It’s a nice and sunny day on the island of Honshū where this round course (with some deviations halfway through) takes place. Nothing to keep the riders from giving it their all!
Early on, we have three guys about 45 seconds ahead of the peloton: Shalunov, Skaarseth and Schlechter. But more attacks are coming.
After the first short climb, we have 16 riders at the front. In addition to the previous three, they are:
Vabo
Stocek
Malori
Brown
Hulgaard
Rutsch
Koshevoy
Campbell
Resell
Meeus
Brandao
Verschaeve
Mano
In addition, Romo, who at this point is still chasing, would make it to the group on the next climb.
For the next few dozen kilometers, everyone’s just riding through the countryside at a leisurely pace, enjoying the nice weather. A colorful mix of teams control the pace in the peloton, holding the gap fairly steady at around 4’30. We’ll be back when something happens.
We check back in at the fifth-to-last passing of the climb when the first signs of differing skillsets show themselves in the breakaway. Shalunov, Koshevoy and Mano get a gap to the rest of the group.
The trio crosses the summit 45 seconds ahead of their former companions, who cut that gap down to around 30 seconds on the following flat stretch. However, the peloton is also already just another minute behind them.
With three laps to go, Mano and Shalunov have left Koshevoy behind. They have 1’35 on the peloton, which slowly but surely absorbs the remaining breakaway riders, now scattered on the road behind the leaders.
Shalunov is caught as the last man out just as the peloton crosses the finish line for the third to last time. As you can see, thanks to the high pace set mostly by ISA and Isostar, the peloton has shrunk quite a bit.
The biggest names missing are EA-Vesuvio duo Ulissi and Gastauer, Serrano and perhaps most shockingly Izagirre (as well as teammate Di Maggio), leaving those three teams without a rider left in this group of 36, which is also true for Podium Ambition.
In the leadup to the penultimate crossing of the hills, the peloton laps poor Predatsch. He was distanced after around the first third of the race already, trailing the next riders ahead of him by almost 10 minutes. It’s going to be a lonely fight against the time limit for the German time trial specialist.
Interestingly, we see some of the - by now isolated - second tier contenders leading the peloton. Jensen is currently at the front, followed by Meurisse, Formolo and Vakoc.
Perhaps that’s the right spot to be, though: Just moments later, we have the first serious attacks, as Yates and Hagen try to get away!
And indeed, it’s the aforementioned Meurisse, Vakoc and Formolo who are quickest to jump in on the action. Lutsenko is next, then it’s Luchshenko for Indosat, De Bie, Beltran and Kinoshita, before a gap opens to the peloton. There, Gidich tries to close the gap for the poorly positioned Mohoric, while Buchmann attacks to make the jump.
Instead of Buchmann, it’s Trakhov, McCarthy and Gerts who are about to make it to the leading group. Although it’s not quite the leading group, since Hagen has gotten away from them a bit.
Buchmann is chasing alone, then Jensen and Gaudu have a small gap to this Gidich-led group that also includes Schreurs, Cepeda Hernandez, Malecki, Sirironnachai, Lammertink, Mohoric, Brown, Pedrero and Kelderman, with Shalunov, Sepulveda, Aranburu and Rodriguez barely hanging on.
At the summit, Yates has brought Hagen back. Only nine riders remain at the very front after Meurisse and Luchshenko have fallen behind. Gerts has latched onto the back of the group, Trakhov and McCarthy are closest behind. The Mohoric / Kelderman trails the leaders by 1’05.
Trakhov and McCarthy make it to the front on the final flat stretch, Meurisse and Buchmann don’t manage to close the gap. They’re trailing by 35 seconds, it looks unlikely that they’ll still get there.
That applies even more so to this group, of course, where hardly anyone seems to have any energy left. Mohoric and Kelderman, the big contenders caught out here, are moving to the front, but they’re already more than a minute behind even Meurisse and Buchmann.
And so it looks like we will have these 11 guys fighting for the win today. As soon as the final climb begins, Yates attacks and Vakoc immediately counters.
They didn’t get away, but the effort pushed McCarthy and Beltran off the back. Nine riders remaining in contention, just one more short uphill section, then the descent an the ramp to the finish left.
Behind them, Gidich has gone rogue and moved up to Meurisse and Buchmann, leaving Sirironnachai to lead the group behind them. Somewhat questionable tactics by King Power, who will have to go for depth scoring here today. And Kasperkiewicz wants to contribute to that, slowly making his way back to the chasers, where Rodriguez is distanced.
No more attacks at the front - only this rollercoaster towards the finish now. About a kilometer of downhill and the the short 500m sprint to the finish line. Yates, Hagen and Formolo lead the way.
Positioning is key here, and we can see why. Yates is the fastest sprinter of the group anyway and goes into the finale alongside only Hagen. He’s going to be tough to stop!
The guys at the back of the group, Trakhov, De Bie, Gerts and Lutsenko, seem to be out of breath, just staring at their handlebars instead of thinking to sprint. Yates is looking well, can Kinoshita still do something here on his home soil?
Kinoshita shoots past Formolo, but it’s too late to attack today’s winner. Simon Yates played this perfectly and has enough time to celebrate in style! A strong second place goes to Hagen.
Kinoshita will at least give his compatriots an opportunity to celebrate him at the podium ceremony today, he secures third place ahead of Formolo, who simply had a great feel for the race today, almost always in the right position to make the most out of his abilities. Vakoc holds off Lutsenko, they finish 5th and 6th.
Gerts wins the sprint for 7th place, Trakhov is 8th, only 9th for De Bie. A big disappointment both individually and for the relegation battle of Aegon.
Beltran manages to get the better of McCarthy and secures the final Top 10 spot. Both are absolutely spent.
Then there’s a 3 minute gap to this big group which has absorbed Gidich, Meurisse and Buchmann. They can still contend for 12th place.
In a weird twist, Sirironnachai is actually King Power’s best finisher today, securing that 12th place ahead of Gidich. Mohoric ends up in 18th place, giving the team depth but of course disappointing overall.
Cepeda Hernandez has the race of his young career and finishes 14th, then Kelderman in 15th. He was simply out of position when the most important move of the day happened and then could never recover. Luchshenko comes in 16th, outscoring his nominal leader Jensen, who only ends up 29th. Brown gets a very solid result for Generali in 17th place, Gaudu adds additional scoring for Cedevita in 19th place.
Schreurs wins the sprint for 20th place just barely ahead of Malecki and Aranburu. Buchmann only ends up in 23rd place, a bad result for Mapei and a big disappointment after looking set for at least a Top 13 finish for a long time. Same for Meurisse, who finishes two spots later, behind Pedrero.
Still more disappointing though were the likes of Izagirre (66th), Gastauer (90th) and Ulissi (94th), who did not even finish inside the points.
Japan Cup 
