Chapter 328 - 175: Carrying the Big Bro Again for Back-to-Back Stage Wins

The reporter’s question was undoubtedly a painful jab.

Roglič had transferred from Vismar to Bora precisely because he had lost his core position there. He had no choice but to leave and find a new team willing to build a Grand Tour squad around him to pursue a Tour de France title.

Although he maintained a graceful demeanor, he thought for a good while before smiling and replying:

"I think Huang Chong is a very strong all-arounder. He definitely belongs in the ranks of the super rookies.

And based on his performance this year, he’s been even more dazzling and dominant than Remco was when he first joined the World Tour.

He has shown incredibly versatile and outstanding performances in both stage races and classics.

In his first season on the World Tour, he managed to win Crossing Flanders and Flèche Wallonne back-to-back, and he even secured a great result like second place in the Liège Race. His future is destined to be extraordinary.

I believe that once he has fully matured, the entire competitive landscape of professional road cycling will change dramatically.

As for how far he can go in the future, we’ll have to wait and see!"

...

Huang Chong, of course, also saw the video of the reporter’s interview.

’Honestly, I really hate these blatant media games.’

’These reporters always deliberately prepare provocative topics to grab the attention of drama-seekers.’

’They even try to incite flame wars between the fanbases of different riders.’

’They don’t care at all whether these sensitive remarks might ruin a team’s internal atmosphere or affect more sensitive-minded riders, causing them to actually start infighting over these despicable questions.’

Of course, he knew that as he continued to grow stronger, tension within the team was inevitable.

As a reincarnator, he was also well aware that even without him, once Lipowitz from their team had his breakout next year, that kid would also be in a fierce, albeit covert, rivalry with Roglič.

’Especially during the 2025 Tour de France, Lipowitz and Roglič will be completely riding their own races. The kid will be selfish as hell.’

But this was all part of team politics in sports, and he had to accept it.

’Anyway, no matter how much these reporters try to stir things up, as long as I get strong enough to put even Pogačar in his place, who would dare run their mouth about pointless nonsense?’

’All this talk about internal competition and who the team’s core leader is will become meaningless.’

’In the face of absolute individual strength, any other star rider on the same team is just a domestique.’

’Don’t like it?’

’Then they can warm the bench until it rots. That’s just part of competitive sports!’

「June 4th. The third day of racing began.」

Unlike the heavy fog of the previous two days, the clouds finally parted today, revealing a bright and sunny day with a gentle breeze.

The weather was completely different, but the difficulty of the course remained more or less the same.

Stage 3 was another climbing stage, with a total elevation gain of 2,833 meters, even more than Stage 2’s 2,499 meters.

This was because today’s course was longer, reaching 181.7 km.

The starting point for this stage was in Celles-sur-Durolle, a place famous for its cutlery craftsmanship.

From there, the route would continue all the way to Les Estables.

The difficult climbing sections were all concentrated in the second half of the race.

In total, it contained two Fourth Category Climbs, two Third Category Climbs, and one Second Category Climb.

The first ascent was a Fourth Category Climb: the Cote d’Augerolles.

It was located at the 22 km mark of the stage, was 2.4 km long, with an average gradient of 5.8% and a maximum gradient of 6.7%.

A climb of this level was naturally no challenge at all—the kind that even flat-road sprinters wouldn’t get dropped on.

But the second climb was much harder. It was the only Second Category Climb of the stage: the Cote de Saint-Victor-sur-Arlanc.

Its summit was at the 88 km mark. The climb was 3.3 km long, with a steep average gradient of 8.8% and a maximum gradient reaching a staggering 11.4%.

Without a doubt, this was the most difficult climb of the stage. Unfortunately, it was positioned not even halfway through the race, so it could only serve to wear down the main peloton and couldn’t influence the final outcome.

The third climb was a Third Category Climb: the Cote de Retournac.

Located at the 124.5 km mark, it was 3.2 km long with an average gradient of 5.3% and a maximum of 6.8%.

From this point all the way to the finish line, apart from a dozen or so kilometers of descent, the route was basically a continuous series of alpine climbs.

The two remaining climbs were a Fourth Category Climb at the 146 km mark, the Cote de Valogeon, and a Third Category Climb at the 177 km mark, the climb to Les Estables.

The former was 2.1 km long, with an average gradient of 5.1% and a maximum of 8.7%.

The latter was 3.8 km long, with an average gradient of 4.9% and a maximum of 6.3%.

And after the final climb to Les Estables, the next 3.8 km to the finish line was another long, gentle slope with a 4.8% gradient.

The terrain was extremely similar to yesterday’s.

However, Huang Chong knew that while he was able to use the final 1 km sprint to pull off a sneaky win for Brother Luo in the fog yesterday, the major teams definitely wouldn’t give him that kind of opportunity again today.

After the race started, only three riders chose to break away today: Nicolas Prodhomme from the Decathlon Team, Harry Sweeney from the EF Education Team, and Rémy Rochas.

The early part of the race proceeded without any major changes. The main peloton steadily advanced, always maintaining a gap of about one minute to the breakaway riders.

However, when the race reached the final 40 km, just as they were about to begin the Fourth Category Climb, the Cote de Valogeon, Christopher Juul-Jensen, a control rider for Jieke in the peloton, was the first to launch an attack. He started a solo pursuit of the breakaway group up ahead.