Of course, he knew the two guys ahead of him were on par with him in terms of cardio.
In the end, the contest between the three of them would come down to their fundamental power output and their mastery of race strategy.
As they led the descent, Roglič, who had been dropped earlier, was actually caught by Evenepoel on the climb.
But those two were still about 40 seconds behind Huang Chong's lead group.
Following Aldag's instructions, Huang Chong refused to take a turn pulling at the front with Vingegaard and Pogačar.
Even as Pogačar kept looking back, signaling for him to take a turn, Huang Chong remained stubbornly at the back, completely unresponsive.
It would be to his advantage if Roglič caught up, so he'd be a complete fool to pull for them.
But Pogačar and Vingegaard clearly didn't want Roglič and Evenepoel to catch them, so they kept trading turns at the front during the final Third Category Climb.
