Chapter 318 172: Look at This Kid from the East, Winning for Him Now Is Like Taking Something from a Bag

And so, the Bora Team Leader made a snap decision, telling Huang Chong without a moment's hesitation:

"Huang, go with Plan B!

Buchman isn't strong enough to drop the other riders. Just let him stay with the peloton and fight it out in the final summit sprint.

I need you to win Stage 5 for us!"

The number of victories was, without a doubt, the most direct metric for a team's success.

Every stage win brought not only points but was also tied to prize money—a crucial detail.

The Bora Team Leader couldn't afford to gamble. When he saw Buchman couldn't break away on the previous steep climb, he decided to have Huang Chong secure the victory instead.

Although Huang Chong could sense the team leader was treating him with increasing caution, as if afraid of offending him, a team order was a team order. As a Professional Cyclist, he had no right to refuse.

Ultimately, upon reaching the 13.3% climb, he had no choice but to get out of the saddle for a few pedal strokes, pushing a higher wattage to build speed. He then returned to a seated position and quickly dropped the peloton, speeding off toward the summit.

The peloton behind saw Huang Chong accelerate, but no one bothered to react. In truth, they couldn't respond even if they wanted to. They could only watch as he, amidst the wild cheers of the Hungarian fans, crested the climb first and began his descent. He then completed one more lap, returning to the Pécs climb to ride it for the final time.

Without any difficulty, Huang Chong easily dropped the peloton again and rode solo all the way to victory.

The entire race was, frankly, rather boring.

After crossing the finish line, while being interviewed as the overall winner, he did spare a moment to watch the peloton's final sprint.

In the end, Walter Poels of the Bahrain Team soundly defeated Buchman, Thibaut Nis, and Yannis Voisard of the Tudor Team, who were all in the same group.

Despite this, however, since Ulissi of the UAE Team had been dropped on the successive steep climbs, Buchman still managed to move up in the overall standings, ultimately finishing in second place.

It was, admittedly, a pleasant surprise.

Following their success in Frankfurt, the Bora Team had once again swept the top two spots!

On the podium, Huang Chong and Buchman attended the award ceremony for the overall classification. The Chinese national anthem played first, and then they celebrated together by spraying champagne.

Next came the awards for the leader's jerseys. With his dominant victory on the climbs, Huang Chong had undoubtedly swept all three.

The Yellow Jersey for the best overall time, the Red Jersey for the best climber, and the White Jersey for the best young rider.

However, during the photo op for the leader's jerseys, the organizers in Hungary did something rather suggestive. Instead of having local officials or race directors pose with him...

...they sent two top models up to the small winner's podium. Both had incredible figures, were even slightly taller than him, and sported wavy blonde hair. They were absolutely gorgeous. One on each side, they wrapped their arms tightly around his waist for the photo.

This made the young Huang Chong's heart race a little.

Especially with the beautiful Chen Junyi watching him from below the stage with an enigmatic smile.

But to follow the local custom, he had to put an arm around each of them, his hands resting on the models' soft, slender waists—

'Damn it, no wonder saints are so rare in this world!

This race is so damn titillating!!

What man could resist the temptation of these gorgeous foreign women for long?'

...

「In Italy.」

After the stage on the 12th, the Giro d'Italia finally had its first rest day.

Nine stages were now complete. Martínez of the Bora Team was performing well in the Giro d'Italia's overall classification. He was currently sitting in second place, 2 minutes and 40 seconds behind Pogačar.

However, he had an 18-second lead over the third-place rider, Ineos's commander, Geraint Thomas.

Aldag and Denke were undoubtedly satisfied with this result.

This wasn't a race where they could realistically fight for first place.

If they could just hold on to second place until the very end, it would be a huge victory for the team.

But they couldn't celebrate for Martínez just yet. After all, the end of the Giro d'Italia was still a long way off.

However, the news from the other front in Hungary—that Huang Chong and Buchman had secured first and second place—gave them plenty of reason to celebrate.

Especially when they saw that Huang Chong's final time was more than four minutes ahead of Buchman's. This could only mean one thing:

The kid's strength and consistency had reached a point where the team could confidently entrust him with a top-tier stage race.

"Rolf, it looks like our team is destined for greatness.

Look at this kid from the East. Winning is as easy as taking candy from a baby for him now!

We need to make a spot for him in our core lineup!"

Ralph Denke rarely expressed himself so directly.

Businessmen have their own way of communicating. After all, in the world of business, you always leave yourself some wiggle room as long as you don't speak in absolutes.

But Huang Chong's performance had been so outstanding that it forced even Denke to declare his position.

At the end of the day, while the team's day-to-day management was entrusted to Aldag, Denke, as the team owner, certainly held the ultimate decision-making power.

Aldag was a smart man. He naturally understood the implication behind Denke's words.

Huang Chong's meteoric rise would make arranging the main roster in the future more difficult, as it would mean some riders would be pushed out. But even so, he couldn't go against the owner's wishes.

The Huang Chong of today was fully capable of contending for the overall classification in top-tier races.

Sending him to support the team's Core Commander, Roglič, might even yield better results than using Vlasov or Sindel.

After all, the Liège Race and this Tour of Hungary were the best proof of that.

Aldag naturally had no objections. He nodded with a smile and said:

"I understand, Ralph.

After the Giro d'Italia ends, I will arrange for him to train with Primož.

Then in June, I'll have him go to the Dauphine first to support our Core Commander. We'll see how that works out!"

Ralph Denke nodded in satisfaction and patted Aldag's shoulder, his face absolutely beaming:

"Good, very good. That's an excellent plan, Rolf.

We have to put together the best possible lineup before the most important race arrives!

We need to give the new shareholders complete confidence in the team!"

It was a far cry from the scowl Denke had worn at the end of the Tour de Romandie. Now, thanks to Huang Chong, he was showing a completely different face.

'Such is the way of a businessman!'