ツアー・オブ・ジャパン 2023

KUBOKI Kazushige (TEAM BRIDGESTONE CYCLING) wins the Tokyo stage with a sprint victory. GC goes to Nathan EARLE (JCL TEAM UKYO) for his second consecutive victory.

The Tour of Japan 2023, its 25th edition is now in its final day. The Tokyo stage is a 112-km circuit around the Oi Futo (Oi Warf) circuit, where the high-velocity sprint battle is always a must. After riding more than 600 km over the past seven days, the riders will come to the finale here in Tokyo. Nathan EARLE (JCL TEAM UKYO) has a 45-second advantage in the battle for the General Individual Classification (GC) by time, but with three riders within one minute of each other, the race is far from over. The battle for the Points Classification will also be decided in the final sprint for the finish line.

The race started with an attack battle on the first lap, and on the third lap, a breakaway of five riders formed, including HASHIKAWA Jo (EF EDUCATION-NIPPO DEVELOPMENT TEAM) and KOBAYASHI Marino (MATRIX POWERTAG). They built an 18-second time gap to the main group, and by Lap 4, the gap had widened to 28 seconds. At this point, the breakaway was allowed to escape, and JCL TEAM UKYO took control of the peloton. By the time the eight laps were completed, there was still a time gap of 1’42” between a 5-breakaway group and the main group chasing the break. JCL TEAM UKYO still controlled the peloton, but the maximum time gap widened to 1’52” seconds, and with five laps to go, TRINITY RACING and SOFER-SAVINI DUE-OMZ moved to the front of the main group and began to gradually increase their pace.
The peloton quickly closed the gap by 30 seconds and was 1 minute 8 seconds ahead with 4 laps to go. 

The main group continued its pursuit, and with a 36-second gap and three laps to go, the breakaway put in its final effort to increase the pace once again. The time gap was widened to 1 minute again with 2 laps to go. However, the main group closed the gap to 15 seconds going into the final lap. The race for the win came down to a final bunch sprint. 

In the last kilometer, after a fierce battle for position, TEAM BRIDGESTONE CYCLING quickly formed a train to take the final corner. KUBOKI Kazushige (TEAM BRIDGESTONE CYCLING), after a perfect lead-out from his teammates, made a sharp final stretch to take the stage win. At this moment, Nathan EARLE (JCL TEAM UKYO), who finished in the bunch, took his second consecutive GC victory. The points prize went to Luke LAMPERTI (TRINITY RACING), who won three stages at the Tour of Japan. The top Japanese rider was OKA Atsushi (JCL TEAM UKYO), who finished 3rd overall. He made it to the podium of the Individual General Classification with flying colors.

Nathan EARLE (JCL TEAM UKYO) 
“it's very special to be here. Thank you for the support, from everyone. To win last year was a dream, and now, to come back as defending champion and to win again, after a lot of hard work, I can't even describe the feeling. It's very, very special. My team, JCL TEAM UKYO, they did so much work. All my teammates were very, very strong and all the staff behind the scenes have put a lot of work into this race. So, for us to win is just so special. And thank you to all my team, and thank you to all the fans, and Tour of Japan. It's amazing. Arigatou.”

Luke LAMPERTI (TRINITY RACING)
“It is a beautiful race. My first time here in Japan and it couldn't have been better. We really enjoyed our time here as a team and it's a lovely country. It was really enjoyable and hopefully we'll come back soon.”

Leonel QUINTERO ARTEAGA (VICTOIRE HIROSHIMA)
“This was my first 8-day Tour of Japan, because last year there were only 4 stages. It was really hard, specially with the participation of international teams, which increased the level of the races. But it was a really good experience for me. I was able to get the KOM, I prepared really well and with the trust and support of my team, we could finish in the best way possible.”

Liam JOHNSTON (TRINITY RACING) 
“This is my first time in Japan. I really enjoyed everything, all stages, a lot of variety. We got to see a lot of different regions, it's a beautiful country. The racing is a lot different from what I'm used to, but I really enjoyed it. The racing was always fast and hard. It was just a really good tour.”

KUBOKI Kazushige (TEAM BRIDGESTONE CYCLING)
“I am really happy and a little speechless right now. In the team’s strategy, I just said that I wanted the train to start from 500m to go and lead out with a speed of more than 60km at the end. In the Mino stage, I was stung at the end, so I stayed on my toes and stepped on it until the finish line.”

OKA Atsushi (JCL TEAM UKYO)
“Because the TOJ has the Fujisan stage, my original plan was not to fight for the overall. But I was blessed with race situation and my conditions were very good. I am very happy to finish 3rd overall and I could also feel my own growth. Tour de Kumano is next on the schedule, and I would like to make adjustments for the All Japan Road Race Championships.”

SHIMIZU Yusuke (JCL TEAM UKYO – Sport Director)
“Thank you very much all for the past eight days. Thanks to your support, we have been able to keep motivated and come this far. Our target is to go out into the world, so we will not stop here, but will keep moving forward."