Chapter 465 219: A Roadblock to the 7th Vuelta a España Crown Appears (Part 2)

Moreover, a Vuelta a España stage win doesn't hold nearly the same value as one in the Tour de France.

Merckx, after all, once won seven stages in a single Tour de France—

The Tour de France is basically 21 one-day classics.

Riders have to go all out every single day just to have a chance at temporarily reaching the highest peak.

But the Vuelta a España has far too many stages where you can just cruise.

It's also the least prestigious of the three Grand Tours, ranking even below the Giro d'Italia.

Of course, as a super-rookie in his first year with a World Tour Team, winning the Vuelta a España overall and taking second in the Tour de France was an achievement Huang Chong himself was definitely satisfied with.

After all, Pogačar also competed in the Vuelta a España during his rookie season but only managed third place in the general classification.

"Tomorrow's the last race day, Huang. Right now, in the general classification, you have a massive lead over O'Connor in second place, so just ride freely.

Of course, your safety is the top priority.

It would be best if you could win again, naturally.

But if you want to let it go, the team won't have any objections."

That evening, while Huang Chong was receiving a massage from the team's soigneur to clear out lactic acid, Aldag came to his private room to speak with him.

It was no exaggeration to say that after becoming the leader of a World Tour Team, the treatment he received was in a class of its own.

Not only was his annual salary much higher than a domestique's, but he also received the lion's share of the team's resources.

Even for tactical briefings, the team director would come to his room personally.

Huang Chong himself had no intention of throwing the race. He had already let others win the stages he needed to during the first two weeks, fulfilling his social obligations.

Now, for any victory within his grasp, he would definitely go all out to take it.

UCI points were directly tied to the growth of his personal power output. Although the rate of increase had slowed considerably, every little improvement brought him closer to Pogačar.

He knew very well that if he wanted to achieve his ultimate dream—a Tour de France victory—the three-time champion Pogačar was an obstacle he absolutely had to overcome.

In fact, to secure a Tour de France win, he would need to be even stronger than Pogačar to be safe.

After all, the UAE Team was backed by a Middle Eastern Prince. Their budget was massive, and their roster of domestiques was simply world-class.

Although the Red Bull Bora Team had snagged Narváez from the Ineos Grenadiers Team for a high price after this year's Tour de France, and had also secured contracts for many new domestiques joining next season, comparing their support roster to the UAE Team's was still unrealistic.

'If the support team isn't strong enough, I'll just have to make up for it myself.' Huang Chong understood this perfectly.

He thought for a moment before replying:

"I will complete our final race of this Vuelta a España with my safety as the top priority!"

Hearing this, Aldag naturally had nothing more to say.

Anyway, for the final day's ITT, the start order was the reverse of the general classification standings, meaning Huang Chong would be the last to set off.

And the only help the team could offer, besides dealing with any mechanical failures along the way, was to keep feeding him words of encouragement.

Everything that happened on the course and how to respond to it was in Huang Chong's own hands. There really wasn't much for Aldag to say.

As for the TT bike's gear ratio, that had also been configured to Huang Chong's personal specifications. The setup was identical to the S1 Stage, with no changes whatsoever.

So, whatever the final outcome, all the team could do was wait for the result.

...

September 8th.

The final race day of the Vuelta a España took place as scheduled.

The last 21-day Grand Tour of the year was finally coming to an end.

A unique feature of the Vuelta a España is that it starts in the summer and rides all the way into the autumn.

As in previous years, the riders would return to the capital of Spain, Madrid, for the final race.

As the concluding ITT stage, its length was certainly different from the S1 Stage held in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

Although the terrain was very similar, being mostly flat, the ITT in Madrid covered a distance of 24.6 km.

There were also two intermediate time checks along the course, at the 8 km and 17.5 km marks, to compare the riders' performance at different points.

With the distance more than doubled and after 20 grueling days of racing, the time trial specialists who had been so impressive in S1, including Huang Chong, would certainly not be able to maintain the same terrifying average speed as they did at the start.

Although the second half of the Madrid ITT was mostly a gentle descent, the final 2 km featured a slight, gradual incline.

It's also worth noting that compared to the top-ten list from the S1 Stage, some of the time trial specialists had already withdrawn from the race before the S21 ITT.

For example, Van Aert of the Visma Team and Tarling of the Ineos Grenadiers Team had both withdrawn.

If one were to predict the winner of the final stage based on the S1 Stage performance, the clear favorites would be McNulty, Vine, Stefan King, Cataño, Affini, Kapenaert, and Vacek, among others.

But Huang Chong was still, without a doubt, the biggest favorite to win.

After all, in the S1 Stage, he had clocked an incredible average speed of 58 km/h. Plus, throughout the entire Vuelta a España, he had consistently dominated and crushed all other riders with ease, wearing both the red leader's jersey and the White Jersey for a full 20 days—

It would be unthinkable not to bet on him winning the final stage and securing his first career Grand Tour overall victory in the most perfect way possible.

After the race began, the first rider to set off was the one ranked last in the general classification, Tim Naberman of Team DSM.