All-round Athlete

Chapter 804 Targeting

The Tour de France is the most famous cycling event in the world and one of the oldest sporting events in the world. The Tour de France started in 1903, just a few years after the modern Olympic Games.

Cycling is still very popular in European and American countries. When the domestic people began to travel by car, Western Europe and even Americans felt that cycling was a very fashionable and environmentally friendly sport. Therefore, there are many road cycling races in Europe. In addition to the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Tour of Spain are also very famous.

The Tour de France is held once a year, and the schedule is different every year. This year, the starting point is the Vendée province in France, and the end point is still the Champs Elysees in Paris. Zhongtong passes through Italy. A total of 22 teams participated in this Tour de France, including 18 qualifying teams and 4 foreign teams.

The registered teams of the International Cycling Union are divided into four levels: professional team, intercontinental professional team, intercontinental team and national team. Among them, the professional teams automatically lock the quota for the Tour de France, so there are only a dozen of professional teams in the world that can meet the standards of professional teams, while other intercontinental professional teams can only fight for the wild card places. As for the intercontinental team and the national team, they are not even eligible to participate in the Tour de France.

Teams at the Tour de France level generally disdain to participate in small competitions, such as the Qinghai Lake cycling race held in China. Although it is the top cycling event in Asia, it is not at the same level compared with the Tour de France. The general intercontinental professional At most, the team would send members of the second team to participate, but at the level of the Tour of Taihu Lake Cycling Race, the Intercontinental professional team would not even send the second team.

The threshold for participating in the Tour de France is not low. Generally speaking, if you want to participate in the Tour de France, you must first have a sponsorship fee of 8 million euros, plus the investment in various equipment and normal expenses during the competition. There must be 10 million euros, which is the minimum standard. However, considering that the Tour de France is only one month long, other races such as the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta de España also cost money, drivers need to be paid salaries, and daily training costs money, so a team burns 20 to 30 million euros a year Expenses are normal.

Formula One is known as the most money-burning sport in the world, but road bikes that rely on two legs are not much less money-burning than F1 that is pedaling. The top cycling teams spend more than some of the weaker teams in Formula 1.

None of the teams that can participate in the Tour de France is poor. The organizer invited 10 celebrity guests to help out. When the quota was auctioned, the teams were also quite enthusiastic. After all, you can spend 20 to 30 million euros a year, and you don't care about spending more money to get a good reputation.

The ten guests also came from different fields, among which athletes accounted for four. In addition to Zhang Guan and Zidane, there were also French star Tony Parker and the retired five-time Tour de France champion Andurin.

In addition, Cruise, "Prince of the Elf" Orlando Bloom, Justin Timberlake, JAY-Z and two business people.

...

"Ninety thousand euros! Is there more than ninety thousand euros, ninety thousand euros! Ninety thousand euros for the first time! Oh, ninety-one thousand, ninety-one thousand euros! The Katyusha team has ninety-one thousand euros! Nine Twelve thousand euros! Rapo Bank is offering ninety-two thousand euros! Is there more than ninety-two thousand euros!"

The auctioneer held a small hammer, like a market peddler, constantly hawking.

"One hundred thousand euros! The Belgian lottery team offered a price of one hundred thousand euros! One hundred thousand euros once! Two hundred thousand euros!" The auctioneer stretched out his voice, and then slammed the hammer down.

"Deal! We thank the Lotto team for their contribution to charity! Then in the first stage of the Tour de France the day after tomorrow, Zhang Guan will wear the team uniform of the Belgian Lotto team!"

The Belgian Lotto team was established in 1985. It is a veteran team in the Tour de France and has always been a veteran professional team. One of the characteristics of this team is that it is very good at fan economy. Therefore, it is popular in Europe and even in the world. There are many fans.

The equipment and racing cars of the Belgian Lotto team can be bought on their official website. Some domestic cycling fans will also go overseas to buy the equipment of the Belgian Lotto team. Although the price is not cheap, it is a serious Tour de France after all. equipment. Moreover, car fans can also spend 50 euros on the official website to become a shareholder of the lottery team. Of course, such shareholders will not receive any dividends, but they can have a seat at the general meeting of shareholders, and they can pretend to be aggressive in the circle of friends. A coupon will also be presented, which can also be discounted when shopping at Lotto.

For a team that is good at attracting attention, it will definitely take one of the guest spots. In the end, they chose Zhang Guan, the most famous athlete in the world. Perhaps they feel that the European market is saturated and they want to open up a new Asian market.

...

In the opening ceremony of the Tour de France, all the teams and drivers will appear on the stage, the main drivers of the team will be interviewed, and ten guests will also appear on the scene. some acting.

In the lounge, most of the contestants are here, and the officials have prepared drinks and desserts for them. This place has become a small gathering for the drivers.

"Yesterday's auction was very lively. My idol Tom Cruise was here, and I even took a photo with him!" A young driver said excitedly.

"The old car king Anduran is also here. When he dominated the Tour de France, I was only a ten-year-old child. I didn't expect to be able to compete with him tomorrow!" Another person said.

"People are just riding for a while for show, you think they are really like us, riding the whole distance!"

"It's good to ride for a while, that's the five-time winner of the Tour de France, Andurin! Let's see if there is a chance tomorrow, and Andurin and I are running side by side, and find someone to take a photo for us as a souvenir!" For the longing to say.

"Although Anduran has retired, he should have never stopped exercising. Maybe he will complete the ride like us!"

"Impossible. Even if Anduran can ride the whole distance, it depends on our speed. He is 46 years old! Among these guests, only Tony Parker and Zhang Guan can ride the whole distance! The two of them They're all active athletes."

"Maybe Zhang Guan can catch up with our speed!" The young driver continued: "Don't forget that Zhang Guan is Chinese, and China is the kingdom of bicycles. I heard that Chinese people are born to ride bicycles."

"Zhang Guan? Who is he?" An untimely voice sounded. Everyone looked back and saw a brown-haired man in his early thirties.

"It's Cadel Evans from the American BMC racing team!" Several young drivers looked in awe, obviously the other party was a well-known player.

I just heard Evans say with a look of disdain: "Bicycle Kingdom? If the Chinese were really that good, they would have won the Tour de France championship long ago!"

"But I heard that Zhang Guan is proficient in many sports, maybe he is also very good at cycling." A young driver interjected.

"No matter how good you are, it's only at the amateur level. How can it be as good as a professional driver!" Evans continued to show a disdainful expression: "Thanks to the fact that he is not a cyclist, if he is a cyclist, he will always have to follow Behind my ass! Troops, maybe he can't even catch up with my back! Haha..."

"Kadell, you talk too much!" said a person next to him, that is Cadel Evans' teammate, named Burghardt.

"Why, am I wrong?" Evans snorted coldly: "It's not the turn of the Chinese to be arrogant when playing with bicycles!"

"Kadell, stop it!" Boghardt grabbed Evans with his hands, and then flirted with him.

Evans followed Boghardt's eyes and found Zhang Guan standing there at the back of the crowd. At this time, Zhang Guan had already put on the team uniform of the Belgian Lotto team, and was frowning at Evans, apparently having heard what Evans said just now.

"Zhang Guan is here. When did he arrive? He was wearing the Belgian Lotto team uniform. I really didn't pay attention to him. Judging by his expression, I must have heard what Evans just said!"

"It's so lively now, Evans is scolding Zhang Guan in front of him!"

"Will the two of them fight! Drivers and guests fight before the race, the first time in the Tour de France!"

"If there is a fight, we have to stay far away. Don't forget that Zhang Guan has killed more than a dozen heavyweight boxing champions in a week, and it is estimated that Evans can be knocked down with one punch!"

"It wasn't you who reminded me. I really forgot. I don't think we should wait for a while. Let's stand aside now, lest we really fight and hurt Chi Yu. We still have to compete!"

While the drivers were discussing in low voices, they involuntarily gave way to Zhang Guan.

However, after seeing Zhang Guan, Cadel-Evans did not apologize in any way, not even a little bit embarrassed. Instead, he increased his voice: "Chinese people are not even qualified to participate in the Tour de France. Relying on the guests to show their faces, don’t look at them, there are more than one billion people who can ride bicycles, even if they are given 100 years, they will not be able to win a Tour de France champion! I heard that the Belgian lottery spent 100,000 on Zhang Guan Euros, let me see, this money is wasted, China doesn’t even have a transcontinental car, and they don’t understand such a high-level event as the Tour de France!”

Zhang Guan's frown became tighter and tighter. At this time, he could already hear that Cadel Evans' words were aimed at himself everywhere.

"When did I offend this person? Cadel Evans, I don't seem to know him! There is no grievance or hatred, why did he openly target me?"

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