Welcome to the 2022 Japan Cup! Some of the best hilly and punchy riders from the top 2 divisions will be going at it today to fight for the win. We remind the viewers that there has never been a repeat winner here at the Japan Cup before - maybe Kinoshita or Lutsenko can be the first riders in history to take multiple victories?
The director waves the flag and we are underway in Tsukuba! It is a warm, sunny day with little to no wind, so optimal conditions for racing.
There’s plenty of riders trying to get up the road, and after 10km we have two decent sized groups ahead of the peloton. The first group’s gap to the peloton is 1’30, but is being rapidly reduced as they can’t be happy with the amount of riders up the road.
After a back and forth, the peloton finally relent and both of the break groups come together to form a colossal 21-rider breakaway group. 30km into the stage, they’re now 3’54 ahead of the pack. Let’s take a look at who will be trying their luck in front of the peloton today:
Bardet
Van Tricht
Mansouri
Cort Nielsen
Kämna
Laengen
Martin
Kuroeda
Dumoulin
Galvan Ramirez
Rossi
Forcellini
Tolhoek
Marcos
Ikibe
Gough
Kumara
Badilatti
Broxham
Hamza
Vanhoucke
Overall, it is quite a strong group to have let go. A few teams have managed to send more than one rider up the road, most notably Philips with 3 in the break. Some other interesting tactics at hand however, with Kamna being a surprising member of this group. Other notable riders present are Laengen, Cort Nielsen and Bardet.
A relatively un-eventful race so far has lead us to the halfway point now. The break have just ridden the slightly longer climb that deviates from the circuit for the first and only time, and with 112km to go are maintaining a gap of 2’39 to the peloton. In the peloton, Tinkoff, ISA, Aker, Voyagin, Evonik, Aegon and Gazelle are contributing to the chase and eating into the breakaway’s advantage.
There’s a split in the break with 66km remaining! 7 riders are ahead of the other 14 and have a 37” gap. The 7 riders in this front group are Cort Nielsen, Kämna, Martin, Vanhoucke, Broxham, Tolhoek and Bardet. The peloton is 50” behind the second grouip, and 1’27 behind the front group heading into the final quarter of the race.
The front group breaks up again, this time leaving 4 riders at the front – Cort Nielsen, Kamna, Tolhoek and Vanhoucke. The 3 riders dropped from this group are now in the group behind, which trail the front group by 32”. Gough is the only rider dropped from the break so far, and is nearly back in the peloton which is now 58” behind the larger second break group, and 1’30 behind the front group.
With 49km to go and the second group closing in, Cort Nielsen puts in a dig in an attempt to up the pace. He establishes a small gap which forces Kämna to up the pace in the small group of 3 behind. The second larger group is now only 19” behind this group, with a further 56” to the peloton which is being viciously led by Vansevenant, along with 3 domestiques from ISA. The favourites are all already placed in the first 20 places in the peloton to stay out of danger. Of said favourites, Chernetskiy is the only favourite that is poorly placed, about half way back in the pack.
Not long after, the small group of three catch back up to Cort Nielsen right on time to start climbing again. The peloton have been setting a deadly pace behind – after Vansevenant swung off, Trakhov took over and is causing some damage. He has also caught the large group of riders that was previously dropped. 36km to go now, and the front quartet look tired and only have a 30” gap to the peloton.
Cort Nielsen drops his break companions on the climb, before fireworks are set off in the peloton! Eiking attacks and is immediately followed by hometown star Kinoshita and Meurisse. A very audacious move with over 30km still remaining!
Meurisse can’t hold Kinoshita’s wheel and has to sit up. The leaders crest the climb and begin the descent with a 20” gap to the now 45 rider peloton which is being led by a strong Velasco and Waeytens. Turgis and Kritskiy are in the first group of 20 riders immediately behind the peloton, 40” back. This short descent is quite tricky and has caused a few issues so far today, so poorly positioned riders in the peloton will have to be careful.
This move has caused the peloton to totally disintegrate, and there are riders strewn all across the road. Kinoshita and Eiking are still maintaining a 20” gap to the group of favourites behind, which has now been reduced to 21 riders! Paulinho was dropped during the descent and is now a minute back to the main group of favourites. Jensen has just fallen off the back of the favourites group, but it looks like it’s due to positioning during the descent more than fatigue. He’s 30” back from the main group.
The riders in this group are:
Lopez
Blums
Lutsenko
De Bie
Gerts
Kwiatkowski
Skujins
Mohoric
Buchmann
Benoot
Vakoc
Meurisse
Van Garderen
Velasco
Müller
Oliveira
Korosec
Bystrom
Waeytens
Van der Poel
Lienhard
There’s an absence of healthy domestiques in the favourites group. After Waeytens pulls off the front after a big turn, nobody want to work and so the 2 leaders gap continues to grow to 45”. Buchmann finally takes the reins, with Mohoric right behind him. Jensen's group is now over a minute behind and it will be very hard for him to come back now.
The riders begin the second last climb of the circuit, and immediately Eiking tries to distance Kinoshita! Behind, Calmejane leads the favourite’s group and is riding a really punishing pace, with riders in single file behind him. It’s a strange move, as it drops 3 of his teammates in Waeytens, Korosec and Bystrom, as well as the rest of the domestiques in the group.
Kinoshita continues alone as Eiking has blown up under the 20km banner! He is already 20” behind Kinoshita, and 30” in front of the group of favourites behind.
In almost the same spot, strangely both Lopez and De Bie pull out to either side of the group, and creating a gap between their group and Calmejane and Buchmann who continue to ride, maybe not even realising they‘re alone yet.
Even more surprising, as we reach the crest of the climb with 18km remaining Lutsenko and Vakoc are both dropped! They trail the favourites group by 37”, and Kinoshita at the head of the race by 1’37! Some freakish descending skill will be needed for these two to get themselves back into contention.
Buchmann drops Calmejane and bridges up to Kinoshita! Calmejane and Eiking trail the leaders, 16” in front of the favourites group which is being led by Mohoric who is an expert descender. Panic stations for Aegon as De Bie is dropped alongside Oliveira from this group!
The frontrunners reach the bottom of the descent, and we can get a clearer picture of what is going on. Up front, we have:
Kinoshita, Buchmann, Calmejane
+ 10”
Mohoric, Van der Poel
+ 24” (+34”)
Kwiatkowski, Lopez, Benoot, Eiking, Gerts, Skujins, Van Garderen
+ 35” (+1’09)
Meurisse
+ 22” (+1’31)
De Bie, Oliveira
+ 22” (+1’53)
Lutsenko, Vakoc, Waeytens + 7 others.
Under the 10km banner, the front 5 riders have come together. They’re maintaining their gap of 34” to the next group of 7, with Benoot on the front. Lopez is at the back of this group, and he is not looking in tip top shape. Skujins also is swaying side to side, like a pendulum. There’s a few more flat km where they will be hoping to catch their breath and recover.
The leaders begin to climb for the last time today. Buchmann leads the front group, who’s advantage over the next group is still hovering around 30”. Eiking leads the group behind. Lopez is behind him which is a good sign for his team. The winner should come from one of these 12 riders as Meurisse, De Bie and Oliveira are swept up by Lutsenko and Vakoc’s group well over a minute behind.
Buchmann sets a high pace and only Calmejane and Mohoric can follow! Kinoshita and Van der Poel have had to let go.
Buchmann is on a great day today, and again ups the pace! Calmejane sticks with him, but Mohoric can’t follow! Their gap to the Lopez group is 54” which is looking good with just under 4km to race! Lopez’s group is making ground on Kinoshita and Van der Poel, with Kwiatkowski leading the way there.
2.4km remaining and it is looking very good for the leading duo! They already have a 42” gap to Mohoric and have over a minute to the main group of now 9 riders (Kinoshita + Van der Poel). Kwiatkowski still leading that group.
Buchmann is just on another level today, as the road rises ever so slightly Calmejane can’t hold on any longer and cracks! Mohoric is about to be caught by the favourites group behind that are now 1’17 behind Buchmann.
Buchmann and Calmejane quickly drop down a short descent and are now sprinting to the line! Buchmann in pole position, but Calmejane has found a second wind and is coming very fast. 200m remain. Mohoric manages to drop down the descent before being caught so will have a nice buffer over the others in the sprint for 3rd place.
..and he hangs on! Buchmann is the winner of the 2022 Japan Cup after what can only be described as an absolutely sensationally dominant ride! He was the strongest by a country mile today and fully deserves this result. Calmejane hangs on for an impressive 2nd place, which is terrific considering the competition.
Mohoric beats the others and slingshots out of the descent into a sprint, but runs out of gas! The others are coming very fast from behind. Kinoshita and Kwiatkowski lead the rest into the sprint.
Mohoric is limping towards the line, while Kinoshita and Kwiatkowski are flying. Will there be enough road for them to overtake him?
Yes! Kinoshita will add another Japan Cup podium to his name, continuing his incredible record at this race. Mohoric will have to settle for 4th, and Kwiatkowski 5th.
Van der Poel finishes strong for 6th, with Eiking 7th after his earlier heroics. Lopez is 8th, and will probably not be happy with his performance. He didn’t look like his usual self today. Skujins is 9th, and Benoot rounds out the top-10. Veteran Van Garderen finishes 11th, with Gerts 12th. A decent result for his team, but will be wondering what could have been if he was better positioned towards the finish.
Velasco and Meurisse lead in the next group 3’14 down, finishing 13th and 14th with Lutsenko and De Bie finishing 15th and 16th, a disappointing race for both.
Your 2022 Japan Cup winner, Emanuel Buchmann!
Race Recap - Top-10
You have all just witnessed an absolutely ridiculous performance here from Buchmann, he was almost quite literally riding out of his skin today. He attacked and accelerated countless times and in the end nobody could keep up with him. A top-tier ride from him today, his team will be ecstatic with this victory! Another year, another unique winner at the Japan Cup though - maybe we will finally get that repeat winner next season?
If it weren't for the super effort of Buchmann, Lilian Calmejane would have been the rider receiving all the praise. Unfortunately for him his ride will be overshadowed by Buchmann's effort, but nonetheless it was a terrific performance from him today to take 2nd. His team were strong, with Waeytens doing a lot of work in the favourites group in their attempt to bring back Kinoshita and Eiking. Vital points scored here for Trans (including 3 riders aroudn 20th place, great depth) in their effort to stabilise themselves in the PCT rankings and to avoid slipping further down into the danger zone.
Kinoshita is on another level in his home race, taking home another podium. No surprises there, but it looked as though he had overextended himself towards the end when he was brought back and any ambitions of a podium would be dashed. He made it hard for himself, having to come around Kwiatkowski and Mohoric at the death in the final 200m, and he made it look easy.
Mohoric rode a very respectable race today. Of the top pure puncheur types, he was the strongest and had great awareness. It would be heartbreaking for him to miss out on a podium position by such a small margin, but he can be happy with his race here today.
Kwiatkowski is another rider who would have been deserving of a podium spot. He did a lot of work in the favourites group towards the finish and didn't' get much help at all. Kinoshita can thank him for dragging the favourites group within striking distance of Mohoric at the finish.
Probably the biggest surprise besides Calmejane is Van der Poel's result considering the competition here. He never looked out of place in the favourites group and didn't show any obvious signs of fatigue, a good result for Grieg. There were probably a few fluctuations of blood pressure in the Gjensidige team car today - Eiking animated the race and was strong enough to hold on to the favourites group and finish 7th after his big attack 30km out from the finish. he even had the gall to attack Kinoshita again a few kilometers later. A good ride and much needed points for his team.
In a day of surprises, big kahuna M A Lopez has to settle for 8th. The big pre-race favourite, he looked like he wasn't on a good day but still managed a top-10 which is a testament to his ability. He might be a little disappointed that he was unable to back up his Balkans performance here though. Tom Skujins rode a relatively anonymous race to 9th. He looked to be in some discomfort 10km out, but sucked in the big ones and stuck it out for 9th. Benoot also didn't get a lot of TV time, but should be pleased with his race. Teammate Velasco had a great day and did a lot of work, and even managed a 13th place finish leading in the next group.
Race Recap - Outside of the Top-10
Van Garderen rode decently well for an 11th place finish. Gerts did well to stick with the main group til the end, but just didn't have the punch to do more at the finish to achieve a better result. 12th is still commendable for him here with this field. Meurisse 15th is around par, but he did cook himself trying to follow Kinoshita. He could have hung on a bit longer at least if he was a little more conservative.
The biggest surprise amongst the top favourites is De Bie and Lutsenko dropping off the back without much of a fight. 15th and 16th mightn't be the worst result considering their form here, but they both never looked to be in it at all. Aegon won't be happy with their big star not living up to expectations again, commiserations to them. Vakoc also not up to it today.
Further back, Jensen finished in the third big group, he lost contact with the peloton on the descent of the main circuit climb due to his positioning. The descent is a little bizzare as it creates a lot of gaps and if dropped, most riders were unable to make it back on the flat before swinging back onto the climb and their day was then effectively done. Jensen can be terrific on his day, but unfortunately had a lapse of concentration at the wrong time. Paulinho probably the most disappointing here, a genuine top-10 contender that fell off the back and never made much of an effort to return. His Binance teammate Oliviera had a fantastic ride though, finishing 17th. Chernetskiy had a shocker today and struggled to keep up also. Bardet was active in the break and one of the strongest riders there though.
Japan Cup
