5th Tour of Japan - 2.4Japan, May 21-28, 2000Main Page Results Previous stageStage 4 - May 26: Twin Ring Motegi, 153.36 km'G-Man' takes the fourthBy Miwako Sisaki New Zealander Greame Miller won Stage 3 of the Tour of Japan after he dominated the sprint in a 6 man breakaway. The best rider of the peloton was Nicola Minali who came in 7th, 17 seconds behind the break. This meant that Mauro Gianetti (Vini Caldirola) kept his green leader's jersey. 90 riders started today, and the weather was fine and hot. The circuit at Twin Ring Motegi is normally a car racing circuit, and consisted of 12.38 km x 12 laps + 4.8 km for the final lap, on an almost flat course. At the 7 lap point, 6 riders went away from the peloton, and quickly established a 55 seconds lead. The riders were: Andrea Brognara (Alexia-Alluminio), Allan Iacuone (Wustenrot-ZVVZ ), Graeme Miller (NZL), Vadim Kravchenko (KAZ), Hisafumi Imanishi (JPN), and Tomokazu Fujino (JPN). Although the peloton were controlled by Vini-Caldirola, the 6 riders worked well together, and they extended their advantage to 1'52" after 8 laps. On the final 4.8 km lap, the peloton tried to decrease the 6 riders' advantage, but they couldn't. Finally in the sprint, Miller took first place. Last year, he won the same stage of Tour of Japan, as a result of Italian Fabio Sacchi being disqualified. So he wanted to win this stage without problems, to look a clean victory for the Japanese people. "You know I have my reasons today. Last year, it was difficult with the Italian. But this year there wasn't much trouble," said Miller at a press interview afterwards. "And the Tour of Japan is a qualification race for the New Zealand Olympic team. 2 days after this race, the team will be named." [note: according to the latest release, he entire NZ cycling team will be named on June 7]. If he is selected for the team, it will be the 6th Olympics for him. "I hope so," said Miller. Tomorrow's Utsunomiya stage will see the final struggle for the overall classification. Millar said "Now we have 2 riders in the top 15 (Clark and Guyton). So it was my job, to race hard on a flat stage like today. Tomorrow's Utunomiya stage is a very hard day, and we will try, we will avoid the competitors."
Results1 Graeme Miller (NZl) New Zealand 3.38.00 (42.22 km/h) 2 Andrea Brognara (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 3 Tomokazu Fujino (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 4 Hisafumi Imanishi (Jpn) Shimano Racing 5 Allan Iacuone (Aus) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 6 Vadim Kravchenko (Kaz) Kazakstan 7 Nicola Minali (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 0.17 8 Baden Cooke (Aus) Australia 9 Jaroslav Bilek (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 10 Glen Mitchell (NZl) New Zealand 11 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Tonissteiner-Colnago 12 Giacomo Battistel (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 13 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi 14 Jacek Mickiewicz (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 15 Richard Faltus (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 16 Morgan Fox (Irl) Tonissteiner-Colnago 17 Tetsuya Okada (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 18 Petr Bencik (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 19 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 20 Bjorn Cornelissen (Ned) Tonissteiner-Colnago 21 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 22 Daniele Righi (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 23 Grzegorz Wajs (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 24 Rene Haselbacher (Aut) Team Gerolsteiner 25 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Team 26 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Shimano Racing 27 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 28 Brendan Vesty (NZl) New Zealand 29 Scott Davis (Aus) Australia 30 Shinji Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing Team 31 Scott Guyton (NZl) New Zealand 32 Thomas Muhlbacher (Aut) Team Gerolsteiner 33 Allan Davis (Aus) Australia 34 Warren Clark (NZl) New Zealand 35 Bryce Shapley (NZl) New Zealand 36 Leandro Fioroni (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 37 Guido Trentin (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 38 Eugen Wacker (Kgz) Mroz-Supradyn 39 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Team 40 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 41 Gianluca Sironi (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 42 Daniel Loprais (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 43 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 44 Kairat Baigudinov (Kaz) Kazakstan 45 Yasuhiro Nakajima (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 46 Pavel Nevdakh (Kaz) Kazakstan 47 Dae-Hong Chun (Kor) Korea 48 Osamu Kurimura (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Team 49 Mikhail Teteryuk (Kaz) Kazakstan 50 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Shimano Racing 51 Hideto Yukinari (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Team 52 Koki Shinbo (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi 53 Stefano Della Santa (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 54 Zoran Klemencic (Slo) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 55 Niclas Ekstrom (Swe) Tonissteiner-Colnago 56 Mitsuteru Tanaka (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing Team 57 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 58 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Shimano Racing 59 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn) Shimano Racing 60 Osamu Sumida (Jpn) Shimano Racing 61 Naokiyo Hashisako (Jpn) Cheblo Artnature 1.01 62 Jae-Min Ha (Kor) Korea 63 Jonas Emmanuelson (Swe) Tonissteiner-Colnago 64 Hitoshi Takahashi (Jpn) Cheblo Artnature 65 Yuichi Numata (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing Team 66 Ho Jun (Kor) Korea 67 Naoki Takamura (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi 68 Kentaro Eshita (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing Team 69 Kojiro Nakagawa (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 70 Takeshi Okamoto (Jpn) Cheblo Artnature 71 Stanislav Tancer (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 72 Daisuke Sakuta (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi 73 Mikhail Andreyef (Kaz) Kazakstan 74 Scott McGrory (Aus) Team Gerolsteiner 75 Kyoshi Miura (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 76 Kozo Fujita (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 77 Hiroshi Sakaguchi (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing 1.18 78 Masahiro Yasuhara (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 1.44 79 Nobuo Tamaki (Jpn) Cheblo Artnature 80 Koji Nagano (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 1.52 81 Mauro Radaelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 2.03 82 Masakazu Mori (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Team 2.16 83 Eiko Takahashi (Jpn) Cheblo Artnature 3.12 84 Gunther Cuylits (Bel) Tonissteiner-Colnago 3.34 85 Daisuke Nakayama (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Team 86 Andreas Sauerborn (Ger) Team Gerolsteiner 87 Ken Akita (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing Team 88 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 89 Nic Brown (Aus) Australia 90 Maxim Gurov (Kaz) Kazakstan 5.56 General classification after stage 4: 1 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 14.06.50 2 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 0.32 3 Rene Haselbacher (Aut) Team Gerolsteiner 0.40 4 Petr Bencik (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 0.59 5 Thomas Muhlbacher (Aut) Team Gerolsteiner 1.13 6 Guido Trentin (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 1.36 7 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 1.40 8 Richard Faltus (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 2.03 9 Leandro Fioroni (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 10 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Shimano Racing 2.04 11 Warren Clark (NZl) New Zealand 2.06 12 Scott Guyton (NZl) New Zealand 2.11 13 Scott Davis (Aus) Australia 2.16 14 Jacek Mickiewicz (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 3.07 15 Hisafumi Imanishi (Jpn) Shimano Racing 3.20 16 Brendan Vesty (NZl) New Zealand 3.23 17 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Shimano Racing 3.26 18 Jaroslav Bilek (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 3.43 19 Allan Iacuone (Aus) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 5.35 20 Koki Shinbo (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi 6.31 21 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn) Shimano Racing 6.53 22 Kairat Baigudinov (Kaz) Kazakstan 23 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Team 24 Mikhail Andreyef (Kaz) Kazakstan 7.13 25 Tomokazu Fujino (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 11.06 26 Tetsuya Okada (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 11.12 27 Baden Cooke (Aus) Australia 11.23 28 Glen Mitchell (NZl) New Zealand 11.26 29 Morgan Fox (Irl) Tonissteiner-Colnago 11.30 30 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 31 Vadim Kravchenko (Kaz) Kazakstan 11.42 32 Hideto Yukinari (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Team 11.49 33 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Shimano Racing 34 Stefano Della Santa (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 11.59 35 Andrea Brognara (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 12.04 36 Dae-Hong Chun (Kor) Korea 12.13 37 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi 12.26 38 Daniele Righi (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 12.52 39 Kojiro Nakagawa (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 13.01 40 Osamu Sumida (Jpn) Shimano Racing 13.07 41 Graeme Miller (NZl) New Zealand 13.47 42 Shinji Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing Team 14.08 43 Bryce Shapley (NZl) New Zealand 14.13 44 Gianluca Sironi (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 15.44 45 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 18.31 46 Grzegorz Wajs (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 18.35 47 Mitsuteru Tanaka (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing T 18.35 48 Eugen Wacker (Kgz) Mroz-Supradyn 49 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 18.39 50 Andreas Sauerborn (Ger) Team Gerolsteiner 18.42 51 Mikhail Teteryuk (Kaz) Kazakstan 18.49 52 Kyoshi Miura (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 19.23 53 Kozo Fujita (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 54 Pavel Nevdakh (Kaz) Kazakstan 19.41 55 Naokiyo Hashisako (Jpn) Cheblo Artnature 19.44 56 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing T 20.02 57 Giacomo Battistel (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 20.23 58 Kentaro Eshita (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing Tea 20.50 59 Yuichi Numata (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing Team 21.21 60 Mauro Radaelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 21.48 61 Yasuhiro Nakajima (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 22.54 62 Maxim Gurov (Kaz) Kazakstan 22.56 63 Osamu Kurimura (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Team 23.24 64 Masakazu Mori (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Team 25.10 65 Scott McGrory (Aus) Team Gerolsteiner 26.34 66 Daniel Loprais (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 26.44 67 Takeshi Okamoto (Jpn) Cheblo Artnature 26.54 68 Naoki Takamura (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi 27.10 69 Daisuke Sakuta (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi 27.33 70 Allan Davis (Aus) Australia 28.34 71 Stanislav Tancer (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 28.36 72 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 29.27 73 Daisuke Nakayama (Jpn) Miyata - Subaru Racing Te 30.44 74 Niclas Ekstrom (Swe) Tonissteiner-Colnago 31.25 75 Nicola Minali (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 31.53 76 Jonas Emmanuelson (Swe) Tonissteiner-Colnago 32.09 77 Hiroshi Sakaguchi (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing 32.26 78 Nobuo Tamaki (Jpn) Cheblo Artnature 32.39 79 Masahiro Yasuhara (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 34.05 80 Zoran Klemencic (Slo) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 37.17 81 Bjorn Cornelissen (Ned) Tonissteiner-Colnago 37.34 82 Nic Brown (Aus) Australia 38.23 83 Ho Jun (Kor) Korea 38.56 84 Koji Nagano (Jpn) Kinan Le Soleil 39.30 85 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Tonissteiner-Colnago 42.46 86 Hitoshi Takahashi (Jpn) Cheblo Artnature 43.30 87 Jae-Min Ha (Kor) Korea 44.27 88 Eiko Takahashi (Jpn) Cheblo Artnature 45.41 89 Gunther Cuylits (Bel) Tonissteiner-Colnago 46.23 90 Ken Akita (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team Racing Team 46.26 Points classification: 1 Rene Haselbacher (Aut) Team Gerolsteiner 9 pts 2 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 8 3 Graeme Miller (NZl) New Zealand 8 4 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 5 5 Jacek Mickiewicz (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 5 6 Baden Cooke (Aus) Australia 4 7 Andrea Brognara (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 4 8 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 3 9 Tomokazu Fujino (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 3 10 Petr Bencik (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 3 11 Hisafumi Imanishi (Jpn) Shimano Racing 2 12 Scott McGrory (Aus) Team Gerolsteiner 2 13 Zoran Klemencic (Slo) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 2 14 Thomas Muhlbacher (Aut) Team Gerolsteiner 1 15 Allan Iacuone (Aus) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 1 Climbs classification: 1 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 10 pts 2 Brendan Vesty (NZl) New Zealand 8 3 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 5 4 Jacek Mickiewicz (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 5 5 Osamu Sumida (Jpn) Shimano Racing 5 6 Petr Bencik (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 2 7 Richard Faltus (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 2 8 Scott Guyton (NZl) New Zealand 2 9 Glen Mitchell (NZl) New Zealand 2 10 Bryce Shapley (NZl) New Zealand 2 11 Rene Haselbacher (Aut) Team Gerolsteiner 1 12 Guido Trentin (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 1 13 Leandro Fioroni (Ita) Alexia Alluminio 1 Sprints classification: 1 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 12 pts 2 Graeme Miller (NZl) New Zealand 10 3 Scott McGrory (Aus) Team Gerolsteiner 6 4 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 5 5 Jaroslav Bilek (Cze) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 4 6 Allan Iacuone (Aus) Wustenrot-ZVVZ 3 7 In-Chan Park (Kor) Korea 1 7 Tomokazu Fujino (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 3 8 Glen Mitchell (NZl) New Zealand 2 9 Jacek Mickiewicz (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn 1 10 Baden Cooke (Aus) Australia 1 Teams classification: 1 Mroz-Supradyn 42.25.30 2 Wustenrot-ZVVZ 0.58 3 New Zealand National Team 1.59 4 Shimano Racing 3.50 5 Team Gerolsteiner 11.41 6 Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 12.01 7 Kazakstan National Team 19.35 8 Alexia Alluminio 20.08 9 Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 32.24 10 Australian National Team 33.57 11 Team Bridgestone Anchor 35.49 12 Kinan Le Soleil 38.10 13 Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi 40.21 14 Asian Racing Team 47.02 15 Tonissteiner-Colnago 1.04.05 16 Cheblo Artnature 1.12.30 17 Korea National Team 1.18.16 |