Stage 7 Report（English）
TOUR OF JAPAN 2015 Stage 7（Tokyo／112.7km）
Number of visitors： 127,000
Temperature：26℃
Weather: Occasionally Cloudy
Iranian, Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour wins 18th Tour of Japan!
Tokyo,Japan – The last stage of the 18th Tour of Japan started in the capital of the land of the rising sun, Tokyo in Hibiya park today before ending in the port area of Oi. The race saw a total number of 127,000 spectators with various dignitaries such as former Olympic Speed Skater, Seiko Hashimoto coming to attend and grace the event that is held annually to commerate the sport of cycling and to showcase Japan’s fine landscape that is beyond beautiful. The race has taken the peloton through the rice fields in Inabe to the glorious Mount Fuji and has come to an end in Tokyo. It has been quite a spectacle for the riders and various personnel involved.
The race started bright and early with the sun shining upon the riders through out the race. The riders were brought into immediate action with a 7 man break starting to form early on the race. The break was finally reduced to 2 riders with Rafaa Chtoui (Skydive Dubai and Jose Toribio (Matrix Powertag) driving the front of the race with a gap worthy of the followers gripping their seats to a 2 man solo effort to the finish. The peloton realizing that this would not be ideal worked hard with various teams being represented to close the break, which they eventually succeeded. In the final lap and with 1.5km to go, two separate crashes brought some of the riders down to the ground including the White Jersey holder, Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida).
The sprint to the finish concluded with Niccolo Bonifazio (Lampre-Merida) victorious. He completed the race in 2’’17’14 over the Australian Brenton Jones (Drapac Professional Cycling) and Nicolos Marini.
Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour eventually won the 18th Tour of Japan and this is makes it two overall wins in this year’s UCI ASIA tour calendar for the 29-year-old Iranian. Valerio Conti of Lampre-Merida, who recorded a first win of the season for him in the Izu stage, won the Blue Sprints Jersey. The King of the Mountains Jersey was by the Fujisan Stage winner, Rahim Emami (Pishgaman Gaint) and the under 25 young rider White Jersey by Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida)
Comments from the riders as follows:
Nicolo Bonifazio, Lampre-Merida
How did the stage go for you today and what happened for you and team today? Given your positon in today’s race and also an impressive showing at the Milan san remo, what are your ambitions for the rest of the year? Will we see greater things from you?
“Nobody knows if we were going to triumph in the TOJ with the white jersey and blue jersey in our hands. We are very happy with this. The race was very compact today and it was really fast pace and fortunately for us we could get the victory even though Ilia who were leading out for us had a slip and crashed. I’m more relaxed now and plan to get better every time and to do my best in the 2nd half of the year.”
Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour, Tabriz Petrochemical Team
This is your second win of the year after winning the General Classification in Taiwan earlier this year. Have this wins meant different things for you since you are in top form. What are your expectations for the rest of the year and will we see you riding in a bigger division team?
“I feel that we won in Japan and Taiwan was because it was well organized and that’s the reason why I think I can win. We brought good climbers to this race but the race has been a rather flat one for team and me. Today I would like to send my well wishes to the riders who crashed during the final sprint. It’s racing. Hopefully, next year when I am back for the Tour of Japan and I am invited, I am confident that I will win the race.”
