Two days of phone silence and grieving destroyed Christopher's sleep; when he did finally fall asleep the race was only a few hours in the future. He woke to find Luca contesting for King of the Mountain on the climb at the Berendries. "He's already accumulated twelve points on the hills, Frank. Looks like Biondi's trying to take it all," the announcer said. "And he might just do it. If he can get around--" Christopher would push the star with the long career off the road himself to clear the way for Luca. "The strong winds have taken a toll on all the riders. They averaged forty-five kilometers per hour the first hour, but after the climbs I don't think we'll see that kind of pace once they get back on the flats. It will take better than that to catch this breakaway. The leaders are increasing the gap to the chasers, and the peloton's falling farther behind the chase. That's going to be quite a deficit." Oh man, Luca was pushing it for all he was worth, nudging ahead of the other rider.
