"How is your physical condition right now, Huang?"
"Do you feel any physical discomfort?"
"If anything seems wrong, you must tell me immediately. I'll have Charlie provide you with every possible form of help!!"
With Martínez, their key climbing lieutenant, forced to abandon near the end of the race, Aldag's entire coaching and support staff felt as though they had been struck by a bolt from the blue.
If, with victory only half a step away, their team leader also missed out on the overall title after being dragged into something as pathetic as food poisoning, then their team would become the laughingstock of the UCI WorldTour.
Especially when Huang Chong's lead in the general classification over second place was as much as eleven minutes—
Fortunately, Huang Chong immediately put the sports director's mind at ease after hearing the question. "I'm fine. I normally eat meals specially prepared by my girlfriend, and yesterday was no different.
"The problem now is, how many people on our team have food poisoning?
"Don't tell me everyone except me has gone down?
"Also, how should we execute our tactics for the rest of the race?"
After first praising Chen Junyi's contribution, Aldag slowly said, "Thank goodness Chen prepared separate meals for you. She practically saved our entire team.
"As long as you're fine, everything else is acceptable!
"As for how many people on the team have food poisoning, I don't know yet.
"But judging from their performances so far, the lieutenants who are underperforming today have clearly all been affected.
"This damned summer—it must be the high temperatures that caused the food to spoil!
"Still, we'll focus on defending from here on.
"Our lieutenants can no longer perform like they did yesterday and control the whole race. Stay near the front of the peloton.