After the Tour de France ended, Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe held a grand celebration banquet in Paris that very evening before returning to their headquarters in Germany.
Although they had failed to win the overall title at this Tour and had finished only fifth in the team standings, Huang Chong had personally swept up nearly 300,000 euros in prize money and more than 2,000 UCI points. They could still be considered to have made a fortune.
It could be said that, thanks to Huang Chong's sudden emergence this year, the team had already surpassed Visma–Lease a Bike in overall strength.
As for Soudal Quick-Step, Ineos Grenadiers, and the rest, they were no longer even worth comparing to Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe.
Of course, precisely because they had performed so well at this Tour, coupled with their outstanding results throughout the spring Classics thanks to Huang Chong, the team's most urgent task became figuring out how to retain the core leader who had thoroughly become their guarantee of success.
After returning to Germany, Huang Chong and Chen Junyi naturally went back to their own home for a brief period of rest and recovery.
It was already July 22, and the Paris Olympic Games were about to begin.
According to the official schedule, the men's road race at the Olympics would be held on August 3. There were only twelve days left.
Huang Chong had personally earned two Olympic qualification spots for the country and squeezed Kazakhstan out of one of its slots.
Before the Tour de France had even begun, he had already discussed matters with the General Administration. He would represent the country in this once-every-four-years sporting event, the one considered most important in the eyes of the entire nation, so he naturally had to prepare properly.
The national team would not be arriving