anyone to take the Red Jersey off Huang Chong!"

"That's true. Although we predicted before the race that Huang Chong was the favorite to win this year's Vuelta a España—

but I never expected him to open his campaign in such a stunningly dominant fashion, firing a massive warning shot at all his rivals.

With a performance like this, if he can really put on the overall leader's jersey on day one of a Grand Tour and never take it off, that would be even more astonishing than Pogačar at this year's Giro d'Italia.

Pogačar, after all, lost to Narváez in the S1 Stage of the Giro, which shattered his chance at the grand achievement of wearing the leader's jersey for all 21 days of a Grand Tour!"