Easily Blows Them Apart, Crushes His Way to His First Win

In top-tier UCI WorldTour races, a certain phenomenon often occurred:

When breakaway riders neared the stage finish, or reached a key point that could decide the stage, the peloton behind them—a massive group made up of sprinters and GC riders from various teams—would sweep down on the breakaway riders like an overwhelming tide.

That suffocating pressure, like an army bearing down on them, was enough to crush breakaway riders with weaker mental fortitude.

Many riders who specialized in breakaways were mercilessly swallowed by the peloton just dozens of meters from the finish line, sometimes with barely ten meters left.

The championship they had fought for over the entire stage, seemingly within reach, would slip through their fingers just like that.

There was no doubt that this was cruel in the extreme.

Yet that was precisely the charm of competitive sports.

If they wanted to win, they had to withstand the pressure of the stage and the other riders, and be the first to roll their front wheel across the finish line.

However, even though there was only one rider chasing him from behind, Zhou Ming, who clearly had a five-man team, felt the pressure of a professional GC rider from Huang Chong.

Especially when that guy gradually closed the gap and, only halfway through the 1.5-kilometer long climb, pulled alongside him and gave him a blank look.

Then, under Zhou Ming's astonished gaze, Huang Chong suddenly rose out of the saddle.

His body began swaying rhythmically from side to side as his legs exploded with force, instantly raising his average speed from around 15 to over 20 and sending him into a full-on surge.

"Fuck, how did this kid catch up to us so fast? And he still dares to get out of the saddle and counterattack?"

The hired rider at the very front of the group, responsible for pacing Zhou Ming, found it unbelievable when he saw Huang Chong attack.

They had been riding at around 200 watts the whole time. For Huang Chong to catch them in such a short time, his power had to be far above 200 watts.

But he had no time to think. He quickly stood up and followed with an out-of-the-saddle effort.

In the next instant, the power displayed on his bike computer shot from a stable 200 watts to more than 600 watts.

This was the maximum output a rider could unleash under extreme anaerobic conditions.

It could not last long, but the burst of momentum was truly terrifying.

Huang Chong naturally sensed that a rider had immediately responded to his attack, so after sprinting out of the saddle for several dozen meters, he stopped pushing.

He had realized that he could not shake the other rider that way.

There was no point in blindly continuing the attack.

After taking the [Extreme Anaerobic Threshold Enhancer], his sprint explosiveness had risen by 10 points, reaching 60.

But that level was only barely passable even among amateurs. It was not enough to become an advantage.

Meanwhile, Zhou Ming's hired riders were all fairly burly and clearly possessed solid sprinting ability.

There was no need for him to use his weakness to clash head-on with their strengths.

His advantages were his endurance on long climbs, his cardiopulmonary recovery ability, and his higher average power.

For example, after recovering to seated pedaling following his out-of-the-saddle sprint, he continued at an average of 240 watts. The hired rider who had been able to cling tightly to him during the sprint soon could not hold on.

Unfortunately, every climb around Qiandao Lake was too short. Even though that hired rider was drained after forcibly chasing him up one climb, he still managed to grit his teeth and make it to Xie Family Village at the summit.

After passing through the village, there was another high-speed descent.

The remaining three hired riders behind Zhou Ming used the downhill opportunity to successfully bridge back up to Huang Chong and their teammate.

Huang Chong's disadvantages became obvious on the descent.

First, his cornering ability was only 64 points, so he still had no edge there.

Second, after losing weight, his downhill speed had dropped.

Finally, his bike was not aerodynamic enough, while Zhou Ming was riding the currently most aerodynamic Canyon machine. Getting caught on the descent was inevitable.

But after all six riders came together into one group, the atmosphere became extremely quiet. No one spoke.

Only the crisp, loud, pleasing buzz of freehubs echoed as their wheels sped along.

Zhou Ming was too angry to speak.

He had never expected that this kid he had dismissed as a braggart would be such a strong climber!

During that out-of-the-saddle attack just now, he had not had any spare strength to respond at all.

If not for the solid sprinting strength of the hired riders he had brought along, Huang Chong would have gotten away.

The other hired riders did not dare speak either.

Their situation was already looking bad. Their opponent had actually caught them.

Even if the four of them could keep up with Huang Chong, their core task was to lead their patron to victory.

There was no point in all four of them merely following Huang Chong.

However, Huang Chong, now at the very front of the group, had no such concerns.

He continued following the plan he had made on the spot. After descending from Xie Family Village and reaching the last climb of the triple ascent, he had barely started going uphill before he stood up again and launched his second attack.

As expected, the rider who had forced himself to follow him earlier had not recovered from the previous battle. He could only watch Huang Chong's receding figure with helpless frustration.

Fortunately, losing one hired rider was no big deal. There were still three left.

Another rider immediately shot out from the group and clung tightly to Huang Chong as he attacked out of the saddle.

"You like attacking on climbs, huh? We have four people who can respond. Let's see how many more times you can attack!"

As he gritted his teeth and chased Huang Chong under the strain of Zone 5 anaerobic effort, the hired rider thought fiercely to himself.

As expected, Huang Chong's second attack was still marked closely.

But this attack lasted for over a hundred meters. Not only did it blow up the rider behind him, it nearly blew up Zhou Ming and the other three as well.

Yet after climbing to Chen Family Village, Huang Chong, whose cardiopulmonary capacity had been optimized to the limit, returned to peak riding condition after resting through just another small descent.

It looks like the only thing I truly lack is stronger leg power. But when it comes to cardiopulmonary strength, I'm already among the world's best—

Through two out-of-the-saddle attacks, Huang Chong had easily tested just how absurdly powerful his heart and lungs were.

After being dragged around by him, Zhou Ming's group of five were all panting like oxen, while he showed no signs of strain at all.

He knew that even without getting out of the saddle, he could blow Zhou Ming and the others apart on the climbs simply by maintaining his FTP power output.

But remembering what Du Wei had said the previous night, he still did not plan to crush Zhou Ming outright with pure strength.

That would indeed be too humiliating for the other man.

His relationship with Zhou Ming was terrible, so he did not care, but Du Wei and Zhou Ming were friends as well as business partners.

Caught in the middle, he could not make things too ugly.

So after the triple climb, when facing the final two climbs, Huang Chong once again put on the act of a desperate rider nearing his limit. He drained the last two support riders Zhou Ming had brought until they both fell behind.

In the end, when only Zhou Ming remained, Huang Chong, who looked as though he were about to collapse but was actually completely at ease, added a little power before the final mountaintop finish and narrowly killed off his opponent by roughly a single bike length, winning the ride.

Zhou Ming, who crossed the line with a heart rate on the verge of exploding, was so furious that he nearly blacked out and fell flat on his face.

In his eyes, he had lost by only one bike length, not even a second.

What crushing regret and frustration!

But a loss was a loss.

Even if the gap had only been half a wheel, it would still have been a loss.

What Zhou Ming did not know was that Huang Chong had been pretending to be on the verge of collapse. In truth, aside from his out-of-the-saddle attacks, his heart rate had never even entered the anaerobic zone, and he had not used even seventy percent of his strength.

[Congratulations! You have successfully claimed the first victory of your career.]

[Reward obtained: 15 Basic Optimization Points, Daily Training Gift Pack (contains Training Recovery Energy Gel*50, Fast-acting Recovery Energy Bar*50, Fast-acting Electrolyte Functional Drink*50 cases)]

[Fast-acting Electrolyte Functional Drink: When consumed, this beverage can help the host quickly replenish water and electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, and magnesium; maintain fluid balance; prevent dehydration, muscle cramps, fatigue, and other issues; reduce the risks of hyponatremia, heatstroke, and muscle spasms; and extend endurance riding.]