"That way, they can break away as a pair all the way to the finish, take the top two spots, and bring both Olympic slots home."
"It's so infuriating. We all know their strategy, but our best riders just can't keep up. We're simply outmatched in raw power."
"Sigh, you're telling me? All we can say is, if you're weak, you just have to train harder. Right now, our only hope is that Huang Chong can stick with them and not get dropped on that final, difficult climb!"
...
As Huang Chong, riding solo, followed the lead group onto the 8% climb, the entire pack had been whittled down to eight cyclists from six nations.
Without a doubt, these eight were the strongest cyclists in Asia, with the exception of Lutsenko, who wasn't present.
But in truth, before the race began, every team had done some preliminary research on the cyclists from the other participating nations.
