Chapter 420 - 204: On the Same Steep Slope, Brutally Dropped by the Same Opponent

August 20th.

For all the athletes from China who had represented their country at the recent Paris Olympic Games, this was undoubtedly a very important day.

Because today, a commendation ceremony for the Paris Olympic Games athletes was to be held in the Great Hall of the People in the Capital.

It was undoubtedly a great pity.

But as a professional athlete, he had his own responsibilities.

These responsibilities included striving for his own professional career and continuing to cultivate China’s presence in professional road cycling at the international level.

In short, any athlete still competing in professional events in overseas leagues had to choose between attending the commendation and continuing to race; they could only do one.

At 1:30 PM European time, after all the warm-up activities organized by the Vuelta a España hosts had concluded, the first race day back in Spain officially began.

However, it was clear that in the Vuelta a España, the breakaway riders’ desire to compete for the stage win was far less intense than in the Tour de France.

Today, a total of five riders chose to break away. Although that was three more than in the previous two hilly stages, the overall strength of the breakaway group was still very average.

Among them, Filippo Zana, an Italian rider from Jieke Team, was considered the strongest in the breakaway lineup.

As for the other four, they were Amiel from Decathlon Team, who was better at time trials; Sylvain Monique from Lotto Team; Pablo Castrillo from Kern Pharma Team; and Mikel Bizkarra from Euskaltel-Euskadi Team.

Undoubtedly, with a breakaway lineup like this—one that didn’t even include Lascano from Movistar Team—it was clear they were riding for their teams’ media exposure, not to compete for the stage win.

Of course, after the race officially started, Red Bull Bora Team wasn’t going to let the breakaway group get too far ahead. Their Core Commander already had a significant lead, and this was a mountain stage they were determined to win.

Their race tactic today was completely different from their style in the previous two "paddle-through" stages. Right from the start, they not only positioned two domestiques, Denz and Gampa, at the front of the peloton to control the pace, but also consistently kept the time gap between the main group and the breakaway at around two and a half minutes.

Regarding controlling the peloton, although the team of the rider in the general classification leader’s jersey usually participates in leading the chase, it’s more often the teams with their eyes on the stage result that concentrate their efforts on this task.

For example, in the S2 and S3 stages over the past two days, even though Huang Chong wore the Red Jersey, Visma Team and Alpecin Team took turns controlling the pace for most of the time.

They knew that for these two stages, as long as they controlled the race’s tempo, it would be very difficult for other teams to challenge them for the stage win.

Conversely, UAE Team—a team that is usually dominant and likes to control any race they’re in—had been surprisingly quiet so far in this Vuelta a España.

This was mainly because the first few stages weren’t suitable for them to control the race.

Their team has always focused on controlling climbing stages. Plus, with both Almeida and Adam Yates currently trailing Huang Chong by tens of seconds, they certainly wouldn’t take the initiative to control the race on a hilly stage.

They would only wait for a more suitable moment and terrain in the mountain stages to suddenly take over the race, hoping to catch Huang Chong off guard for their climbing leaders and gain a significant advantage.

"Good afternoon, viewers around the world, and welcome to today’s live race coverage!

Today, I’ll once again be joined by my partner, Jimmy, to bring you all the excitement from the Vuelta a España!"

On European Sports, the host, Steve, delivered his familiar opening remarks after the race started before quickly diving into the main topic:

"As everyone knows, today’s race is the fourth stage of this year’s Vuelta a España.

The riders have also finished all the stages held in Portugal and have officially returned to Spanish soil.

As the first race day back in the host country, today’s race is undoubtedly a major highlight.

Not only is it the first true mountaintop finish stage in the first week’s nine days of racing, but it’s also the first real opportunity for the general classification riders in the Vuelta a España to pull away from their rivals on other teams.

Of course, the rider whose movements we need to watch most closely in this stage is still Red Bull Bora Team’s Core Commander: Huang Chong.

This rider from China, though his lead in the general classification has been narrowed to a mere one-second advantage by Visma Team’s Van Aert through sprints at the finish of the last two hilly stages—

after today’s mountain stage, Van Aert, as a rider specializing in the Classics, will most likely have no chance of overcoming that one-second gap on the final, super-difficult climb.

However, we can fully expect the general classification contenders from other teams to launch a powerful attack against Red Bull Bora Team!

After all, this is a Grand Tour, and no one wants to just sit back and watch a rival stay ahead of them."

"That’s right. Although Huang Chong’s performance in the ITT stage was a top-tier spectacle that stunned everyone, whether he can maintain this excellent form is something no one can predict."

Jimmy chimed in, his tone also somewhat worried:

"From what I know, it’s already extremely rare for a rider in their very first year on the World Tour to even be selected for a Grand Tour’s main roster.