After Huang Chong crossed the finish line first, Vader Milan finished in second place, a full seven seconds behind.
The moment he crossed the line, the guy practically fell off his road bike, immediately lying down on the pavement to catch his breath.
It was a testament to the difficulty of tackling the final 500-meter steep climb, with its 8.7% average gradient, in a full anaerobic sprint.
In his previous life, Vader Milan had used this very kind of sudden, out-of-the-saddle anaerobic attack to clinch both the stage victory and the overall championship at the Tour of Guangxi.
This time, however, Huang Chong—who knew the Jumbo Team's strategy in advance—stuck to the guy trying to steal the win and, with his superior anaerobic sprinting power, ruthlessly snatched the Red Jersey away.
Following him, Rochas Rémy of the Cofidis Team crossed the line in third, nine seconds behind Huang Chong.
