At sprint speeds on a road bike, ten meters passes in the blink of an eye.
Sprinting at full power, Huang Chong didn't even have time to react before he'd already shot past Zhang Yi—who had deliberately braked to slow down—and crossed the finish line first under the arch.
It was a good thing they were on the same team. Otherwise, if the race officials at the finish line had seen it, they might have thought it was some kind of cheating.
But in professional road cycling, it's common for a team leader to gift a victory to their domestique. As long as the team's overall win is secure when they cross the line together, the leader will often yield.
For example, in 2023, Vingegaard directly gifted the overall title at the Vuelta a España—one of the three Grand Tours—to his teammate Kuss. Similarly, Pogačar gave the win at the 2025 Montreal Grand Prix to his domestique, McNulty.
