Chapter 327 - 175: Carrying Big Brother Again, Clinching Consecutive Stage Wins

"Damn it!! Which genius picked this finish line? The fog is so thick you can’t even see the riders’ faces!!"

"So typically French. All they know is romance; they can’t get anything important done right!"

"This race is a complete shitshow!!"

"Brilliant. They let us see the first 139.9 kilometers perfectly clearly, but for the most exciting final 100 meters, we’re supposed to just use our imaginations?"

"Damn it, did Bora win or not? Don’t tell me Huang Chong pulled a hard lead-out for nearly a kilometer, only for Brother Luo to get sniped in the fog at the last second. If that’s what happened, I’m going to go flame Bora on their official social media—"

...

In the moments immediately following Stage 2 of the Tour de Dauphine, it wasn’t just the Chinese fans flaming the race organizers; fans from all over the world were cursing them out online.

The execution of this race was a massive disappointment.

As everyone knows, the most exciting parts of a road race are one of two scenarios. The first is when there are multiple super-steep climbs before the finish, prompting top riders to launch repeated attacks until one finally breaks away for a solo victory.

The other is when no one can break away during the entire stage, and it all comes down to a flat sprint at the finish.

For Stage 2 of the Dauphine, the four preceding climbs were of limited difficulty, so it was undoubtedly going to come down to an uphill sprint at the finish.

As it turned out, the thick fog on Lalogue Pass completely obscured the most exciting part.

It wasn’t just the fans watching the live broadcast who couldn’t see clearly; even the fans on-site, who had been waiting for hours by the finish arch to see the sprint, couldn’t make out what was happening in the final moments.

Fortunately, the race officials eventually used on-screen text to display the stage’s final standings.

Roglič, who crossed the line in first place, took a commanding lead in the general classification.

Magnus Cort, who finished second, received a 6-second time bonus and ended up 24 seconds behind Roglič.

Third across the line was Jorgenson of Visma Team, 26 seconds back.

After them was the second group of riders who crossed the line together, all a full half-minute behind Roglič.

This included riders like Ciccone of Trek Team, Lascano of Movistar Team, Ayuso of UAE Team, Kuss of Visma Team, Evenepoel of Quick Step Team, and Huang Chong, all the way down to Wellens of UAE Team who finished 53rd. They all belonged to this second group that crossed the line with no time gaps between them.

To sum it up, thanks to his teammate Huang Chong’s sacrificial lead-out, Roglič successfully gained a half-minute lead in this stage.

Of course, while this gap seemed large, defending it in the coming days would not be easy.

They certainly couldn’t get too complacent.

Still, with Stage 2 over and the battle for the general classification officially underway, Huang Chong helping the team get off to such a good start was undoubtedly the best news possible.

"This damned fog, it’s just too cruel!

In these conditions, we couldn’t see the final sprint at all.

However, from the final rankings provided by the organizers post-race, we can clearly see that Bora Team still managed to secure a leading advantage!"

"That’s right. Although we couldn’t see the specifics of the last 100 meters, from 1km before the finish, we saw Huang Chong leading out Primož.

And by the 150-meter mark, when he had completely spent himself, he had already pulled his leader far ahead of the other teams’ GC contenders!

So, we can be absolutely certain that the advantage Primož has now was built entirely on Huang Chong’s incredible lead-out."

"Honestly, Jimmy, seeing the two of them coordinate such a perfect attack, I can’t imagine how Bora Team could possibly lose this Tour de Dauphine.

But for the specifics, let’s go to our race reporter’s interview and see what Primož himself has to say—"

So said Steve and Jimmy from European Sports during their post-race summary.

An on-site reporter at the Dauphine, interviewing Roglič, got straight to the point with a smile:

"First of all, congratulations, Primož, on winning the first mountain stage of this year’s Tour de Dauphine.

Not only did you successfully claim the overall leader’s Yellow Jersey, but you also opened up a 24-second gap on Cort in second place.

As the defending champion, you must be more than familiar with the Dauphine.

But I still have to ask, did you anticipate gaining such a large time advantage today?

Also, now that you have such a big lead, are you confident that you can maintain this advantage all the way to the end?"

Roglič smiled and answered frankly:

"Thank you. Gaining such a large advantage today was indeed unexpected.

It’s all thanks to my domestique: Huang Chong.

If he hadn’t launched his attack early, around 1km from the finish, and pulled me all the way to about the 150-meter mark, I never would have been able to open up a half-minute gap on the second group.

As for whether I can wear the Yellow Jersey to the end, I certainly hope so. That’s the team’s main goal, after all.

But as you know, the Dauphine has only just begun. There’s not only an ITT coming up, but also a lot of difficult mountain summit finishes.

To draw any conclusions now would be far too premature."

"That’s true. But you just mentioned your domestique, Huang Chong. We all know he’s a rider your team scouted from China, and his performance on the World Tour this year has been nothing short of phenomenal.

I’d like to know, as the Core Commander of the Bora Team, what are your thoughts on this super rookie?

Also, are you worried that if he continues on his current trajectory, he might one day do what Jonas did and usurp your core position at Bora?"