Start of the Tour of Japan with a really short prologue in Sakai. Big favourite is ofcourse Michael Rogers. His biggest opponents should be Stannard and Bibby.
Shimizu is the first notable rider out on the course. His time, 3'03 is not spectacular.
Next Meji rider is Sano, the Japanese champion against the clock. He rides one second faster as his teammate. 3'02
Stannard starts quite early. It's no surprise that the British champion sets the new best time. Is 2'54 strong enough to beat the World champion?
We will soon now cause Rogers is the next rider to cross the line. No suprise as he betters Stannard's time with 2 seconds. Without a huge change of conditions, 2'52 is today's winning time.
Ortega is one of the many cards of Repsol for a good overal being both a good timetrialist and a good climber. His time is quite far of the best time though. 3'00
Olivier Kaisen is a timetrial specialist. He definatly has a chance to take top 10 here and can also do some recon for his leader Costa. 2'58 puts him third provisionally.
The crowd goes mad as Kinoshita is riding his prologue. The young rider is Japan's brightest talent. He will definatly be fighting for the win here in upcoming years. His time today is not special. 3'04
Masuda is another Japanese who can fight for an overal top 10 here but he rides a rather weak prologue and loses 13 seconds on Rogers.
It's time to give a small overview of the best times.
1+C8:F17
Michael Rogers
Oz Cycling Project
2'52
2
Ian Stannard
Jaguar - Eritel
+ 2
3
Olivier Kaisen
Team CSC-Orbea
+ 6
4
Sergio Ortega
Repsol-Cativen
+ 8
5
Luca Sterbini
Cisco Cycling Team
+ 9
6
Michael Olsson
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
7
Carlos Verona
Team CSC-Orbea
s.t.
8
Khayabkhyrvaa Uugunbayar
Japanese - Korean Cycling Project
+ 10
9
Manuel Ortega
Japanese - Korean Cycling Project
s.t.
Bannihammad is a rider who has the potential to surpise here and finish inside the overal top 10. The points would be very welcome for his Armavia team. Decent start with 3'01
Another Meji rider and it's the team leader Ji this time. He is not that good in prologues and will have to limit his losses here as he fights for top 5. 3'02 is a good start for him.
Makino will be important for Peeters as a leadout. No surprise that he's quite good at prologues aswell. 3'00 is a dood time for him and his Japanese team.
Jairo Agudelo is here looking for the top 10. He's probably his team's best bet for a good overal and should ride a good prologue already.With 3'00, he does just that.
Dyachenko is here as Efimkin's super domestique but could take over leader responsabilities as he might do better on Mount Fuji. He rides 3'00 over the course aswell.
Mauricio Ardila is WWE's leader for the overal. He is mainly a climber so want to limit his losses today. His time is really strong. 3'01.
With only the so called 'leaders', the riders who were the n°1 for their team to start, let's take a look at the provisional top 10 one more time. It seems like the conditions are slightly changing as some new guys have entered the top 5. Really strong riders by Fraile and Adamou.
1
Michael Rogers
Oz Cycling Project
2'52
2
Ian Stannard
Jaguar - Eritel
+ 2
3
Omar Fraile
Team CSC-Orbea
+ 5
4
Olivier Kaisen
Team CSC-Orbea
+ 6
5
Roman Kilun
Oz Cycling Project
+ 7
6
Vassilis Adamou
PFG-Armavia
s.t.
7
Sergio Ortega
Repsol-Cativen
+ 8
8
Marc Goos
HTC Nieuwsblad
s.t.
9
Kosuke Makino
Japanese - Korean Cycling Project
s.t.
10
Aleksandr Dyachenko
Cisco Cycling Team
s.t.
Nino Schurter is Sauber's leader for the overal here. He can only hope that he limits his losses today cause he's not good against the clock. 3'06 puts him far down the field.
Wearing his beautifull jersey as Portugese timetrial champion, Rui Costa gives everything. He won a prologue in Portugal last year and rides a strong time today. 2'56 puts him on the provisional third podium step.
Giacoppo is a strong sprinter but has a good prologue aswell. He gives everything and rides a good time. With bonus seconds in the sprint tomorrow he could take the leader's jersey tomorrow. 2'59
Castano is ING's leader. A strong all around rider, he should ride a good prologue. He does so and 2'59 is a good start to his race.
Third stage favourite of today, Bibby can take some time on his opponents here. It will only be seconds though in this short ride. He sets the fourth time currently. 2'56 means Costa is hundreds of seconds faster.
Alex Rasmussen is already fearing all the short hills he will have to tackle here. The last stage and the prologue should suit him though and rides strong. 2'58 should give him a top 10 stage result.
Marguez is looking to repeat his overal Tachira victory here. Timetrialing is not his strongpoint but he does decent today. His explosiveness probably helped on this short parcours. 3'00 for him.
Kevin Peeters has to go all out in the prologue. He has a chance to take the leader's jersey tomorrow and that would be great for his team. 3'04 is not the best time by a sprinter but workable.
Aleksandr Efimkin has high hopes for the overal and is looking to take some points for the Asia tour. The leader of the Asia tour is not good on a timetrial bike but the loss isn't really big here. 12 seconds on Rogers with 3'04.
So Rogers takes the expected stage win. Stannard and Costa complete the podium. Their teams complete the top 8 with Fraile taking the U25 jersey.
