Where a road cyclist's true limit lay was actually difficult to define precisely with specific numbers.
People were not machines. Their condition fluctuated from day to day, sometimes high, sometimes low.
Even emotional and psychological factors could affect a rider's actual performance.
Of course, no top rider would directly make their core data public.
Take Pogačar and Vingegaard, for example. They never publicly shared their cycling power data on the cycling app Strava.
At most, they would post the total time for a route, average speed, cadence, and so on.
Although Huang Chong was still far from those elite riders, he would not be reckless enough to go all out and reveal his power data just because he was taking part in some assessment or race.
Learning to hold something back was actually quite important for a road cyclist.
It could effectively prevent opponents from devising specific tactics and strategies in advance, then draining him dry through team-based attrition.
But even though Huang Chong deliberately held back some of his strength, he was still far ahead of everyone else in the team assessment.
As a result, the first-team riders starting behind him felt an inexplicable sense of panic when they saw his numbers on the timing board, and they all began complaining.
Why the hell was this kid riding so fast when he was the first to start?
He was making the rest of us look like a bunch of stiff-legged old men—
Especially since Zhang Guowei was sitting beside the timing board, radiating silent authority as he watched them coldly.
It felt like if they failed to ride faster than Huang Chong, that old tiger would swallow them alive on the spot.
The second rider to start after Huang Chong was a young cyclist who had represented the Ningbo