Stage 5 Report（English）
TOUR OF JAPAN 2015 Stage 5（Fujisan／11.4km）
Number of visitors：5,800
Temperature：21℃
Weather: Fine weather
Iranian 1-2-3 Dominate Mount Fuji! Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour grabs the Green Jersey!
Mt.FUJI, 22nd May 2015 – Mount Fuji, an icon of Japan lined with spectators amounting to 5800 scattered all over to the summit sets the stage for Stage 5 of today’s stage. Perfect weather conditions await the 93 strong peloton for the grueling 11.4km climb to the summit.
With the peloton knowing that a win today would have a significant advantage of the General Classification, the riders were on guard and would not let any chances go. Adam Phelan, the leading rider with the Green Jersey started today’s action with a courageous break before seeing his efforts turned futile with the peloton reacting immediately to close his effort down.
The Iranian teams who were the favorites for the race started to take control of the peloton and initiated the break which would see them take control and set the tempo of the race for the leading group of 9.
With 3km to go, Emami Rahim, the winner of the race, launched his attack which eventually would lead him to his first win of the year in the UCI ASIA tour circuit.
He won the race with a total time of 0:38’27” over the new race leader Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour of Tabriz Petrochemical (0:38’49”) and Hossein Askari (0:39’04”) of Pishgaman Giant Team.
Stage 6 heads out to the circuit course of Izu , home of the Japan Cycle Sports center, which is also famous of the Keirin School.
Comments from the riders as follows:
Rahim Emami, Pishgaman Giant Team
What’s your recipe for success to summit Fuji and what are the tactics that contributed to your win knowing that you are not the star climber of the team?
“We live in the mountains and access to mountainous roads is a lot easier for us and all the Iranians racing here and that explains our climbing prowess Main priority for us is to get grab the green jersey and win the race, that’s our priority. Our riders who were supposed to climb and challenge for the win didn’t feel too good today and a change of tactics meant that I had to go for the win. I felt good today and went for it and that’s how the race unfolded for me and team.”
Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour, Tabriz Petrochemical Team
You shattered the time record last year for Fuji,but this year you did not come close to beating your time and finished 2nd to Emami Rahim,what happened?
“Today’s race is not a time trial for me but the main goal is to get the green jersey for me and my team and I came in second which was not too bad of a result for me. I tried my best last year is to show my ability to the cycling world that I am a capable climber and I digged deep in Fuji to set a personal best for myself and prove that I am a good climber.”
Nariyuki Masuda, Utsunomiya Blitzen
You were the best Japanese rider today, how did the race go for you today?
“22nd place is not a good position for me and the race was a real hard one. I think that I didn’t do my best for this year because of a crash in Taiwan earlier this year, which led me to have some broken bones. I just recovered recently and I have concentrated all my efforts for the Tour of Japan. I hope that I would be able to do better next year and improve my time and scale up the ladder for a better result”
