After signing the transfer contract in Zhang Guowei's office, Huang Chong came out still feeling dazed.
From this moment onward, he had officially entered the ranks of China's first-tier professional riders and become an intercontinental rider.
Once the team received his documents and successfully registered him with the UCI, he would be able to earn UCI points just like those UCI WorldTour riders.
This meant he had truly connected with the Union Cycliste Internationale system.
Intercontinental teams were the highest-level teams in China.
Under the team classifications established by the UCI, there were still two levels above them:
UCI ProTeams (PRO level) and UCI WorldTour teams (UWT level).
But given the current level of Chinese riders, it was basically impossible for the country to have teams at either of those two levels.
The reasons were simple:
First, riders on those two levels of teams were relatively formidable, while team licenses operated under a promotion and relegation system. Every three years, teams needed UCI points to retain their status.
On top of that, among the UCI events held in China, there were simply too few opportunities to earn points.
Even the UCI WorldTour-level Tour of Guangxi, along with another UCI WorldTour event held in the UAE in Asia, only awarded 300 UCI points to the champion.
Both were still multi-day races. Winning them was ridiculously difficult.
For a brutal comparison, the five major Classics held in Europe were all one-day races, yet their winners received as many as 800 points.
Even finishing fifth earned 360 points, more than the total points awarded to the overall Tour of Guangxi champion.
Any race with high points—mainly the three Grand Tours and five major Classics—was held on European soil.
So if China wanted to produce a PRO-level team, its riders would have to race