Bang!
The referee fired the starting gun.
As a faint cloud of smoke spread through the air, the third day of the National Road Cycling Championships officially began at exactly 9:00 a.m.
The peloton surged forward.
The weather had continued to improve over the past few days. Every day was warm and sunny, with not a cloud in the sky.
Since it was deep winter and daylight hours were limited, while both the men's elite road race and men's youth road race had to be completed today, the organizers had not scheduled the two events separately.
Riders from both divisions started beneath the archway at the same time, making for an especially large field of more than forty riders.
However, the youth division only needed to complete 100 kilometers and would finish after five laps around the scenic area, while the elite division had to ride 180 kilometers, requiring nine laps.
After the start, Huang Chong stayed firmly behind Wang Bao, blending into the peloton as he began his Zone 2 endurance ride.
The peloton's opening average speed was around 40 km/h. At his current level, drafting at that pace was little more than a warm-up.
Of course, it was also only a warm-up pace for the other riders.
Still, quite a few riders who, like him, had been racing for three consecutive days were visibly showing fatigue in their expressions, physical reactions, and riding form.
A 180-kilometer road race was already considered a relatively long stage domestically. Coupled with the consecutive days of racing, the riders were naturally quite exhausted.
Fortunately, after finishing yesterday's 100-kilometer TTT, Huang Chong had not simply let his body recover on its own. Instead, he had secretly eaten a training recovery energy bar to help restore his condition.
As a result, he was still