A stage that should end in a mass sprint finish.
The favourites for the bookies were: Bazajev (Sony Ericsson), Awang (Olympus AirAsia) and Gatto (Vespa - Caffrey's).
The riders were set to start the first stage of Tour of Japan, a flat criterium containing 11 laps
Sampaio (Benfica), Olman (Irn Bru) and Wacher (Ultra Adventure) attacked right at start of the stage
Wacker made the strongest attack and he didn't slow down
But, a few kilometers later, Sampaio and Olman joined Wacker
In the pack, Nespresso, Sony Ericsson, Wal-Mart, Olympus, NVidia and Vespa made sure that the break didn't gain that much ground
At 90kms to the end, the break's advantage had reached its maximum - 7.30 minutes
The break was quickly losing ground thanks to an hard chase on the pack mainly made by Wal-Mart, Sony Ericsson and Vespa
At 43kms to the finish line, there are attacks. Donald (BMC), Broco (Nespresso) and Colby (Olympus) attacked from the pack
Broco was the strongest of the attackers but both Donald and Colby eventually catched the Portuguese
At 30kms to the end, the chasing trio had an advantage of 20 seconds to the pack and a disadvantage of 40 seconds to the early break
Two kilometers later, Donald, Broco and Colby were caught
Shorty after, the early break was also caught. Sprint finish it is!
At the last passing in the finishing line, Zandio is leading the pack, hoping that Priamo would pass it at the first place a few kilometers later
In the sprint preparation, Richeze gained a little advantage, letting Hofmann in a good position. Awang was also in a good position and so were Murphy and Priamo thanks to Miyazawa, Godfrey and Podgornik, respectively
At the 1km marker, Awang was in the front and Murphy had a short advantage on Gatto, Miyazawa and Priamo
500 meters to the line and Priamo gained advantage at both Gatto and Murphy. Awang seemed uncatchable
And he really was. Impressive display by the Malaysian! Priamo took second, edging out Gatto.
Stage/Overall Classification
1
Azizulhasni Awang
Team Olympus AirAsia - Presented by Petronas
3h14'05
2
Matteo Priamo
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
3
Oscar Gatto
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
4
John Murphy
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
5
Christopher Sutton
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
6
Nolan Hoffman
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
7
Bernhard Eisel
Wal-Mart Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Philipp Ludescher
Nvidia Intel
s.t.
9
René Weissinger
Nvidia Intel
s.t.
10
Assan Bazajev
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
11
Mark Jamieson
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
12
Iljo Keisse
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
13
Mahdi Sohrabi
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
14
Daniel Moreno
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
15
Takashi Miyazawa
Team Olympus AirAsia - Presented by Petronas
s.t.
16
Ivano Lo Cicero
Wal-Mart Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
17
Luca Ascani
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
18
Hayden Godfrey
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
19
David Garbelli
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
20
Ciaran Power
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
21
Mauro Richeze
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
22
Marlon Pérez Arango
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
23
Christian Pömer
Nvidia Intel
s.t.
24
Yon Bru Pascal
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
25
Diego Gallego
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
26
Lucas Schädlich
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
27
Dean Podgornik
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
28
Vasilis Anastopoulos
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
29
Freddy Johansson
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
30
Tommy Zaini
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
31
Andrea Pagoto
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
32
Viktor Renäng
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
33
David Belda
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
34
Ivan Basso
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
35
Gerrit Glomser
Nvidia Intel
s.t.
36
Tadej Valjavec
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
37
Jonas Bjelkmark
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
38
Sergio Ghisalberti
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
39
Sebastian Lang
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
40
Ciaran Cassidy
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
41
Rui Pinto
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
42
Kazuo Inoue
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
43
Francisco José Terciado
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
44
Abdelkader Belmokhtar
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
45
Grégory Rast
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
46
Edwin Orozco
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
47
Martin Comploi
Nvidia Intel
s.t.
48
Gianluca Cavalli
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
49
Fabien Taillefour
Nvidia Intel
s.t.
50
Thurakit Boonratanathanakorn
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
51
Ronny Scholz
Team Olympus AirAsia - Presented by Petronas
s.t.
52
Florian Stalder
Nvidia Intel
s.t.
53
Serge Pauwels
Sony Ericsson
s.t.
54
Saul Raisin
Ernst and Young / Apple Computer and NBC News
s.t.
55
José Ivan Gutiérrez Palacios
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
56
Wilmer Vasquez
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
57
Shaun Lewis
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
58
Nuno Ribeiro
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
59
Ben Jacques-Maynes
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
60
Joe Hicks
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
61
Steven Cozza
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
62
Paolo Longo Borghini
Wal-Mart Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
63
Tyler Butterfield
Wal-Mart Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
64
Peter Stetina
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
65
Jesus Tendero
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
66
Ryan Eastman
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
67
Xabier Zandio
EON Ruhrgas
s.t.
68
Jason Donald
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
69
Sylvain Calzati
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
70
Manuel Lloret
Team Olympus AirAsia - Presented by Petronas
s.t.
71
Kazuki Aoyanagi
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
72
Kensyo Sawada
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
73
Tom Stubbe
Team Olympus AirAsia - Presented by Petronas
s.t.
74
Hesham Abdelmotelb
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
75
Jure Golcer
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
76
Dmitri Grabovski
IrnBru - RBS
s.t.
77
Thomas Peterson
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
78
Valentino China
Wal-Mart Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
79
Carlo Kirsch
Team Olympus AirAsia - Presented by Petronas
s.t.
80
Junya Sano
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
81
Baasankhuu Myagmarsuren
Wal-Mart Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
82
Anthony Colby
Team Olympus AirAsia - Presented by Petronas
s.t.
83
Ciaran Kelly
Vespa-Caffrey's
s.t.
84
Yoshiaki Shimada
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
85
Matías Médici
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
s.t.
86
Peter Williams
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
87
Hernâni Broco
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
88
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
89
Kristian House
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
90
Ananias Ananias
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
91
Zakayo Ndbri
Wal-Mart Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'56
92
Gilberto Sampaio
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
+ 3'12
93
Evgeny Wacker
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
