Back in the game, I'm still the big devil

In the 10th and 11th stages, the remaining seven drivers of the Dadi team accurately implemented the tactics arranged by the head coach Victor.

Rice and Juan rushed to the forefront as "rabbits", and made a posture of "grabbing points" at each sprint point.Since Juan, as a sprinter, already has a high score, the sprinters who are interested in the green jersey have to sprint ahead of time, and the original tactics of each team have been disrupted.

Unexpectedly, these two "rabbits" are pure spoilers.After rushing for a while, the rabbits retreated to the main group and crossed the line with everyone leisurely.

And Roy has been tied to Alex during these two journeys.

This made other teams generally believe that after the loss of their first-choice leader Nick Neville, the Dadi team helped the second leader Alex to the position of the leader.

The parties involved knew that was not the case.

After the 11th stage, at the hotel where he was resting, Alex took the initiative to find Roy and wanted to have a private talk with him.

The hotel has been around for some years, and its architectural form is a multi-storey wooden house in the Alps, with a wide balcony on each floor.The balcony faces the dark summer night, and the lights of the country house extend along the valley to the distance, as if the stars in the sky are falling on the ground.

Alex pulled Roy to the balcony, and said:

"Roy, you also know that I am a person who speaks completely against the matter and not against the person."

Roy nodded, he fully understood.

Now that Alex said that, did he start to believe in his abilities?

"In my eyes, you haven't proven that you are qualified to be the leader of the team." Alex said hastily.

Roy: ...Then why did you drag me here?Want to watch the stars together?

"But I can see why Nick would recommend you to the head coach."

Alex had to sigh with emotion:

He originally thought that this teammate was mediocre, and that winning the championship in the first stage was just luck.

But these two stages are the first time he and Roy have completed the race side by side.

Alex is so experienced, how could he not see something special about Roy?

Every corner, every shift, every stop...these are tiny details, but Roy handles them extremely cleanly.

Obviously, these are just the basic technical movements of road cycling competition, and Alex also thinks it is very common-but he asked himself: he participated in the Grand Tour for the first time when he was young, can all the details be achieved to this level?

No!

So he finally understood Nick's mood.

But these are not enough to completely convince Alex—whether Roy can lead the entire team to achieve the goal of this Grand Tour, or even make a breakthrough—this is still a problem.

"So, tomorrow..."

Roy said to Alex with a smile.

Alex suddenly beamed: "So you're going to work hard tomorrow?"

He reached out and patted Roy's shoulder heavily, probably hitting Roy's wound again, causing Roy to grin his teeth in pain.

Alex, who was nicknamed "Da Dali", immediately withdrew his hands, his face was embarrassing, and he quickly apologized.

"It's okay, Alex," Roy raised his arms and quickly regained his composure, "Actually, I really like talking to you, and that's how teammates should be. Say whatever you want, and never hide from each other. But treat things not people, and always maintain mutual respect."

"Okay!" Alex gave Roy a thumbs up, indicating that the other party's temper suits his own taste first.

"Tomorrow I will go back to my old job and be a 'rabbit' again." Roy said solemnly to Alex.

Alex replied sternly: "As for me, I will wait and see..."

In fact, Alex may have been looking forward to Roy's ability to prove himself, although once Roy succeeds, he himself will be completely out of the position of "leader"——

"I'm going to the physical therapy room first, and you'll come later." Alex said goodbye to Roy.

Roy nodded, and stayed alone on the big balcony, facing the valley and the town under the night.

"It's been so long, don't you really plan to come out to say hello?"

he asked suddenly.

After a while, footsteps were heard around the corner of the balcony, and someone turned out from there.

—It was Arthur.

This balcony is very wide, occupying the entire side of the floor. There is a small corner on both sides of the balcony, which is about one or two meters in, and there is just room for one person at the corner.

When Alex and Roy came in just now, Arthur happened to be alone around the corner.Neither of them noticed that there was another person on the balcony at the beginning, and immediately started talking, and talked about the arrangements for the next stage.

It was even more inconvenient for Arthur to show up at this time.

But in fact, Roy noticed Arthur's existence early on, and he was not afraid to reveal his plans for tomorrow to Arthur.

He's sending an invitation—

Tomorrow, if he had Arthur by his side, Arthur in a white shirt, and with him, rushing to the front of everyone - Roy believed that his fighting spirit would be even stronger.

Of course, Roy felt that the result of the competition was certain: the "genius" Roy, the Tour de France was dominated by him—he would always be a little faster than Arthur.

Arthur came out from the corner of the balcony and remained silent.

He came to Roy's side, following Roy's example, propping his arms on the railing of the balcony, staring at the shape of the valley under the moonlight in the distance.

After an unknown amount of time, Arthur stood up suddenly, took out a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket, and lit it with a "snap", and there was a small orange dot in the night.

Roy was speechless——

What's wrong with this guy, he actually smokes? !

They are all professional athletes, and bad habits such as smoking and drinking are the enemies of their careers.

Besides, in his previous life, Roy knew Arthur's habits like the back of his hand: of course he knew clearly that this guy didn't smoke at all!

So Roy stretched out his hand honestly and bluntly.

He took the cigarette out of Arthur's hand and extinguished it in the ashtray on the balcony.

"Don't think I don't know, you don't smoke at all!"

Roy's tone was very familiar, as if he was an old friend who had known him for many years.

Arthur was stunned by this, and after a while he asked, "How... do you know..."

Roy was confident, and the reason was still the same: "I am your number one die-hard fan, how could I not know?"

"As an opponent, whether you smoke or not is none of my business."

"But as a 'fan', I don't want you to be in a bad mood and smoke a cigarette."

Roy's idea is actually very simple: Arthur's condition is not good, who will he rush with tomorrow?

"So you really know me so well..."

Arthur no longer competed with his "fans", he actually took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, just opened it, and only one was missing - Arthur threw almost the whole pack in the In the ashtray, even with the lighter.

Roy breathed a sigh of relief.

This was the Arthur he knew!

"So you're going to try to rush at the start tomorrow? Be a 'rabbit'?" Arthur finally came to the chat channel Roy wanted.

Roy turned his face to look at Arthur, and saw that Arthur was looking at the distant valley with his arms folded, his eyes were deep, but he was not looking at him at all.

Roy simply turned around, completely facing Arthur, leaning against the fence of the balcony, and said with a grin, "How about it, together? Let's see if I can win the stage championship from you?"

Arthur was excited by him, and immediately nodded: "Okay! It's a deal!"

Roy is satisfied, and he has even outlined the prospect of tomorrow's game in his heart.

He turned around and faced the balcony door, ready to say goodbye to Arthur.

Unexpectedly, Arthur quietly said beside him: "Actually, your goal is not tomorrow's stage champion at all!"

Roy paused, but he didn't answer Arthur's words.

His goal has always been the overall championship - he will ride down the Champs-Elysées in a yellow jersey.After winning so many Tour de France yellow jerseys in his previous life, it is impossible for him to think otherwise.

"What you want is the overall championship."

"You are not my 'fan', you just want me to submit to you in the game."

Arthur finally turned around to face Roy.

Roy smiled: Arthur listened for so long at the corner of the balcony just now, it is impossible not to hear his goal, it is impossible not to guess his inner calculation.

But for some reason, Roy suddenly noticed that Arthur's attitude was a little unusual.

At this moment, Arthur had been staring at Roy's overly beautiful face, so that Roy noticed his eyes.

Arthur seemed to have just cried.

His pair of black and bright eyes reflected the full of starlight, as if something flickered in his eyes.

Roy couldn't help turning his head to look at the whole pack of cigarettes thrown in the ashtray, thinking: Should he actually ask what happened?

Arthur stretched out his hand to Roy: "Roy, see you on the field tomorrow!"

Roy shook hands with Arthur passively, feeling the strength of his hand.

He felt strange, and even suddenly regretted provoking Arthur today—he actually had a feeling: just now he seemed to have released a beast and put it on the Tour de France.

He was disheartened when he left the balcony, but he didn't forget to take the ashtray with him and hand it to the hotel staff for disposal.

Even if he turned his back to Arthur when he left, he could still feel Arthur's burning gaze—following him like a shadow, making him feel a thorn in his back.

Stage 12: hilly stage, 218 kilometers.

The longest stage since the start of the race, it has a short slope of the fourth grade and a short slope of the second grade, as well as a steep and sharp downhill.

The most extreme part of this stage is at the crossing line at the end of the race - the end point is set on a small slope about 4 kilometers long with a slope of 8%-9%. Sprinters pose great difficulties.

Roy greeted the drivers of each team at the starting point:

"Brother, let me move forward, thank you!"

"Yes, yes, today I, Roy, resume my old job—continue to be a 'rabbit'."