As a Black GC rider, Mulubrhan Henok seemed to possess a natural racial advantage in endurance.
Sure enough, by the seventh stage, he had looked utterly uninterested in competing through all the previous stages. Yet when it came to the key climbs that would decide the final outcome, he left every single opponent behind.
And his endurance was not his only strength. Among GC riders, his sprinting explosiveness was clearly no weaker either.
After Huang Chong had secured all three jerseys early on, the only thing Mulubrhan Henok could still contend for was the green points jersey.
But as a GC rider, how could he beat pure flatland sprinters or classics riders in sprints?
There was only one answer: relying on his exceptional endurance and recovery, as well as superior explosiveness among riders of his type, he had to seize every intermediate sprint placed on climbing stages or at climbing points.
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The one thing the Bardiani Team manager had not expected was that his original plan—to keep Mulubrhan Henok hidden and avoid revealing his strength too early, then let him overturn the standings at Nanshan Luohe Pass after everyone had been worn down by a week of racing—had gone bankrupt ahead of schedule because this race had produced a local rider like Huang Chong.
But in Mulubrhan Henok's eyes, although he had lost the general classification, he was still somewhat unconvinced by Huang Chong's actual strength.
After all, Huang Chong's current advantages had all come from his solo breakaway in Stage 2, while Mulubrhan Henok had been required to follow team orders and remain in the peloton at the time.
If his team had allowed him to chase Huang Chong at full strength, especially if they had let him attack in the earlier stages, would the result