Chapter 405 199: An Early Showdown on the Final Montmartre Climb (3)

While Director Xiao and the network announcer felt a sense of helplessness, the hearts of the cycling fans watching back in China sank.

The attack from the two Vans was just too fierce.

Huang Chong and Evenepoel hadn't even appeared in the live broadcast before they were completely dropped.

[HOLY SHIT!! This van der Poel—he's an absolute monster!!]

[Oh my god, those first few pedal strokes from Fan Debiao... his Power-to-Weight Ratio must be at least 20+, right? How is anyone else supposed to compete?]

[Dude's on some serious supplements!! Fan Debiao, wait for Huang Chong!!]

[Fucking hell, the two Vans fight so dirty! With that kind of explosive power, a normal person couldn't beat them even if they were doping!!!]

[Come on, Huang Chong!!! You have to catch the two Vans as soon as the cobblestones end!! If you get completely dropped, you'll never get another chance!!!]

The fans back in China had every reason to be worried.

Van der Poel's performances in this year's Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix had been nothing short of invincible.

Once he managed to break away, he could ride solo for forty or fifty kilometers to claim victory.

In this Olympic race, that was precisely the distance remaining to the finish line.

Huang Chong, still glued to Evenepoel's wheel, was naturally growing anxious.

Watching van der Poel ride away, he was genuinely afraid the man would go all the way to the finish, leaving him completely out of contention!

It wasn't that he lacked the ability to respond to van der Poel's attack. Rather, armed with the knowledge from his past life, he had chosen to make a huge gamble.

He wouldn't respond just yet. First, he had to keep an eye on Evenepoel, who was waiting for a chance to move. Second, he could feign weakness, giving the two Vans the false impression that he wasn't strong on the cobblestones.

However, his choice was definitely making his supporters back in China the most anxious; they were practically tearing their hair out.

Later, when the live broadcast cut back to the main chase group containing him and Evenepoel, they had become the fourth group on the road.

The first group was Ben Healy, who was riding solo after dropping Lutsenko on the cobblestone climb of Montmartre.

The second group consisted of Politt and a few others.

The third group was the five-man powerhouse that had just formed: van der Poel and Van Aert, who had just attacked, joined by three riders who had immediately given chase after the climb—Jorgenson from the US Team, Alaphilippe from the French Team, and Toms Skujiņš from the Latvia Team.

Faced with this situation, Evenepoel was also getting impatient.

The problem was, his explosive power on climbs was truly just average among the top-tier riders.

He had no answer for van der Poel's brutal attack.

So after being gapped on the cobblestones, his only option was to ride as hard as possible at the front of the chase group, hoping to close the distance on the flat section after the climb.

Fortunately for them, help was at hand. Within their chase group, the Danish Team's riders, Pedersen and Skjelmose, had been caught at the back and were unable to respond to van der Poel's initial attack. So, after cresting Montmartre, their teammate Bjerg took to the front, leading Huang Chong and the others in a furious chase of the five-man group ahead.

As Bjerg picked up the pace, the riders approached two short, unnamed, and uncategorized climbs that followed the main ascent of Montmartre.

One was 800 meters long with an average gradient of 5.2%.

The other was 600 meters long with an average gradient of 5.3%.

Thus, with only 36km to the finish, as they hit the 800-meter short climb on the first circuit lap, they successfully caught the five-man group containing van der Poel.

However, the very instant the groups merged, Evenepoel took advantage of the chaos and launched an anaerobic attack on the climb.

Huang Chong, who had been marking him the entire race, immediately followed. The two of them instantly created a gap on the main group.

Van der Poel's attack on the cobblestones had been fierce, but with the Tour de France having just concluded, he was clearly suffering from some fatigue.

Furthermore, he had seen that neither Huang Chong nor Evenepoel could respond to his move on the cobblestones. He couldn't help but think, 'I'll have plenty of opportunities to catch them on the cobbled climbs over the next two laps.' So, for now, he let the pair ride off from the main group.

Evenepoel was incredibly annoyed, seeing Huang Chong sticking to him like a shadow, marking him and only him for the entire race.

But it was all within the rules, so there was nothing he could do but let Huang Chong relentlessly draft off him.

As the two successfully broke away, their combined strength was immense. Both were top-tier time trialists, and their pace on the flat was simply brutal. They almost immediately caught the original second group, which included Politt and others.

Then, with 34km to go, as they hit the final 600-meter climb of the first circuit lap, Huang Chong launched his first attack, getting out of the saddle.

In terms of power, his attack wasn't extreme—just a little over five hundred watts.

But sustaining that output for six hundred meters was grueling.

As a result, he immediately dropped three riders from what had been the second group: Politt, Michael Woods, and Lutsenko—the man who had been in the breakaway with Ben Healy for dozens of kilometers.

Immediately after cresting the short, steep climb, Huang Chong continued to lead the charge on the descent. He hammered the pedals for another kilometer or so and, in doing so, reeled in the solo breakaway rider, Ben Healy.

And just like that, the rider at the very front of this new leading group had become the one closest to the finish line on the entire course.