ツアー・オブ・ジャパン 2023

Luke LAMPERTI (TRINITY RACING) does it again, sprint finish and his third stage win of TOJ.

Sagamihara stage welcomed the day 7 of the Tour of Japan 2023. The decisive course, which is no exaggeration to say that the overall winner will be decided today, started from Hashimoto Park in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa prefecture, followed by a 4.8km neutral section, and then an actual start from the point where the race passes old Ogura Bridge. The course consists of seven laps around the course in front of Toriibara Fureai no Ie, covering a distance of 107.5km. The race was intense, with each team and rider having various agendas, including the overall race, stage win, and the battle for the mountain prize.

After the actual start, attack battle ensued, and even after entering the lap course, it was difficult for the teams to make a decisive attack. In this race situation, Leonel QUINTERO ARTEAGA (VICTOIRE HIROSHIMA), the second-place finisher in the battle for the Red Jersey, came through first in the first KOM point. Red Jersey Wearer today, KOJIMA Naoki (TEAM BRIDGESTONE CYCLING) crossed the line in second place, narrowing the gap in the battle for the mountains prize to just one point.

After three laps, no breakaway was decided, and the fourth lap became a team battle between VICTOIRE HIROSHIMA and TEAM BRIDGESTONE CYCLING for the mountain points, with Leonel QUINTERO ARTEAGA (VICTOIRE HIROSHIMA) again coming out on top and moving into the lead in the mountain points race.
On Lap 6, QUINTERO ARTEAGA took the lead in the final battle for mountain points, and at this point, the Red Jersey for the mountains award was in the hands of QUINTERO ARTEAGA.

Despite several attacks, the race remained in a large group for the remaining two laps, and a fierce battle for position for the final sprint began at the end of the last lap. With 1km to go, TERENGGANU POLYGON CYCLING TEAM formed a train to lead the bunch into the final corner before the finish. Luke LAMPERTI (TRINITY RACING), wearing the points-winning Blue Jersey, attacked and led the pack out of the final corner. In the last 100 meters of the final straight, LAMPERTI stayed away the duo of chasing him, Benjami PRADES REVERTE and OKA Atsushi (both from JCL TEAM UKYO), to take his third stage win of the TOJ 2023.
Nathan EARLE (JCL TEAM UKYO) retains the Green Jersey heading into the final stage in Tokyo. The top Japanese rider is OKA Atsushi (JCL TEAM UKYO) in 3rd place overall, with a podium finish in sight tomorrow.

Nathan EARLE (JCL TEAM UKYO) – Green Jersey Wearer
“It's beautiful here, the sun shining, and the scenery is very amazing. It's good to see everybody.
Today was a very fast stage. In the end no real break away, so, a little bit stressful, but I think it was an exciting race. There was a good battle for the KOM jersey. I enjoyed watching it, even in the race. But, we arrived at the finish and my team was very strong today, so, they helped me control the race and we arrived safely. One more day tomorrow. Thank you everybody.”

Luke LAMPERTI (TRINITY RACING) – Blue Jersey Wearer
“It was a hard race, a lot of different objectives from different teams. Some guys racing for the KOM, some guys for sprint points, some people for the stage. Fujisan, it was quite a hard day yesterday, even though it was short. So, I think this makes it quite hard. 
Actually, the plan was to lead out Joe Pidcock. For me to lead him out, and then he and I flipped in the final climb. I had to wait a bit and, instead of the lead out, I went for the stage and I wanted to go to the corner first wheel, so, I was able to jump and go for the corner first wheel and sprint after the last corner.”

Leonel QUINTERO ARTEAGA (VICTOIRE HIROSHIMA) – Red Jersey Wearer
“Thank you very much. This is my second Tour of Japan and for the second time I'm on the podium, today in Sagamihara, as it was last year. I'm truly happy with my performance and the support from my family in Venezuela, I know they are cheering for me, and my girlfriend. I would like to thank my team, we did a good job today. I'm truly happy. And we have one more day tomorrow, I'll be very calm and wait for the finish and hope to be the King of the Mountain. “

Liam JOHNSTON (TRINITY RACING) – White Jersey Wearer
“I really wanted to be in the breakaway today. But, I think everybody also wanted to be in the breakaway, which made it very hard from the beginning. We were fighting too much the whole stage till the last lap. From the last lap, it was all about trying to stay at the front for the sprint. Luke managed to get himself in a very good position, but me and my teammates, all Trinity team placed inside the top twenty, which was a good result for us.
Other goal today was to remain the Young Rider’s Jersey, which I achieved. So, I am happy with the race today.