Chapter 296 - 168: From This Day On, Everyone Will See You in a New Light

Ultimately, it was all to create an opportunity for their Core Commander, Pogačar, to launch a solo attack.

As someone who had lived two lives, Huang Chong had an advantage. Although he hadn’t been granted a special "cheat" like eidetic memory, his rebirth wasn’t that far removed from the time of his accident—only about three and a half years had passed.

He couldn’t remember the results and details of every World Tour race from his past life, but he definitely recalled the major ones. For instance, he knew the outcomes and even some specific details of the five Monument-classics and the three Grand Tours of the 2024 season.

Therefore, while other riders and teams might be in the dark about UAE Team’s tactics for today’s race, he knew exactly what they were planning.

He was even mentally prepared for which climb Pogačar would use to launch his final attack.

Of course, road cycling isn’t a pure team sport like soccer or basketball, where it seems any player on the field can take the game-winning shot.

Once Professional Cyclists hit the final stage of a race, it inevitably comes down to a battle of raw power between the Core Commanders of the major teams.

Support riders can only help in the early and middle stages—breaking the wind at the front, chasing down breakaways, and thinning out the pack on suitable terrain to wear down other teams’ leaders.

So, even if Huang Chong knew UAE’s tactics in advance, whether he himself could actually keep up with Pogačar in the final stages was another matter entirely.

And so, as the UAE Team’s support riders—the UAE Deputy Commanders—began to accelerate on the steepest part of the Côte de Mont-le-Soie climb, the peloton, which had already been riding for four hours, began to fracture instantly, just as he’d expected.

The wildcard riders were hit especially hard; except for the top few teams in points and those recently relegated from the World Tour, almost all of them were immediately dropped from the main group.

This was the cruel reality of the UCI system—as a lower-tier team, there was an undeniable gap in ability.

Huang Chong felt relatively comfortable on the Côte de Mont-le-Soie. Even on the 300-meter section with a brutal 12.3% gradient, when the UAE Deputy Commander deliberately pushed the pace, he only needed to get out of the saddle and pedal a few times to get his speed up before settling back into a seated climb to follow.

His powerful cardiorespiratory system and incredible VO2 max were a heaven-sent, top-tier advantage when it came to climbing.

His recovery after short bursts of effort was particularly strong. After every steep climb, this ability significantly slowed the buildup of lactic acid that followed anaerobic exertion, granting him far greater endurance.

But this climb was merely an appetizer for the high-intensity second half of the race. Between here and the finish line, there were still a full eight officially designated climbs.

Even so, after the Côte de Mont-le-Soie, not only had a large number of lower-tier Professional Cyclists been dropped, but the breakaway group’s lead had also been slashed from four and a half minutes to just two minutes and eleven seconds.

It just showed how terrifyingly effective the UAE Team could be on steep climbs when they truly wanted to close a gap.

The main group made it over the Côte de Mont-le-Soie climb and had just finished the long descent. As they were about to enter the Wanna Mountain (Côte de Wanne) climb at the 168.5 km mark, a small crash suddenly occurred in the middle of the pack at a narrow intersection.

Positioned at the front of the group, Huang Chong clearly heard the chaotic noise of the crash behind him.

He couldn’t resist glancing back and was surprised to see that the lead group he was in had suddenly been whittled down to only about forty riders.

Although the crash itself was minor, the narrow road meant that the other riders were all held up behind the incident.

The moment the split in the peloton occurred, the well-positioned UAE Team, with its full complement of riders, caught wind of it. A UAE Deputy Commander immediately started to increase the pace.

"Huang, stop focusing on the crash behind you! Get your head in the game! UAE is picking up the pace, get on their wheel!"

The voice of Aldag on the radio instantly snapped Huang Chong’s focus back to the race.

He glanced down at the system panel in front of him and saw that, just as expected, the cruising speed had jumped from a steady 40 km/h to 45 km/h.

At the same time, the gap between them and the main peloton caught behind the split immediately widened to 40 seconds.

A time gap like that translated to a distance of three to four hundred meters.

Among the riders caught behind the crash were none other than van der Poel and Pidcock.

Besides them, Huang Chong glanced around his lead group and realized that for Bora Team, only he and Vlasov had made the cut. Even Sindel was stuck behind the crash.

But neither he nor Vlasov could afford to wait for their teammate.

UAE was accelerating too quickly. Their support riders were clearly experts at seizing opportunities to extend a lead—they were seasoned, cunning veterans.

What was most frustrating was that the nine-man breakaway group at the very front, which had been holding a lead of over a minute, was also caught up in the chaos from the crash.

As they began the Wanna Mountain climb—a 3.6 km ascent with a total elevation gain of 491 meters, an average gradient of 5.1%, a maximum gradient of 11.6%, and even a few hundred meters at 8.6%—the UAE Deputy Commanders deliberately upped the pace. On that very climb, the entire breakaway was chased down and completely swallowed up by the front group.

And to think, there were still 88.5 kilometers left to the finish line.

In most other one-day races, a breakaway like that would typically be caught around the fifty-kilometer mark.

For the breakaway to be swallowed up this early, it just went to show how ruthlessly determined the UAE Team was today.