Motivation is 10 of the 9 minutes of the law at this time of year. When Milan Vader showed interest in taking a tour of Guangxi, the management of Jumbo-Visma thought that a trip to China was eventually worth the effort. Any idea of sitting the final World Tour race of the season was put on one side.

Vader's enthusiasm for adventure is based on what he read online about the decisive climb to Nongla in Stage 4, and the ascent was theoretically going after the Peloton was shaved on the lower slope, the Dutchman was clearly limited inside the final kilometer to claim his first professional victory, Remy Rochas (Coach) said. Six seconds clear of Fidis).

"I think he was the first person on the team who asked if he could go to China," Vader smiled after pulling the race leader's red jersey. "At first, they were laughing a little bit, then they said, 'Ok, let's see if we can find some guys, you can go'"

Vader made his name as a mountain biker before joining Jumbo Visma last year at a relatively old age of 26, and he was a Nobel Prize winner. The violence of the effort required for a short, sharp climb to the Angla considered it ideally suited to riders with his attributes.

"I just looked at the Veloviewer's profile and it looked good because the day before the uphill finish was flat. I knew it would suit me," said Vader, who turned away men like Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) to claim honor. "2 minutes of effort, that's what I kept in mind when I attacked because it's a really specialty I took from mountain biking. I just said go full gas and see what happens.

Cruelly, Nongra's path continued to climb beyond the finish line, and Vader could hardly pedal off before the ground stopped. He seemed to be in a place far beyond words as he lay on the roadside to recover, and only when his teammate Steven Kruijskwijk reached his side did Vader begin to acknowledge his victory.

Half an hour later, after the podium ceremony ended, Vader was still struggling to put words on his first professional victory, a milestone that seemed unthinkable when he suffered a life-threatening crash in the Itzulia Basque country for at least a year, breaking his spine in eleven places. He spent 12 days in an induced coma in Bilbao and had to learn to walk again before finally being able to continue his rehabilitation in the Netherlands.

"I have a little speechless," Bader said. "After all the crashes and all the anxiety I experienced last year, I wasn't sure if I could race again or ride my bike again. First of all, I am so happy to be healthy, and now I am so happy to finish it with a win for my parents, my family and the team.

Surprisingly, Vader returned to the race before the end of the 2022 CRO Tour, and he began his current campaign with mountain bikers still in but as the year progressed, Vader gradually began to emphasize more towards the road.

Combining the two areas was complex enough even before his crash, but now after missing out on the mountain bike world due to illness the cost incurred in the trade-off has become unsustainable, Vader decided to focus explicitly on the road for the time being. His 3rd place on the Slovak tour last month suggested that the decision was a wise one. Sunday's exhibition felt like confirmation.

"Paris was a dream, but last year's accident didn't make it easy," Bader said. "Until a few months ago, we didn't even have a place for the Netherlands for the Olympics, and I've come back so far. I couldn't walk even after the crash, so this year I took some mountain biking lessons to train my body back to what I needed for a mountain bike. "

Vader politely laughed at the idea that he might now follow the path set out by another former mountain biker, his teammate Sepp Kuss - "I'm focused on what I can do this week" – but his commitment to the road will not be enough for 2024, the event at Jumbo Bismuth. In his third season will be total. On Sunday's evidence, his progress would be worth closely tracking. "I still believe it's possible to combine 2, but it's not so good with a lot of energy on what I need to do for the road," so I decided to focus on the road, at least for now. This also gave me a lot of rest in my head. I'm not Van der Poel or Pidcock, so it's very hard to make changes every time. It relaxed my mind.”