ツアー・オブ・ジャパン 2025

The pre-event press conference was held at the Comfort Hotel Sakai in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, ahead of the 2025 Tour of Japan, which will be held over 8 stages in 8 days. 4 standout riders talked about their condition and enthusiasm for the 8 days of race that begin tomorrow and took part in the traditional eye-painting ceremony of the "TOJ Daruma."

Yukiya ARASHIRO（40 years old／SOLUTION TECH VINI FANTINI）
This will be my first time competing at the Tour of Japan since 2018. Even during my time racing primarily in Europe under director Akira Asada, I competed in this race with strong determination to win in Japan. I've won 2 stages here in the past, and the 2016 victory stands out in my memory as it was my comeback race after a femur fracture. Our team is bringing a strong sprinter, so I hope to get results in the 3 sprint stages. Personally, I'm also looking forward to the Inabe stage, where both sprints and breakaways are possible. Just prior in Kumano, the team won 3 out of 4 stages, so we're aiming to go eight for eight at the Tour of Japan. I'm really looking forward to racing in front of all the Japanese fans.

Sohei KANEKO（27 years old／JAPAN NATIONAL TEAM）
This is going to be the longest stage race of my career—up until now, the most I’ve done is three days. So jumping into an eight-day race like the Tour of Japan is definitely uncharted territory for me, but I’m excited for the challenge.I think my best chances to really go for it will be on the Watahan Shinshu-Iida stage and the Mt. Fuji stage. Since I usually race in hill climbs, I get the sense that a lot of Japanese cycling fans see me as a climber. How I perform on Mt. Fuji will probably be the key to where I end up in the overall standings. We’ve got four U23 riders on the team, and I’m the oldest. I want to take on a leadership role and help the younger guys use this race as a stepping stone to bigger things—hopefully even the world stage.

TAARAMÄE Rein（38 years old／KINAN RACING TEAM）
I’ve known about the Tour of Japan since I was young, so I’m really happy to finally have the chance to race in Japan’s biggest cycling race. Since most of the stages are circuit courses, we’re able to get familiar with the tricky or dangerous spots pretty quickly, which helps us stay more relaxed during the race. The level of race has really gone up now, and I’ve come to realize that I can’t quite race the way I used to when I was younger. Still, even though it’s a tough goal, I’m aiming for a strong position in the overall standings. At the same time, the team is in high spirits, and I’m feeling good myself—so I’d love to see one of us on the overall podium, and hopefully even take a stage win. The Mt. Fuji stage will be the key to winning the general classification, but it’s by far the toughest course. People talk about L'Alpe-d'Huez or Mont Ventoux the distance is just long, but the gradient is around 10%. It’s said to be a tough hill in Europe.
On Mount Fuji, even the easiest part has a slope of around 10%, so anything can happen.

Ikki WATANABE（19 years old／JAPAN NATIONAL TEAM）
There are a lot of strong riders here, and since chances to race in such a big event don’t come around often, I want to do my best to show what I can really do.　Last year, I crashed during the Kyoto stage and couldn’t get back into form after that. This year, I’m aiming for top 3 finishes in the stages and hopefully to win overall.　 Our team has 3 riders selected from Kyoto Sangyo University, where I usually belong and the team has really strong legs.  I’m hoping we can go after both stage wins and the overall title with a good balance.