After receiving the team director's approval, Huang Chong stopped hesitating. Right after the race began, he decisively followed the riders attempting a breakaway and launched repeated attacks and surges.
At this early stage of the race, the peloton was undoubtedly keeping a close watch on the key riders from every team.
If they spotted a general classification contender in the breakaway, they would never let them go. Instead, they would keep accelerating and drive up the pace of the entire peloton to chase them down.
After winning the queen stage, Huang Chong had clearly drawn the attention of several GC teams, including UAE Team Emirates and the Quick-Step team.
At first, only five non-GC riders from the peloton had gone into the breakaway.
They were Stefan de Bod of EF Education, Jacopo Mosca of Trek, Maurice Ballerstedt of Alpecin–Deceuninck, Franck Bonnamour of the AG2R Team, and Simon Geschke of the Cofidis team.
However, after the first Category 1 climb, the directors of UAE Team Emirates and the Quick-Step team saw that Huang Chong of the Bora Team had joined the breakaway as well. Without the slightest hesitation, they immediately contacted their riders over the radio.
They then sent Antonio Morgado and Gil Gelders, respectively, into the breakaway.
Their intentions were obvious. They had specifically sent riders to mark Huang Chong and prevent him from overturning the GC standings through the breakaway.
After all, both teams currently had GC riders in the top five.
UAE Team Emirates had Del Toro, who was fourth overall, just five seconds behind race leader Williams.
The Quick-Step team's GC rider was Julian Alaphilippe, fifth overall and only thirteen seconds behind Williams.
Although Huang Chong was only twenty-ninth overall, the strength he had displayed yesterday was enough to make the coaching staffs of every GC team