Chapter 341 - 179: Unlocking the Highest Competition Achievement Honor Medal and Becoming a High-level Professional Cyclist

June 27th, 12:00 PM.

Piazza Michelangelo, Florence, Italy.

A stage dominated by the Tour de France’s signature lemon-yellow color scheme had been erected several days prior and was officially in use today.

Below the stage, countless road cycling fans from Italy and around the world had gathered to watch.

The reason so many fans were here today was that this year’s Tour de France was different. For the first time ever, it would start in Florence, Italy, with the first three stages all taking place on Italian soil.

Not until the fourth stage would the race travel from Pinerolo, Italy, to the Valloire ski resort in the Savoie Province of the French Alps, officially returning to French territory.

As the starting city, Florence was also responsible for hosting all the team presentation ceremonies for this year’s Tour de France, held two days before the race.

Today, all participating riders from the 18 World Tour Teams, plus the four wild-card Professional Teams with the highest UCI points in the secondary tier—Israel-Premier Tech, Uno-X, Lotto, and TotalEnergies—would take to the stage in succession for their presentation.

This was Huang Chong’s first time participating in the Tour de France. Even though it wasn’t starting in France but in Italy, a country with an equally long and rich cycling culture, he could still feel the immense passion all Europeans had for the Tour.

He was well aware that at this moment, probably every person in Florence had come to Piazza Michelangelo to watch their presentation.

Meanwhile, other parts of the city were practically deserted.

The Tour de France allows each team to send 8 riders, for a total of 176 participants.

With the exception of a few top riders like Ben O’Connor of the Decathlon Team, who was deliberately scheduled by his team to compete in this year’s Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España to avoid the Tour de France, all the other top-tier riders were here.

Huang Chong’s Red Bull Bora team, having assembled a powerhouse grand tour lineup this year, was naturally scheduled by the organizers for a later appearance. This allowed him and his teammates to first watch the other teams take the main stage.

The first team to appear, without a doubt, was the EF Education Team.

This was because on the EF Education team was a local rider wearing the Italian National Champion’s jersey: Alberto Bettiol.

The very same one who had been brutally dropped by Huang Chong in the Milan-Turin Race.

And besides Bettiol, EF Education had also sent all their other top riders to this year’s Tour de France, including Richard Carapaz, Ben Healy, and Neilson Powless.

Next was the wild-card team Israel-Premier Tech. They brought Stephen Williams, this season’s Tour of Australia champion, who had been narrowly defeated by Huang Chong on the Wall of Huy at Flèche Wallonne. They also brought Derrick Gee, who had put on a brilliant performance in the general classification at the Tour de Dauphine.

Following them, the other three wild-card teams made their appearances one after another.

The Lotto Team brought Maxim Van Gils, Arnold de Lie, and Victor Campenaerts, among others.

The Uno-X Team brought Magnus Cort, Jonas Abrahamsen, and Tobias Jorgensen, among others.

As for TotalEnergies, they brought Stefan Klaus and Thomas Gachignard, among others.

The presentation ceremony lasted nearly two hours. After the first five teams were presented, there was an interlude with performances organized by the Florence hosts, after which the presentations continued.

When the Astana Team took the stage, the moment the host introduced the team’s core rider—and the man making his final push at the Tour de France—Mark Cavendish, the crowd erupted in a deafening roar.

This was a sign of the absolute respect all European fans had for the Manx Missile.

Road cycling fans across the globe were all hoping Cavendish could secure his 35th Tour de France stage win, becoming an unprecedented, legendary record-holder.

Besides Cavendish, the Astana Team also had some old acquaintances of Huang Chong’s, riders he had competed against at both the Asian Games and the Asian Championships: Alexey Lutsenko and Yevgeniy Fedorov, among others.

Subsequently, Team DSM, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, Arkéa, and the Movistar Team also made their appearances in succession.

Team DSM brought a veteran who, like Cavendish, was participating in his final Tour de France: Romain Bardet. They also had Fabio Jakobsen, and Warren Barguil, among others.

Seeing the Team DSM roster, Huang Chong felt it was a bit of a shame that the young rider Oscar Onley hadn’t been selected for the Tour de France lineup this year.

’That kid put on a great performance in the Queen Stage of the Tour of Australia.’

The core of the Wanty Team was, without question, the black sprinter Biniam Girmay. He was also a strong contender for the Tour de France’s Dash King Green Jersey.

As for others like Louis Meintjes and Lawrence Lessig, they were all considered supporting riders.

The Arkéa Team had Kévin Vauquelin, Cristian Rodríguez, and Amaury Capiot, among others.

The Movistar Team sent out Enric Mas, Davide Formolo, Nelson Oliveira, and Fernando Gaviria, among others.

After that, there were speeches from high-level UCI officials, and a route map of the Tour de France’s 21 stages began playing on a giant electronic screen to one side of the stage.

After those people were done, the first to take the stage was the Quick Step Team, followed in order by Cofidis, FDJ, Alpecin, Bahrain Victorious, and the Jieke Team.