Chapter 480 225: Single-Handedly Against the World (2)

Next was the women's road race.

During this time, in addition to his training, Huang Chong also went to watch the Women's Elite road race on the 28th.

The China women's team had three entry slots, fielding Zeng Luyao, Tang Xin, and Zhou Qiuying.

However, the results were quite dismal. All three of them failed to finish the race.

The championship was won by Belgian rider Lotte Kopecky.

This result was no surprise. Although time trials weren't Kopecky's strong suit, in the road race, she was essentially the women's Pogačar, absolutely dominating the World Tour.

Her sprinting ability, in particular, was virtually unmatched among the female riders.

When it came to a sprint to the finish, she was simply unbeatable.

After the Women's Elite race concluded, only the final event on September 29th remained.

This was the Men's Elite road race, an event whose prestige within the entire World Championships—and indeed all of road cycling—was second only to the Tour de France.

Whoever won the gold medal in the road race would get to wear the Rainbow Jersey for a full year.

"Tomorrow is the last day of racing, Huang Chong. Just do your best. No matter what the outcome is, we won't have any regrets."

Coach Han said encouragingly to Huang Chong the night before the race.

In truth, he felt he had no other choice but to say this.

After all, the China Team only had a single entry slot.

Without a single teammate, he couldn't very well ask Huang Chong to aim for the gold medal or a podium finish.

Especially after seeing the rosters of the cycling powerhouses, it would be an incredible uphill battle for Huang Chong to take them on all by himself.

Huang Chong knew Coach Han was just trying to ease the pressure on him before the race.

But to be honest, he didn't really have a choice.

As the sole hope for countless fans back home, he had to aim for the top step of the podium, even if he was riding alone.

Whether or not he could win was another question, but if he didn't give it his absolute all, he would be torn to shreds by the legions of fans.

After all, he was currently representing the state of road cycling for all of China.

But honestly, when he saw the start list, a bitter feeling washed over him.

Countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States each had eight entry slots.

The riders from these powerhouses were already formidable, and with superstars like Pogačar, Evenepoel, and van der Poel having so many teammates to support them, what chance did he have?

It was as if he were taking on the entire world by himself.

The Dutch Team's Core Commander was, of course, van der Poel, supported by riders like Bart Lemmen, Molama, and Van den Broeck.

Belgium's team was even more stacked; every member of their eight-man roster was a top-tier rider.

Their leader was still Evenepoel, but the other seven were Benut, Campenaerts, De Plus, Quinten Hermans, Stuyven, Van Gils, and Wellens.

As for Slovenia, their overall roster might not have been as top-tier as Belgium's.

But they had dual leaders in Pogačar and Roglič, plus two top-tier domestiques, Novak and Tranic.

For a one-day race, that roster was absolutely stacked.

Beyond these three top contenders, Spain's roster was also not to be underestimated.

They actually had the highest number of World Tour Team leaders of any national squad.

Mas, Ayuso, C. Rodríguez, and Bilbao were the respective leaders of Movistar Team, UAE, Ineos, and the Bahrain Victory Team.

Their support roster included Huang Chong's teammate Adrià, Evenepoel's lieutenant Landa, the breakout rookie Castrillo who had shone in the Vuelta a España, and finally, Aranburu.

In terms of a sheer number of star riders, Spain was undoubtedly on par with Belgium.

The Italian Team's star rider was Trek Commander Ciccone, with a support roster that included Zana, Cataño, Jota, Tiberi, and Ulissi.

The Danish Team's key riders were Skjelmose, Asgreen, Pedersen, and Wandahl.

Unfortunately, two-time Tour de France champion Vingegaard was once again skipping the one-day race, which cost his country a significant amount of attention.

France's lineup was equally star-studded, featuring Alaphilippe, Romain Bardet, David Gaudu, Madouas, and Sivakov.

The British Team's roster was by no means inferior to France's, as they fielded Pidcock, Onley, Williams, Donovan, and the twin brothers, Simon and Adam Yates.

As for the last two countries with eight-man squads, Australia and the United States, the former fielded Huang Chong's teammate Sindel, along with Matthews, O'Connor, Vine, and Sweeney.

The latter fielded Jorgenson, McNulty, Powless, Sheffield, and Quinn Simmons, among others.

However, beyond these top-tier nations, the other countries with fewer entry slots were not without their own star riders.

For example, Colombia had Buitrago, Huang Chong's teammate Martínez, Rubio, and Tejada.

Switzerland had Stefan King and Hirschi.

Norway had Foss, Abrahamsen, and Tobias.

Germany had Huang Chong's teammate Lipowitz and Schachmann.

Portugal had Almeida and the three Oliveiras.

Ireland had Ben Healy and Dunbar.

Austria had Gall.

Jieke had Vacek.

Canada had Derrick Gee and Michael Woods.

Latvia had Skujiņš, and so on.

In short, aside from a few top riders sidelined by injuries, the World Championships road race had gathered the best cyclists from every country, much like the Tour de France.

In fact, the number of participants in the World Championships was even greater than in the Tour de France.

The Tour de France has only 176 riders, while the World Championships road race has 206.

With a field of this size, it was arguably the largest race in professional cycling in terms of the number of riders.

After looking over the start list, Huang Chong could do little more than sigh.

Among the Asian nations, Kazakhstan had the most slots, with four.

But the former Asian King of Cycling, Lutsenko, wasn't competing, so they naturally lacked a competitive edge.

The number of riders didn't necessarily equate to strength.

This was why Spain, despite having the most team leaders, was not considered one of the top contenders for the title.

In the betting odds for this year's World Championships, Huang Chong didn't even crack the top five.

This wasn't a knock on his ability; rather, the fact that he had no teammates made it difficult for the bookmakers to give him high odds.

The fact that he was in the top 10 for betting odds at all was a testament to how highly the bookmakers regarded his individual strength.

The biggest favorites to win were undoubtedly Pogačar and van der Poel, whose odds were nearly identical.

Just behind them was Evenepoel.

The rest included Alaphilippe, Pidcock, Ayuso, Ciccone, Pedersen, O'Connor, and Huang Chong.

The odds for this latter group of riders were all quite similar.

For Huang Chong to be ranked alongside this group was a complete validation of his personal ability.

After all, as the Vuelta a España overall champion and the Olympic road race champion, it would be somewhat disrespectful if he couldn't even crack the top ten.

Riding solo would be incredibly difficult, but as long as he could stay with the main peloton in the road race, Huang Chong still had a chance for a good result.

His disadvantage was that he had no teammates to help him, stripping him of all tactical options.

His only tactic was to draft, hang on, and wait for the right moment.

If the race stayed together for a final sprint, defeating van der Poel would be impossible.

He couldn't do it, and neither could Pogačar.

As the king of the Classics, van der Poel's explosive sprint was on a different level than what a Climber could produce.

However, this year's World Championships course in Zurich was very hilly. Whether van der Poel could stay with Pogačar through all the climbs was another matter entirely.

Huang Chong had ridden the climbs on this course many times in training, so he was reasonably confident he could stay with Pogačar.

If he could hang on until the very end, it was anyone's guess who would have the last laugh.

All that could be said was, anything was possible!