Hearing their sponsor raging behind them, the domestiques, who were essentially hired riders, instantly fell silent, not daring to say another word.
Zhou Ming had directly threatened to fire them if they lost again, a clear sign that he was furious.
They immediately stomped on the pedals, increasing their power to pick up speed. They launched a pursuit of Huang Chong's five-man squad, which was pulling further and further away after having dropped the main pack.
Soon, their all-out chase began to close the gap.
This greatly annoyed Liu Junjie, who had just moved to the front to lead the group. He had made a promise to Huang Chong before the race.
'So I can't shake you guys, huh?'
He glanced at the distance on his cycling computer and saw they had already passed 45 kilometers. Gritting his teeth, he used his shifter to move the chain to a smaller cog on the cassette. He then maintained the same cadence, choosing to accelerate again.
