Chapter 430 - 207: Wearing the Red Jersey to the End and Setting a Historic Achievement? (Part 2)

Finally, seeing the finish line drawing near and O’Connor—on his solo breakaway—already crossing it in first place, Huang Chong decided to stop holding back.

With a decisive move, he picked up the pace with about two or three kilometers to go, pulling the other teams’ leaders with him to start closing the gap on O’Connor.

For O’Connor, winning the stage today with a 65-kilometer breakaway was already worth a wild celebration.

The only suspense now was this: when he had finished the race, the official time gap between him and the peloton containing Huang Chong was five minutes.

But when Huang Chong finally crossed the line, would O’Connor really be able to maintain that lead?

If he could hold on to it, he would not only win the stage, but also take the overall leader’s Red Jersey—

But as for the Red Jersey, even if O’Connor, having finished early, watched the big screen and prayed ceaselessly to God, Huang Chong would never grant his wish.

This truly was a situation where not even God could help.

So, Huang Chong’s power output over the final three kilometers was slightly higher than O’Connor’s. After crossing the line, he still led O’Connor by two seconds in the overall standings.

This caused O’Connor’s expression, after a burst of ecstasy, to shift to a wry smile.

’He knew perfectly well that Huang Chong had deliberately managed the time gap during that final stretch, not going all out at all.’

But no matter what, winning a stage was a huge success for their Decathlon Team.

Especially since he had now jumped from 23rd at the start of the race to 2nd in the overall standings.

And he was only a mere two seconds behind Huang Chong, the leader.

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"Jimmy, what’s your take on the result of Stage 6?"

After the race, Steve watched Huang Chong’s unremarkable finish. Honestly, he wasn’t the least bit surprised.

In fact, anyone who understands professional road cycling could see that Huang Chong was deliberately controlling the time gap during the race.

Although his actions were completely justifiable—he was protecting his Red Jersey—

this way of riding was a bit too calculated.

"I think the in-race decision-making by the Red Bull Bora Team was brilliant!"

Jimmy replied without hesitation:

"First, they didn’t lose the Red Jersey in this stage. At the same time, they let O’Connor get away by the maximum possible margin, allowing him to build a lead of nearly three minutes in the overall standings over the other team leaders.

With such a large gap, if the other teams’ leaders still have any ambition for first or second place, they will have to take the initiative and attack during the climbs.

They’ll have to take control of the peloton and can’t just let the Red Bull Bora Team control the pace like they did today.

This is clearly a ’one step back, two steps forward’ tactic, and it’s truly brilliant.

Otherwise, if the current overall standings were maintained until the end of the race, no teams other than Red Bull Bora and Decathlon Team would find it acceptable.

Especially the UAE Team, which has already been so successful in the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France this year.

They must want to replicate last year’s feat by the Jumbo-Visma Team of sweeping all three Grand Tours. Otherwise, there would be no reason to send such a star-studded lineup to compete."

"I agree with your analysis, but honestly, for the Red Bull Bora Team to let their own leader ride like that is extremely risky.

They were pushing it to the absolute limit.

Look at Huang Chong’s lead in the general classification after this stage—he’s only ahead of O’Connor by two seconds now.

You’d have to have some serious nerve to ride like that—"

"I actually think this just proves that Huang Chong has absolute confidence in and control over his own abilities.

Only a truly strong rider would dare to play it like this, right?

He must feel that, with his skill level, he can take back the lead from O’Connor whenever he wants, or extend it if he so chooses!"

At this moment, Huang Chong, who had already finished the race, was unaware of the conversation between the two European Sports commentators. Otherwise, he would have felt a bit awkward.

’Although that was indeed what I was thinking, it would be far too impolite to say it out loud.’

’It would be a bit disrespectful to O’Connor and the other team leaders!’

But thankfully, he wasn’t the one who had said it.

So, since he wouldn’t be the one to stir up a media controversy, he didn’t care.

After Stage 6 ended, the top ten of the general classification had changed significantly. Besides O’Connor’s huge jump, Lipowitz, who had also been in today’s breakaway, shot up 16 places to fourth overall.

As for the other main contenders, there were no major changes.

Because the peloton finished after the breakaway group, they all placed outside the top ten for this stage.

The Red Bull Bora Team seemed to have given up the stage victory today, but in reality, they were the biggest winners.

They not only successfully propped up a rival who could be used to keep other teams in check, but they also moved another of their own young riders into the top five of the general classification.

If they managed to build such a huge advantage in the first week only to collapse later, they would truly be the biggest joke among the World Tour Teams.

After Stage 6, Stage 7 was another hilly stage.

From Archidona, Spain, to Cordoba.

The route covered 180.5 km with 1,943 meters of total climbing.

The entire course consisted of undulating roads with a gentle downhill trend, until kilometer 155.5, where the only categorized climb for points appeared: a Second Category Climb called Alto del 14%.

The name of this climb was undoubtedly odd, but it was quite challenging.

It was 7.4 km long with an average gradient of 5.6%. The steepest section was in the final kilometer before the summit, where the gradient hit 11.6%.

However, with only one long climb in the entire stage, followed by a downhill and flat run to the finish, it would be impossible to drop a classics rider like Van Aert, even with a steep 11.6% section.

So, Stage 7 still came down to the sprinters battling it out in an anaerobic dash to the finish.

As expected, the stronger climber, Van Aert, took another stage win, solidifying his grip on the Dash King Green Jersey.

As for Alpecin’s lead sprinter, Groves, who had been challenging him in the finishes, this stage exposed his glaring weakness in climbing.

He crossed the line 1 minute and 17 seconds behind the peloton containing Van Aert, not even getting a chance to participate in the final sprint.

This showed that even though Van Aert’s climbing form this year was a complete mess, among sprinter-type riders, he could still be considered to have outstanding high-mountain climbing ability.

After Stage 7, only two stages remained in the first week of the race.

Among them, the climbing difficulty of Stage 8 wasn’t, strictly speaking, that great.

In the Vuelta a España’s four-tier stage classification, it was categorized as a medium-mountain stage.

It was harder than a hilly stage, but one level below a true high-mountain stage.

The riders would travel from Úbeda to Cazorla, a total distance of 159 km with 2,641 meters of climbing.

This stage had only two categorized climbs: a second-category one and a Third Category Climb located at the finish line.

The harder of the two, the second-category climb, came earlier in the stage, with its summit at kilometer 105. It was named Puerto Mirador de las Palomas.

It was 7.3 km long with an average gradient of 5.6%, and its steepest kilometer had a gradient of 7.9%.

As for the final climb to Cazorla, its overall difficulty was lower.

However, the nature of its terrain would introduce a huge element of uncertainty for the eventual stage winner.

This climb was only 4.8 km long, but it had a steep average gradient of 7.2%, with its steepest kilometer averaging a punishing 9.9%.

The most terrifying part was that this short, steep section with the 9.9% gradient was located in the final 800 meters before the finish arch.

In addition, it’s worth mentioning that if you look at the single steepest point of the entire Third Category Climb, there was even an incredibly difficult ramp of 18% near the beginning.

However, this ridiculously steep ramp was only about ten meters long.

Therefore, this type of finishing climb was infinitely beneficial for a Climber like Huang Chong, who also possessed a powerful Sprinting Burst.

Moreover, after Stage 6, his lead over O’Connor in the general classification had shrunk to just two seconds.

Thus, for Stage 8, he had no reason to let the breakaway group take it again.

Otherwise, if O’Connor managed to get into another breakaway, his lead would be completely wiped out.

A result like that would be unacceptable not only to him, but to the entire Red Bull Bora Team leadership.

Because they had already held a meeting and decided that Huang Chong would wear this year’s Vuelta a España Red Jersey all the way to the end, preparing to achieve this historic feat!

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