ST. LAURENT DE LA CABRERISSE, France — It was predictable that Marcel Kittel, the amiable sprinter who has won three stages in this year’s Tour de France, attracted a large crowd of reporters on the race’s rest day Monday.
法国圣洛朗德拉-卡布勒里斯——在今年的环法自行车赛中，极具亲和力的冲刺冠军马塞尔·基特尔(Marcel Kittel)在三个赛段中胜出，因此，他在周一的比赛休息日吸引了大量记者也不足为奇。
But while Ji Cheng, the man on the Giant Shimano team who chases down breakaways so that Kittel can do his work, was less of an attraction, he does hold two distinctions. He is the Lanterne Rouge, the rider in the last position over all, 4 hours 13 minutes behind the leader, Vincenzo Nibali. And he is the first Chinese rider ever in the race.
在这次比赛中，捷安特-禧玛诺车队的计成负责追上被拉开的距离，好让基特尔专心完成自己的比赛。他当然没那么引人注目，但确实也拥有两个与众不同之处。他是“红灯笼”，总成绩在所有骑手中垫底，比第一名文森佐·尼巴里慢了4小时13分。此外，他还是首位参加环法自行车赛的中国选手。
While China is a nation where bicycles, despite a growing influx of cars and scooters, remain an important form of transportation, racing on them is far less common.
在中国，虽然汽车和小轮摩托车数量不断激增，自行车仍然是重要的交通工具，尽管如此，自行车赛还是相当罕见。
Ji started out as a runner. But a dislike of the cold in his northern hometown, Harbin, set him off on a path that led him to the Tour.
计成起初是一名赛跑运动员。但由于不喜欢北方家乡哈尔滨的严寒，他走上了另一条路，并最终来到环法自行车赛的赛场上。
Rather than cross-country ski, the preferred method of off-season training for runners in Harbin, Ji sought the warmth of an indoor velodrome.
在哈尔滨，赛跑选手在非赛季会通过越野滑雪进行训练。然而，室内赛车体育场的温暖才是计成心之所向，越野滑雪不是。
“The track is not fun,” Ji said Monday. “The track is always lap after lap and the trainer is looking at his stopwatch and saying, ‘O.K. you were one second slower.’ ”
“田径没意思，”计成在周一说，“田径就是一圈接着一圈跑，教练看着秒表说，‘停，你比上次慢了一秒。’”
In road racing, by comparison, “you can train outside and you can see the people, you can see the view,” said Ji, 27. “It’s amazing for me.”
相比之下，就公路赛而言，“你可以在户外训练，你可以看见人群，你可以看见风景，”现年27岁的计成说，“那让我感觉妙不可言。”
Ji probably would not be racing in Europe if the Chinese subsidiary of Shimano, the large bicycle parts maker, had not set up a small program to get Chinese riders there in 2006.
如果大型自行车零件制造商禧玛诺的中国子公司2006年没有设立一个招募中国骑手参赛的小项目，计成或许就不会参加欧洲的比赛。
Ji’s knowledge of European road racing at that point was not extensive and based entirely on watching television.
当时，计成对欧洲公路赛的了解并不多，只是在电视上看到过。
“When you watch on the TV, you say: ‘Ah that’s nice, ah that’s cool, ah you saw that climb, ah you saw that attack, cool.’ But you really enjoy the race,” he said. “When you know what’s going on, it’s totally different.”
“看电视的时候，你会情不自禁地说：‘啊，这个运动好棒，好酷，你看这爬坡，你看这加速，酷。’你真的会很享受比赛，”他说，“但当你了解到比赛究竟是怎么回事，那感觉就完全不一样了。”
In China, Ji raced on relatively small circuits made up of closed four-lane highways. Despite the comparative lack of danger, coaches instructed Ji to brake before the corners and take them slowly, a route to failure in European racing. At the time, there were only two road races a year in China. In Europe, Ji now rides in about 45 a year.
在中国，计成曾在相对较小的环形赛道上比赛，由封闭的四车道公路组成。尽管相对没什么危险性，教练要求计成在弯道前减速，缓缓通过弯道，在欧洲的比赛中，这样做必输无疑。当时，中国每年只举办两场公路赛。在欧洲，计成现在每年会参加约45场公路赛。
Although Ji cannot recall the name of the first race he rode in Europe, a one-day event in France in 2007, he certainly remembers the experience.
尽管计成已经想不起他在欧洲第一次参加的比赛叫什么名字，但当时的感受仍然记忆犹新。那是2007年在法国举办的一场为期一天的比赛。
“It was many narrow roads, everybody was just nervous and people were fighting for position,” Ji recalled. “For me it was just unbelievable. Why are people fighting like that?”
“有许多很窄的路段，大家都很紧张，都在争抢有利位置，”计成回忆说，“这对我来说简直难以置信，为什么人要这样拼命？”
Punched several times during the race by rivals trying to move ahead, Ji did not finish.
在比赛中，计成被试图超越的对手重重地撞了好几次，没能完成比赛。
Ji and the other two Chinese riders were sent to northern Holland and entered in that country’s numerous amateur criteriums. Held on short, tight circuits, each is a small war. Ji soon learned how to follow the pack through corners at speed without braking and, just as important, how to move up through the group. The inexperienced Chinese riders were always lined up at the back.
计成和另两位中国车手曾被派到荷兰北部，在那里参加了不计其数的业余公路自行车赛。这些比赛的赛程较短，场地都是紧凑的环形车道，每场比赛都是一场小型战争。计成很快学会了如何不刹车高速过弯，还有同样重要的，如何在选手中向前移动。经验不足的中国车手总是排成一行，落在后面。
“Of course we had a lot of crashes, we had a lot of bad experiences,” Ji said. “But we learned how to fight.”
“当然，我们摔倒过很多次，我们有过很多痛苦的经历，”计成说，“但我们学会了如何战斗。”
He gradually moved up to higher levels of racing. In 2012, he raced in the Vuelta a España, and last year brought him to the Giro d’Italia. Both were Chinese cycling firsts.
他逐渐开始参加更高水平的比赛。2012年，他参加了环西自行车赛，去年参加了环意自行车赛，都是作为首位中国选手参赛。
He remains the only one of a handful of Chinese riders Shimano sent to Europe who is still racing. But it has come at a cost. When the European season winds down and he returns home, Ji said that he is expected to then start racing for the Chinese national team.
在被派到欧洲的少数中国车手中，计成是唯一一个仍在参赛的。但他也为此付出了代价。计成说，在欧洲赛季落下帷幕之后，他将回国，预计随后将开始代表中国国家队比赛。
“In China, it’s not like Europeans who say, ‘No, I’m tired, I don’t want to do that.’ ”
“在中国不像在欧洲，可以说‘不，我太累了，不想比了’。”
His now successful bid to make it to the Tour de France meant that Ji went four years without seeing his father, and he has not seen his wife, whom he married last year, for eight months.
为了参加这次环法自行车赛，他已经四年没有见过自己的父亲，也已经八个月没见到自己的妻子了。他和妻子去年刚刚结婚。
Ji said that his ride at the Tour was receiving considerable attention in China, where the race is broadcast daily.
计成说，他在环法自行车赛的比赛情况在中国受到了极大的关注。中国的媒体每天都在报道这项赛事。
Ji was not impressed by the cobblestones in one decisive stage of this year’s Tour. “When there’s such nice roads, why are you racing there?” he asked. And he finds noise from the large crowds sometimes headache-inducing.
今年环法自行车赛的一个赛段设置了石子路，但计成对此不以为然。“有这么好的公路，为什么要在那里比赛？”他说。此外，他有时也觉得路旁观众发出的噪音令人头疼。
He is, however, neither embarrassed nor bothered about being in last place. It is, Ji said, part of a plan. Mountain stages, days when his team leader, Kittel, will not be anywhere near the front to fight for the finish, he takes it easy to preserve energy for the flat days when he leads the Tour’s entire pack of riders. His only job on climbs is to make sure that everyone on his team avoids missing the time limit.
不过，虽然是倒数第一，他既不觉得尴尬，也不苦恼。计成说，这是赛前计划的一部分。在山地赛段，队长基特尔根本没有领先冲刺的可能，他选择为平地赛保存体力，后来在平地赛中领骑。在登山阶段，他唯一的任务是确保团队中的每一个人不要错过时限。
“I’ve really taken them easy,” he said of the Alpine stages. “Maybe I lost 20 minutes: That’s O.K., because I really need to relax to prepare for what’s coming.”
“我真的非常放松，”他提到山地赛段时说，“我可能浪费了20分钟：没关系，因为我需要放松，为接下来的比赛做准备。”
He added: “My parents, my friends understand why I’m in last position. When somebody don’t understand, that’s fine.”
他接着说：“我的父母和朋友都知道我为什么是最后一名。如果有人不知道，那也无所谓。”