April 9, 2026
Fog swallowed Fei Ngo Shan Road before dawn, turning the 2.9 km climb into a grey tunnel above Kowloon. The start line buzzed with shivers and nervous jokes as riders squinted into the mist, unable to see more than a few bike lengths ahead. The officials reminded them: average gradient 8.9%, ramps nudging 10%—short on distance, long on pain.
When the flag dropped, the peloton exploded uphill, chains snapping tight, rear wheels slipping on damp tarmac. The lower slopes wound past silent trees, their outlines blurred, as each rider fought to find a rhythm between breath and lactic burn. Spectators’ shouts arrived as disembodied echoes from somewhere inside the cloud.
Mid‑climb, the road pitched to its steepest, a cruel 10% wall that decided who would contest the podium. Cheung Kong Wai rose from the saddle, shoulders still, letting his cadence carve a gap in the fog. One by one, helmets behind him dissolved into white, until he was alone with the sound of his own breathing and the ticking of the freehub whenever he dared to ease.
The final bend revealed a faint banner and the glow of the timing clock. Cheung drove his bike over the line in 9 minutes 33 seconds, collapsing onto his bars as marshals wrapped a towel around his shoulders. On the podium, trophies glinting in the wet air, he looked back toward the invisible city below. Fei Ngo Shan’s brutal incline, the iconic climb of Hong Kong road racing, had a new champion—and a new benchmark to chase next year.