Chapter 478: Though with Regret, a Historical Void is Filled (Part 2)

His time was 13 minutes and 39 seconds, with an average speed as high as 54.9 km/h.

“Jesus, as expected of the defending champion from the last World Championships ITT. Remco’s performance is just too stunning. He’s successfully beaten Huang Chong’s time by one second!!! From the looks of it, it’s going to be difficult for Huang Chong to win the championship!”

“Remco is a rider who seems born for time trials. He’s the kind of rider who can sweep the championships in every event: the Tour de France flat-road ITT, the Paris Olympic Games ITT, and the World Championships ITT. But the second time check is the most crucial part. After all, the riders have to get through a long climb to reach the summit!”

While cycling fans across the globe were marveling at Evenepoel beating Huang Chong’s time, the fans in China were, of course, feeling a bit bitter.

But in the end, deep down, it wasn’t a result they couldn’t accept.

Evenepoel was indeed, as Jimmy had said, born for time trials.

It was never going to be easy for Huang Chong to surpass the young powerhouse in a flat-road time trial.

Subsequently, Tarling, Stefan King, Roglič, and the others passed the second intermediate time check one by one.

As expected, after finishing the section with the long climb, all three of their times fell apart.

Tarling went from being 11 seconds behind Huang Chong to 53 seconds behind.

Stefan King completely blew up on the climb and was now 1 minute and 8 seconds behind Huang Chong.

As for Roglič, he still hadn’t cracked the top ten. His form was a complete mystery.

After they passed, the riders right behind Huang Chong on the live leaderboard were now the Australian rider Vine and the Italian rider Affini.

Vine had an impressive performance on the second climb, only about 7 seconds slower than Huang Chong, putting his total deficit at 29 seconds.

Affini, on the other hand, was 48 seconds behind Huang Chong.

Seeing this, Huang Chong felt confident that a podium finish was well within his grasp.

In this kind of international competition, just winning a medal was a supreme honor, and moreover, a historic breakthrough.

As long as he was in the top three, his country’s flag would be raised.

Ganna soon reached the second intermediate time check.

Under the watchful eyes of the world, the Italian had finally made it through what was, for him, the most difficult section of the race.

But his time was 32 minutes and 18 seconds.

He was now a full 13 seconds behind Huang Chong.

However, what excited the Chinese fans even more was when Evenepoel, the last rider to start, also reached the second intermediate time check. His time was 32 minutes and 9 seconds, which meant that after the climb, he was actually 4 seconds *behind* Huang Chong. At this news, the Chinese viewing circles absolutely erupted.

‘In road cycling, he who conquers the climbs conquers the world!’

Huang Chong’s climbing ability was plain for all to see. Evenepoel hadn’t beaten him head-to-head on a climb all year.

Whether it was the Tour de France or the Paris Olympic Games, Evenepoel had been completely crushed and dropped by Huang Chong on the climbs. It was unexpected that the same would hold true even in an ITT race.

“Oh my God! Remco’s climbing ability really does seem to be inferior to Huang Chong’s. Who would have thought that after the second time check, he would actually be 4 seconds behind?”

Steve was utterly shocked by this reversal.

Jimmy, however, looked much calmer after seeing the results.

He pondered for a moment before speaking slowly.

“We’ve all seen Huang Chong’s climbing ability before, so there’s no need to elaborate on it. In the races where Remco has faced Huang Chong this season, he has never beaten him on a climb. I’m actually not surprised that Huang Chong gained an advantage at the second time check. This was his strong suit, but he only gained a 5-second advantage. I believe the initiative is still with Remco.”

“That’s true. The remaining climbs are too short. Remco can power through them with his anaerobic capacity, so it’s unlikely he’ll lose any more time.”

Steve agreed.

“Ultimately, the race will be decided on the final, pure Daping Road.”

And just as the two commentators predicted, things unfolded. Although Evenepoel had given up 5 seconds to Huang Chong on the long climb, he began to claw back time. After the third intermediate time check, his time was 43 minutes and 12 seconds. He had pulled back two seconds on the mostly downhill section, leaving him just two seconds behind Huang Chong overall.

As for Ganna, who was ahead of him on the road, he had lost another 7 seconds to Huang Chong and was now a full 21 seconds behind.

Facing such a large deficit with only 10km of pure flat road remaining, Ganna naturally had to go all out.

He began to surge with all his might, no longer conserving energy.

The flats were the specialty of both Ganna and Evenepoel.

As they both began to put out maximum effort, the advantage Huang Chong had built on the climbs was quickly eroded.

Ganna, in particular, was like a superman. Knowing he was behind, he rode with do-or-die desperation.

He was closing the 21-second gap, gaining back more than two seconds on Huang Chong with every kilometer.

It made Huang Chong’s and all the Chinese fans’ scalps tingle with anxiety.

‘This Italian is just ruthless.’

But this was also the advantage of starting later.

With the riders ahead having already set their times, Ganna could use their splits to perfectly pace and increase his power output.

The one who really suffered was Roglič, who had started just before him.

Among the top riders in the last ten start positions, it was almost unheard of for one to be caught and overtaken by a rider starting behind them.

The start gap between them was rarely more than 1 minute and 30 seconds.

But with Ganna going full throttle, just a few hundred meters from the finish line, Roglič—already in poor form—became the only star rider to be overtaken by someone who started later.

Huang Chong couldn’t care less how his senior rider felt after being passed by Ganna. He was too busy feeling despair himself as he watched Ganna cross the line with a total time of 53 minutes and 8 seconds. In the final 10km, Ganna had gained a staggering 22 seconds on him. He wanted to cry but had no tears left.

‘What the hell, what kind of monster is he!’

But after a moment’s thought, he quickly came to terms with it.

He knew that his own performance in the last 10km had been relatively average.

There was no helping it. As a climber, he had to push hard on the earlier climbing sections to build an advantage.

And he had indeed done so.

But Ganna’s strategy was clearly to conserve some energy on the climbs and then focus everything on the final 10km of pure flat road.

The Chinese fans could only curse under their breath when they saw Huang Chong get overtaken by Ganna in the final stage.

But in reality, everyone knew that if Huang Chong had started after Ganna and built a 21-second lead after the first three time checks, there would be absolutely no way for him to be overtaken.

Nevertheless, Ganna’s performance in those final 10km of flat road was truly god-like. You had to respect it.

Ganna had even put a massive 13 seconds into Evenepoel during that same stretch.

Finally, Evenepoel, the last rider to start, crossed the finish line. His total time was fixed at 53 minutes, 1.98 seconds, with an average speed of 52.156 km/h.

He was 8 seconds faster than Huang Chong, successfully defending his gold medal in the World Championships ITT.

As for Ganna, with his incredible performance in the final 10km, he overtook Huang Chong by one second to win the silver medal in this year’s World Championships ITT.

Huang Chong took third place.

But to reach the podium and win a bronze medal in his very first World Championships ITT—even if there was a tinge of regret, he wasn’t disappointed in himself.

‘Anyway, I’m still improving. I’ll have more chances to go for the gold in the future.’

The World Championships are held every year. Next year’s ITT in Rwanda features a lot of cobbled climbs. He knew he’d have plenty of opportunities to get his revenge on Evenepoel.

After the ITT race concluded, Coach Han came over, patted Huang Chong on the shoulder, and comforted him with a smile.

“This is an amazing result, Huang Chong. I know you must have some regrets, but there’s always next year. Now, we need to shift our focus to the road race!”

Of course, he was quite satisfied with Huang Chong’s performance.

As long as a national rider won a medal, China would no longer have a blank slate in the history of professional road cycling. This was an unprecedented, historic breakthrough.

After all, before Huang Chong, who would have dared to dream of such a result?