Finally, seeing the finish line drawing near and O'Connor—on his solo breakaway—already crossing it in first place, Huang Chong decided to stop holding back.
With a decisive move, he picked up the pace with about two or three kilometers to go, pulling the other teams' leaders with him to start closing the gap on O'Connor.
For O'Connor, winning the stage today with a 65-kilometer breakaway was already worth a wild celebration.
The only suspense now was this: when he had finished the race, the official time gap between him and the peloton containing Huang Chong was five minutes.
But when Huang Chong finally crossed the line, would O'Connor really be able to maintain that lead?
If he could hold on to it, he would not only win the stage, but also take the overall leader's Red Jersey—
But as for the Red Jersey, even if O'Connor, having finished early, watched the big screen and prayed ceaselessly to God, Huang Chong would never grant his wish.
