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

The 13th stage has a "2C" and a "1C" ① climbing stage.

The riders will start from the starting point at an altitude of more than 800 meters, along the hills and gentle slopes to an altitude of about 1000 meters, start to climb the first slope, and rise to an altitude of about 1400 meters; then drop from 1400 meters to an altitude of 900 meters, and then Start to climb the second slope, pass a long slope of about 14 kilometers, and then climb to the mountain pass at an altitude of 1500 meters.

The end of the stage is set in a small town at an altitude of 1000 meters.

Before reaching the finish line, the players also need to go through a very "horrifying" downhill.

This 17-kilometer downhill is very challenging. Except for the downhill with a slope of up to 20% at the beginning, this downhill has countless complicated corners. It is the most "crash" in the history of Tour de France. One of the two stages with the highest accident rate.

After passing through this track nicknamed "Death Downhill", the players can reach the final town.

Before the start of the race, George Spark of the Renault team stopped in front of Roy and greeted Roy in front of all the participating drivers.

This proves that the Renault team really regards Roy as an important opponent.

George Spark's attention to Roy immediately made Roy the driver's target.The drivers ranked ahead of Roy adjusted the position of the body under the seat one after another—they could no longer let Roy "jump" out so easily.

Roy looked at the opponents in front of him and smiled wryly:

He didn't intend to be a "rabbit" today.

Earlier, head coach Victor confirmed Roy's physical condition, and immediately arranged today's tactics after confirming that Roy was "no problem".

Most of the burden of the Dadi team was actually on Alex.

Alex will take Roy together and rush across the first slope together.

The short-slope ability of "Dali" can ensure that after he and Roy climb the first slope, both of them will occupy a favorable position in the main group.

Then Alex will climb the second slope with Roy.

When climbing to about two or three kilometers from the top of the slope, Alex will slowly back up and hand over the rest of the race to Roy.

According to the head coach's vision, when Alex retired, Roy was either "flying solo", or he was "singling out" with George, the leader of the Renault team.

Roy likes "solo flying" very much. In his previous life, he once "flyed solo" [-] kilometers in a stage of the Tour de France and won the championship. Roy won the title of "god" in that race. Since then, whenever he mentioned the new century No one can surpass Roy's name.

As long as he is given such a "solo flight" opportunity, he can ensure that he will win the championship.

But the problem is that the Renault team has begun to pay attention to Roy's ability, and also realized that Roy may have jumped from a "newcomer" to the new "leader" in the team-will they still give Roy this opportunity?

The competition in this stage was extremely fierce from the very beginning: three rabbit teams rushed out from the main group, and these three teams were caught by the main group before reaching the top of the first slope.

Alex and Roy, who have been mixed in the main group, completed the first slope cleanly.

Then Roy took Alex to demonstrate the textbook downhill skills.

"Beautiful, Roy!"

There was a burst of shouting from Roy's earphones, and the enthusiastic assistant coach Pierre really couldn't control his emotions.

Roy himself was very proud——

In his own state, even if he "single out" with Spark later, he would not be afraid at all.

But this downhill performance definitely exposed Roy's true strength.

In the main group, the Renault team started the "train" again.

From the front to the rear of the car, from the lieutenant to the chief, everyone was wary of Roy.

Alex rode close and told Roy in a low voice: "I heard them call you a 'spoiler' just now."

That's not a good word—among road racers, it's an extremely pejorative term for an opponent who's designed to hurt others.

The corners of Roy's mouth raised beautifully: "They still have time to call us nicknames, and they won't even have the time to cry later—"

Alex let out a "huh" laugh.

It seems that this senior lieutenant general has gradually gotten used to Roy's "speaking skills", and feels that he pretends to be X every time just right.

"But..." Roy turned his head to look at the dark clouds gradually gathering in the distance, "It seems that thunderstorms are inevitable."

When laying out the tactics in the morning, Victor said that there might be short-term thunderstorms during the game.

This is very common in the Alps in summer.

Alex patted the back: "The raincoats are all ready."

Every driver on the land has stuffed a light raincoat in the backpack on his back in advance.

Of course, this is also because the team does not have a special budget for logistics vehicles, so it is impossible to send raincoats to everyone when it rains.

Roy pursed his lips lightly, secretly hoping that the weather would not affect the team's early plans.

Occasionally, he turned his head and didn't see Arthur's figure. Then he remembered: Arthur was one of the three batches of "rabbits" caught earlier, and he should be hanging on the tail of the main group and slowly recovering.

The difference between Arthur and him is that the leader of the Baolai team is still there, so Arthur has not been promoted to the position of leader, and must undertake various tactical tasks in the team.

Baolai is not like Dadi. All the tactics of the Dadi team are designed around Roy.

Roy was a little regretful: if Arthur was here, he would definitely like this matchup.

Soon, the main group began to charge the second slope.

Alex's short slope ability is very strong, but his endurance is not good, and it is very difficult to reach two-thirds of the long slope.

"I leave it to you, Roy!"

Alex looked at the top of the slope, which was still some distance away, and said loudly to Roy.

At this moment, bean-sized raindrops fell, stirring up a rustic atmosphere.

There were heavy clouds overhead, and the audience who had been waiting on both sides of the road early also held up umbrellas and put on raincoats.

Roy and Alex took out their raincoats from behind and helped each other put them on.

"Go, Roy!"

Alex was obviously a little bit reluctant to give up on this young teammate, but he still boldly encouraged Roy to rush forward.

Roy stepped forward and observed the situation of the Renault team by the way.

To his surprise, the mighty Renault team has three drivers around him at the moment - including George in the yellow jersey.

Sure enough, the "train" of the Renault team has been driving here.

Soon the Renault team sent a special logistics vehicle to deliver raincoats to the drivers, but the sudden rainstorm obviously disrupted the Renault team's "train driving" rhythm.

In a blink of an eye, there were only two of Renault's three men: an excellent climber was leading their leader towards the top of the hill.

As the rain got heavier, the situation became clearer - soon the climber "Lieutenant General" will also complete his historical mission and slowly fall behind like Alex.

After riding up to the top of the slope, it will be a "one-on-one" situation between Roy and George.

Roy had already "shown" his amazing downhill skills just now.His speed can reach more than 100 km/h, but he is well controlled when cornering.

The track that greets Roy and George will be Death Descent.

Roy is not afraid at all: he is always a "soldier to fight against" character, and he uses whatever technique he rides on any track-he never assumes that the track will bring him difficulties and challenges beyond his ability.

But it was raining too hard.

While Roy was struggling to shake the car, he reached out to wipe the rain on his face.

George's bright yellow shirt was like a coordinate in the dense rain, and Roy could stare at it without any trouble.

However, Roy's heart was full of alarm bells: he knew that bad weather had brought a lot of trouble to all the drivers-"death downhill" would become extremely slippery after being washed by rain, and in this race Every second on the road may usher in the danger of "rollover".

In Grand Tour de France, almost every year there are players who directly pull out of the track and crash.

Roy can't remember which year, but there was a time when someone climbed over the guardrail next to the track and fell down the hillside.

In such weather, going downhill in the "death rappelling" has become a competition that tests skills and courage.

Roy didn't believe that George could beat him.

Unexpectedly, George was also looking at him at the moment.

The two looked at each other, and George immediately turned his head.

Roy felt that this guy must have seen the belief in victory in his own eyes just now.

Just like what he saw through Arthur's eyes yesterday.

—Roy is such a guy who feels good about himself.

This long slope with a difficulty of 1C, the top of the slope is just around the corner.

Roy has made all the preparations, telling himself: bold, cautious... "Death Descent" will bring him, it will be "victory".

Unexpectedly, at this time, the radio signal in the earphone sizzled.

Apparently the clouds and rain were affecting communication between Roy and the coaching staff.

The rain was slightly lighter, and Roy watched Spark's movements through the rain curtain.I saw that Spark no longer leaned over and pedaled hard. Instead, he straightened up, holding the faucet with one hand and the earphone with the other.

Suddenly, George quickly drove towards Roy, left the handlebars with both hands, and gestured to Roy.

Roy frowned immediately.

He hadn't seen this gesture in a long time.

Ancient gesture.

That's when the rustling noise in his earphones finally turned into audible speech.

Victor's tone obviously carried a little helplessness:

"It's a 'truce'! - Renault has initiated a 'truce'!"

The author has something to say: ① For those who are not deeply impressed by the classification of climbing stages, you can review the notes in Chapter 7 again.

②【Trunce】: In the Grand Tour, there are often temporary suspensions due to weather conditions and road surface conditions. The most common situation is that the mountain stage is impassable due to mudslides or landslides—in this case , the organizer will notify the game to suspend or divert;

But outside the organizer, several teams that have "dominance" in the Grand Tour may also jointly initiate a "truce".

The most recent example is Stage 2020 of the 1 Tour de France, which saw numerous crashes and injuries due to slippery surfaces caused by rain showers.

So the heads of several major teams shouted "Truce" after a brief discussion.

This "truce" is unofficial, initiated by the teams and observed by all teams - because it is also for the benefit of all drivers.

So most teams will abide by the "truce" agreement for the common good.

The "truce" agreement will be suspended after the risk factor disappears, and the game will resume at that time.