ツアー・オブ・ジャパン 2024

Prior to the Tour of Japan 2024, which will be held over a total of eight stages over eight days, a press conference was held the day before the event at ‘Sakai Risho no Mori (Sakai Plaza of Rikyu and Akiko)’ in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. Four remarkable riders spoke about their condition and enthusiasm for the upcoming eight days of competition, which begin tomorrow.

EARLE Nathan (JCL TEAM UKYO)
I am very excited to be back in the Tour of Japan. We have got very strong teams all around here. This is one of the highlights of the season and my favorite to race in Japan.This year there have been quite a few changes for the JCL TEAM UKYO, being based in Italy and we have got some Italian riders. We have got a lot of successes and very strong performances in Italy also. So the whole team has great confidence. We have gained a lot of experience, done new races and had good results. Everyone is in very good condition. The team is in positive frame of mind. We are super excited what we have done, but also for the future as well. We hope at the Tour of Japan we continue this success.I think it is a very difficult race, day by day for the GC, because every day is challenging. It is quite difficult to control the race for the circuits of each day. It will be nice to go well on Fujisan stage and try not to lose time in other stages is I think everybody’s goal.

VINOKUROV Nikolas (ASTANA QAZAQSTAN DEVELOPMENT TEAM / 21 years old)
Winning at the Tour of Kyushu was a super nice race and it was my last race last year. Japan is a very nice country and I liked it very much. I am very excited to start the Tour of Japan tomorrow.
I am a road race national champion under 23 in Kazakhstan. I am very excited to start tomorrow, the show starts. We will be able to do some warm-up at the criterium in the morning. We have a strong team here with a lot of climbers. I try to focus on the stage wins, not particularly the GC (General Classification) and see how it will go day by day.

GREENWOOD Matthew (TEAM BRIDGELANE / 21 years old)
We have got very strong climbers for this race and will really focus on the Mt. Fuji stage. It is a young team, three under 23. We have just come from the Ronde de l’lsard and got pretty good results. I think everyone has gone well and had mixed experience, so I think we will make a big impact here.
I am really targeting the GC. I think it is up to the Mt. Fuji. The rest of the stages are pretty similar to our nationals, so I have experienced in racing like that.

TERADA Yoshiki (SHIMANO RACING TEAM / 22 years old)
The morale of the entire team is high and we are fired up for the opening stage at our home, Sakai City. I am excited to have experienced riders IRIBE san and NAKAI san in the team this year, which will allow us to ride in a different way than last year. Although the Tour of Japan is full of veterans and U23 athletes, I would like to win for the White Jersey or Young Individual Time Classification. Personally, I think it will be a tough battle for the General Classification, but I will aim for the stages that I can target.