Chapter 427 206: Rich Tactical Application: The 'Raise a Wolf' Plan to Counter the Enemy, Part 2

Chris Harper of Jieke Team.

Luca Vegliato of Alpecin Team.

Pelayo Sánchez of Movistar Team.

And Gijs Leemreize of Team DSM.

This just went to show how truly immense Huang Chong's influence had become.

His single pre-race statement—that he was willing to give up the stage win—had caused a whole host of riders to flock towards the slim chance of a final victory.

However, Huang Chong was well aware of the caliber of the riders in this breakaway group. They weren't particularly formidable.

After all, the true breakaway ace on this Vuelta a España roster, Carapaz—who had just won the Polka Dot Jersey as the King of the Mountains in the Tour de France—hadn't even joined the breakaway.

Only O'Connor stood out. His form this year was explosive, he had previously achieved a strong fourth-place finish in a Grand Tour's general classification, and his ability was more than sufficient. He was undoubtedly the strongest in the group.

Just as Huang Chong had predicted, after the 13-man breakaway group rode through the only intermediate sprint point on a gentle incline at the 119.5-kilometer mark, O'Connor made his move. As they reached the subsequent Third Category Climb, the Puerto del Viento, he decisively joined forces with Leemreize from Team DSM and launched an attack on the climb.

The Puerto del Viento was 6.6 kilometers long, with an average gradient of 4.2% and a maximum gradient of only 6.5% per kilometer.

For a World Tour Climber, this was undoubtedly a low-difficulty climb.

But on this very climb of modest difficulty, the breakaway group was a mess of conflicting agendas and internal scheming, making it impossible for them to form an effective chase. As a result, the O'Connor duo quickly pulled away and opened a gap.

Aldag soon heard the news from Lipowitz and immediately gave his instructions.

"Don't worry about the other breakaway riders."

"Go after O'Connor right now, and don't let him drop you!"

"The other riders aren't much of a threat. All you have to do is mark O'Connor."

With his orders, Lipowitz had nothing more to say. He immediately attacked from the breakaway group, attempting to chase down the O'Connor duo as they pulled further and further into the distance.

But in truth, the breakaway group wasn't the only one engaged in scheming. The peloton, which had already let O'Connor build a lead of nearly five minutes, was also consumed by its own mind games.

Even though their team had Huang Chong in the Red Jersey for the overall lead, which naturally obligated the Red Bull Bora Team's support riders to control the pace at the front, the other teams were absolutely refusing to participate in any of the pacemaking or rotations today.

To be honest, this situation was making Huang Chong quite anxious.

After all, if the race finished with the current time gaps, O'Connor would take the Red Jersey from him.

But his own support riders couldn't burn themselves out chasing, or the other teams would take full advantage.

This was especially true for teams like United Arab Emirates and Ineos, which always harbored ambitions for the general classification. They would love nothing more than to see the Red Bull Bora Team's support riders burn themselves out in the first week.

Only then could they conserve their strength to make their move in the mountain stages of the second and third weeks.

Huang Chong understood these basic principles, but after a moment's thought, he still decided to get on the radio and talk to Aldag.

There were just over 20 kilometers left to the finish, and the second Third Category Climb, Puerto Martinez, was coming up.

This was a relatively difficult climb. Though only 3.5 kilometers long, its average gradient was 5.9%, and the maximum gradient even reached a steep 9.2%.

If they wanted to proactively close the time gap to O'Connor and avoid losing the Red Jersey, they had to push the pace and chase on this climb.

If they missed this chance, it would be very difficult to close the gap later.

He took the initiative and asked,

"Director, O'Connor's lead on us is huge right now."

"If we keep up this current pace, he's probably going to take my Red Jersey by the end of the stage."

"Are we sure we're not going to chase?"

Aldag could hear the anxiety in Huang Chong's voice. Losing the Red Jersey was, after all, a terrible thing for a rider.

It was a tremendous honor, one that some riders would give their all to wear for even a single day.

But as the team director, Aldag had his own considerations. He thought for a moment before replying reassuringly to Huang Chong,

"Don't worry, Huang. There's still a long way to the finish. It's too early to chase now!"

Huang Chong, naturally, couldn't agree with this answer.

He could accept completely letting go of the stage victory.

And given the difficulty of the remaining course, it would probably be impossible to catch O'Connor now even if he tried.

But he couldn't accept throwing away the advantage he had worked so hard to build. He replied,

"Why?"

"After Puerto Martinez, the final Third Category Climb is much less difficult than this one."

"With O'Connor's strength, he definitely knows the time gap between us."

"If he knows he has a chance to take my Red Jersey, he'll definitely ride his heart out on the last climb. Wouldn't chasing him down then be even more trouble?"

Aldag knew he had to show Huang Chong respect, so after a moment's thought, he could only reply truthfully,

"Huang, let me explain why we can't chase now!"

"First, O'Connor's lead is indeed large enough."

"But his lead isn't just over you."

"If I were the director of another team, I definitely wouldn't bet all my hopes for the race on the overall victory."