Chapter 458 - 217: Even Among Geniuses, There Is a Gap

But the feeling of giving your all, of pushing yourself to the absolute limit, only to discover insurmountable mountains still towering before you... It’s truly hopeless!

But for us cycling fans, seeing a new rider emerge so quickly who can directly challenge the likes of Tadej and Jonas is definitely a sign of healthy development in professional road cycling—

It’s just that for the other riders, the emergence of an all-around cyclist like Huang Chong probably makes things even more despairing!

Actually, if we broaden our view beyond the European nations, we’ll find something interesting. Many riders on World Tour teams who never get a chance to show their full race-winning potential and are relegated to being domestiques are, in fact, the strongest national champions from their home countries.

But when it comes to peak performance, the gap in talent between individuals is often something that sheer hard work simply can’t overcome.

Of course, I believe that any cyclist who makes it to the World Tour level is a prodigy in their own right.

But even among prodigies, there are levels, right!?"

"Yes, even among prodigies, there are levels!"

Steve repeated Jimmy’s words, adding in a somber tone:

"We are very fortunate, here at the Tour of Spain, to witness with our own eyes another moon, radiant and brilliant, slowly rising in the night sky.

And the other riders, though they too are shining, doing their best to give off their own light, are ultimately just stars orbiting in the face of that dazzling moonlight."

...

Stage 20.

The final regular stage of the Vuelta a Espa?a.

The riders would travel from Villarcayo to Picon Blanco.

The stage was 172 kilometers long and featured seven categorized climbs for points and one bonus climb offering time reductions, with a total elevation gain of a staggering 5077 meters.

Without a doubt, this was another mountain stage—and also this year’s most difficult day, the Queen Stage of the Vuelta a Espa?a.

While none of the individual climbs on this stage were the most difficult when compared to those in other mountain stages, the challenge lay in its sheer density. After nineteen grueling days of racing, the riders now faced an immense and relentless amount of climbing. For any cyclist with objectives to achieve on this stage, the pressure to race against the clock was enormous.

As soon as the race officially began, Asgreen of the Quick Step Team and Enzo Leijnse of Team DSM launched an attack, forming an early breakaway.

The main group had no reaction, letting the pair go.

In addition to the seven categorized climbs, the stage was littered with numerous uncategorized but challenging rolling hills.

For example, just two or three kilometers from the start, there was a short, 2.7-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 6.2%.

Unsurprisingly, though the duo had initially pulled a thirty-second gap on the main group, they were reeled back in before they even finished this short climb.

For Huang Chong, however, the first short climb hadn’t even ended when he heard some bad news from Aldag over the radio:

"Huang, our flat-road domestique, Gampa, has been dropped on the climb."

The news caught Huang Chong somewhat by surprise.

Gampa’s control of the pace yesterday had been the work of a top-tier domestique. To think he would completely blow up on today’s stage was unexpected.

For a World Tour Cyclist, such a massive swing in form was highly unusual.

’Fortunately, today is a climbing stage. If a flat-road domestique gets dropped, so be it. The impact shouldn’t be too great.’

"Understood,"

Huang Chong replied curtly, saying nothing more.

Then, once that first climb was over, a new breakaway group began to form.

It consisted of Vine from the UAE Team, Tejada from the Astana Team, and Frigo from the Israel-Premier Tech Team.

The moment Huang Chong saw Vine attack, he knew this was the real breakaway.

After the second week, Adam Yates of the UAE Team was completely out of contention for the general classification.

But as a top-tier team, they couldn’t possibly leave a Grand Tour empty-handed. That was why their riders, Vine and Soler, had long been building a commanding lead in the mountains classification.

One had 56 points, the other 57.

They were about ten points ahead of Huang Chong, who was in third.

So on today’s stage, Vine was certain to go on the attack again.

He had to scoop up most of the mountains points before the final climb to have any chance of securing the Polka Dot Jersey.

If Huang Chong truly wanted to compete for the Polka Dot Jersey, he still had a theoretical chance on this stage.

The stage featured three First Category Climbs, offering a total of 30 points (10x3).

If he took them all, he could instantly leapfrog both Vine and Soler.

But the wearer of the Red Jersey couldn’t go in a breakaway, so the Polka Dot Jersey was not a target for him or his team.

Winning three jerseys in a single Grand Tour was a prestigious and rare accomplishment, but it was something that depended heavily on circumstance.

The team had asked him to take it easy on too many stages during the second week of this Vuelta a Espa?a.

As a result, he hadn’t accumulated many mountains points.

Besides, unlike the Tour de France, the Vuelta a Espa?a has far fewer HC Level climbs that offer 20 points.

The Tour de France features numerous HC Level summit finishes, and the riders go all-out on every stage, so the chances of the Yellow Jersey winner also taking home the Polka Dot Jersey are actually quite high.