I will practice more in the United States

Chapter 206: Tour de France (2)

The Tour de France began in 1903 and has a history of more than years. It belongs to the UCI professional tour and is the oldest and highest-level cycling event in Europe. In terms of popularity, it is far ahead of other events and attracts hundreds of millions of viewers around the world every year.

This pinnacle race in the cycling world has a total of more than 23 teams from all over the world and nearly 21 athletes participating. The competition lasts 3500 days, with stages and an average race distance of more than kilometers.

Each of these stages is timed and ranked separately, and the results of all stages are accumulated to determine the driver's overall score.

Whether it is the length of the game or the distance, it is enough to show the importance of this game.

Therefore, it is naturally the highest temple in the mind of every road cyclist.

The competition this time is much more competitive than the last Tour of California in the United States. All the World Tour teams will participate, and every top professional rider will be gathered together.

Winning the Tour of California can only make you the best in the United States, but if you can win the Tour de France, you can definitely say that you are the best in the world and no one will say anything against you.

However, the ultimate honor won in this large-scale competition is certainly not just a championship. In fact, players who excel in various abilities will receive corresponding honors.

The honor is represented by cycling jerseys of different colors.

The yellow jersey represents the leader in the overall standings. If two riders have the same points, their ranking will be determined by the time taken in the individual time trial.

The green cycling jersey represents the sprint points leader, commonly known as the sprint king. Peter Sagan, whom Leon and Moira met at the door of the conference room before, is the winner of the green cycling jersey seven times.

The polka dot red and white jersey represents the king of the mountains, that is, the person with the best climbing performance in the Tour de France. This item is mainly calculated based on the accumulated points of the athletes in the mountain stages.

Finally, there is the white cycling jersey, which represents the rider with the best performance under the age of 25, which is equivalent to the Outstanding Youth Award.

It is worth mentioning that these cycling jerseys not only represent honor, they also affect the distribution of prize money. Last year, the total prize money of the Tour de France reached 2 euros. Unlike other sports, it is not winner-takes-all in terms of prize money. The champion received about 308% of the total prize money.

Cyclists wearing yellow jerseys can receive an additional 500 euros in bonuses per day, while those wearing green jerseys, polka-dot red and white jerseys, or white jerseys can receive euros per day.

In addition, there are honors with different conditions such as team awards, special awards, super aggressive rider awards, etc., and all of them can share the prize money in the prize pool.

Li Ang roughly calculated that if he got all the honors he could get under extreme circumstances, he could get nearly one million euros in bonuses alone.

This does not include his advertising revenue from sponsors. All in all, it is definitely a considerable income.

But under normal circumstances, it is already remarkable for the champion to get about 25% of the prize money. After all, it is impossible for a player to do everything, and in order to ensure the distribution of physical strength, it is impossible for him to compete for this and that.

The audience was very enthusiastic, but most of the attention was focused on the World Tour team players. These players from the intercontinental professional racing teams who fought hard for their places were often just background boards in this big competition.

After all, in all these years of competition, no team at a lower level has ever won the championship.

If they knew that Li Ang was calculating how much prize money he could get if he won all the championships, I'm afraid some of the audience with weak hearts would die of laughter on the spot.

Jonas Wenger, Tadej Pogačar, Egan Bernal, Chris Froome. These Tour de France champions are all well-known names. Not to mention the spectators, even the Max team members looked at them as if they were worshipping idols.

If they weren't at the competition site, they would have wanted to go up and ask for autographs, and would never have dared to think that there would be a day when they would compete on the same stage with them.

"nervous?"

Leon asked with a smile as he looked at Patrice who was trembling slightly.

Patrice shook his head and replied in an exaggerated tone:

"I'm not nervous, I'm excited. I feel like I'm going to the sky. I have a feeling this will be my best performance. Just wait and see my performance. I won't fall behind too much this time."

Li Ang shook his head helplessly. This kid wouldn't even dare to be bolder in his dreams. His goal was just to not fall too far behind himself.

He looked around at the other teammates and found that everyone was in much the same situation. They were all visibly nervous. Even though they knew that it was unlikely that they would achieve any results in this competition, who wouldn't have a little fantasy in their hearts?
"Captain, and Patrice, keep working on it. As long as the times of the top three drivers on the team are added together and we can rank in the top five overall, we will receive a team bonus. This is an honor that our coach dreams of getting."

Li Ang said to the two people beside him with encouraging eyes.

Patrice was fine, the captain's response was just to shake his head. Even though the top five seemed to have lower requirements, it also depends on what kind of monsters the opponents around them are, such as the Jumbo Wisma Team, UAE Emirates Team, Ineos Team, Movistar Team. The gap between them and these teams is not a little bit at all.

Not only are the spectators on site paying close attention to the game, but a larger number of viewers are also watching the live broadcast on TV.

In the Hillsboro Police Station, in Griffin's gym, in the Hunyuan Martial Arts School, in Sheila's home, and on Wilson's old TV, countless people were watching this game.

When Javier pulled his two aunts and his aunt's best friend Gwen in front of the TV, they were also confused.

"When did you start caring about bicycle racing? Can you ride?"

Fremea was the first to roll her eyes at her nephew, obviously very unhappy with him interrupting her and her bestie from watching TV series together.

Gwen and Elizabeth didn't know why Javier called them over.

"Didn't you notice that there's an acquaintance among these contestants?"

Javier said with a proud look on his face.

Seeing that they still hadn't found it, Javier pointed to a corner helplessly.

"Why does this person look a bit like Li Ang?"

Elizabeth was the first to recognize it.

"Bingo! (Correct answer)"

"No, you, isn't he a fighting coach? Why is he participating in a cycling competition?"

Gwen was also a little dumbfounded and asked in surprise.

Although she doesn't pay attention to cycling, she has heard of the famous Tour de France. This kind of top-level competition is not something that one can participate in just because they want to.

"Who says a fighting coach can only fight?"

JaVale's face was full of pride, and it was obvious that he was very proud of his coach's versatility.

The Eric brothers, along with several friends in the cycling community, are following the Tour de France.

"Hey! Hey! Look, that's my good brother, Li Ang. I told you before that I know a friend who participates in the Tour de France, but you didn't believe me. I participated in the competition with him before, so I can be considered a teammate of a Tour de France athlete."

Little Eric stood up excitedly and said to his friends.

"So, the signature on your bicycle frame was also signed by him?"

Several other friends in the cycling circle also said to Eric with envy, "Of course, but it's not just me, Pete also has a piece of clothing signed by Leon."

Little Eric turned his gaze to Pete from the Falcon Club next to him.

Looking at the envious eyes of his friends around him, Pete could only force a smile and nodded.

He did have a piece of clothing signed by Li Ang, but unfortunately he didn't take it seriously at all and threw it to his mother as a rag. Even if he rushed back to rescue it later, the clothing was already in a terrible state and the signature on it was almost unrecognizable.

He could have been happy, had he never owned this signature piece of clothing.

The group watching the live broadcast of the game even included Li Ang's high school class. The class teacher Sophia specially arranged a math class time for everyone to watch the live broadcast of the Tour de France.

These students may not care much about what honors Li Ang has achieved or what competitions he has participated in, but if they can skip math classes just to watch his competitions, then Li Ang is definitely a god-like existence in their hearts.

"Look, that's Li Ang from our class!"

Charles finally spotted Leon's figure from the aerial camera and shouted excitedly. If it were before, Sophia would have chased him out long ago, but today, she just quietly made a "hush" gesture to Charles.

Unfortunately, most of the shots were focused on the favorites to win the championship. Drivers like Li Ang would have appeared even less if it weren't for his special skin color.

As the game started, it became more difficult for everyone to find Li Ang's position among the team of nearly two hundred people.

"Wait, look, that player who broke away from the main group and kept shaking the car body, does he look like Li Ang?"

Julie's little face was flushed, and she was unaware that she was almost standing up from her seat, her eyes fixed on the screen.

"A bit like that. He seems to be wearing clothes of this color."

"His riding posture is so weird, but his speed is really fast. He is almost at the front of the group."

"This is called rocking the bike, a common position used during sprinting."

Watching Li Ang leave, his teammates placed their hopes on him.

Everyone knows that it is almost impossible to win team honors, but relying on Li Ang's personal strength, he might be able to win a place.

"We must break out!"

Patrice's eyes were fixed on Leon's back, as if this could provide him with some impetus to move forward.

"Wow, we can see that on the first day of the competition, at the very beginning, several drivers have already tried to break out. It seems that everyone is quite passionate about this competition!"

The commentator also started the explanation appropriately.

This situation is quite common on the first day of the race, because the first stage of the race is usually one of the most watched stages and it is also the time when everyone has the most energy. Naturally, many drivers want to stand out at this time when everyone is paying attention.

"Well, most of the drivers returned to the team after their attempts failed. It seems more like a self-display. This is indeed the most rational choice. After all, the physical exertion of flying alone is much greater than that of following a large group."

In fact, even if they wanted to break through, it would not be so easy to do so. If they consumed too much physical energy in the process, it would be completely counterproductive.

"Wait, it seems that one of the drivers is serious, with such a fast speed, he broke through successfully!"

The commentator's voice suddenly became louder.

While many contestants were just trying to break out, there was actually one contestant who, with his superhuman sprint speed, came from the back to the front of the group.

"Let's take a look. This player is Li Ang from the Intercontinental Racing Team, Max Racing Team. His sprinting ability seems to be not to be underestimated."

"Oh my god, I seem to have discovered something remarkable. This contestant who successfully broke through is only one month away from turning 18! This is definitely the youngest contestant I have ever seen."

Another commentator, when checking the players' information, felt like he had discovered a new world and was no less shocked than his colleagues.

It would be fine if you didn't check, but once you checked, you'll find that Li Ang's resume is quite legendary. Unlike most other well-known players who have a lot of honors and competition records, Li Ang has only three competition records so far.

Moreover, two of them were just amateur competitions. What’s even more amazing is that he won the Tour of California directly in his first time.

What is a genius? This is a genius!

This contrast is no less than playing games in an Internet cafe in the first half of the year and participating in the S League Global Finals in the second half of the year.

For example, a small-time author who was struggling to get a contract a few months ago has now become a big-name writer.

In fact, not only the two commentators were shocked, but other experienced viewers who were quite familiar with cycling competitions were also dumbfounded. Before this, they really didn't know that this Chinese athlete had such a legendary experience.

As he spoke, Li Ang had already opened up a distance of more than 20 meters between himself and the main group. Judging from his posture, he definitely wanted to fly solo.

"Li Ang has already rushed to the first place, Ward! What's the difference between this and the world's first place?"

Charles's excited pretty face turned into a red one.

"Boss is so awesome, he's also so good at riding a bicycle!"

The people who were talking next to Charles were Barber and others who had sneaked out of other classes.

For them, skipping classes is basically a common thing, but this is the first time they skipped classes and went to other classrooms. All this was because they knew that they would be watching Li Ang's game.

However, there were also a few people who couldn't stand Li Ang's constant attention, and they commented quietly:

"I heard this stage is hundreds of kilometers long. What's the point of rushing to the front at the beginning? It's just like running a marathon. The one who laughs to the end is the master."

"Indeed, it would be more exhausting for a person to be alone in the front, right? If it's not for the sake of showing off, why is that?"

However, as soon as they finished speaking, the Qinglong study group formed by Charles looked at them with vicious eyes, and their lip movements clearly said, "Don't leave after school."

Li Ang's current speed is naturally aimed at breaking the record. Not to mention that he has reached the perfect level of [Riding]. Even if his riding skills are crude, relying solely on this terrifying physical fitness, it is as easy for him to be far ahead of everyone else as eating and drinking water.

His sprint speed at this time had reached 70 kilometers per hour. What was even more terrifying was that he stabilized at this speed until the distance between him and the main group was more than meters. Then he gradually slowed down and maintained a speed slightly faster than the average speed of the main group.

He came to break the world record in the Tour de France, but he did not want to drastically break through the limits of human beings under the attention of so many people. Such pretense may bring him great popularity in a short period of time, but in the long run, the disadvantages will definitely outweigh the advantages.

If you exceed human limits a little bit, you will be a legend; if you exceed human limits greatly, to put it nicely, you are a superman; to put it bluntly, you may be a monster.

“The first uphill is coming. Let’s see how this young sprinter performs in the next section.”

(End of this chapter)