6th Tour of Japan - 2.4

Japan, May 20-27, 2001

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Stage 2 - May 21: Nara: Todaiji Temple - Nunome Dam Circuit, 146.2 km

Veteran Miller takes stage marred by crash

By Miwako Sasaki*
Click for larger image
The start of stage 2
Photo: © Miwako Sasaki

40 year old New Zealander Graeme Miller has won the second stage of 6th Tour of Japan, over a challenging parcours, beating Mateusz Mroz (Mroz) and Guillaume Laloux (St Quentin). Hard luck story of the day was Australian Allan Davis' crash with 2 kilometres to go, whilst he was in the lead with Mroz rider Kazimierz Stafiej, and a good chance at the stage win. A car had made its way onto the course and Davis hit it and came down hard, eventually getting back on to finish 79th, 3'23 behind.

The race started at Todaiji Temple in Nara at 9:30. Although the riders normally start just in front of the houses of the huge statue of Buddha, they were specially permitted to start from a sacred courtyard of the houses this year, marking the 1300th anniversary of the old Emperor. The 18.5 kilometres from Todaiji Temple to the Nunome Dam circuit was neutralized for traffic reasons, so the race officially started at 9:52.

Yesterday's hot conditions caused some riders to suffer: Nicola Chezini (Tacconi Sport) and Gregory Faghel got heat exhaustion, and they started the race, but couldn't finish today.
Click for larger image
Successful attack!
Photo: © Miwako Sasaki

The first breakaway made by a Japanese rider, Koji Fukushima (Sumita Ravanello). He kept his lead until 6 laps to go when there was a second Mountain Sprint, and the peloton accelerated and caught him before then. At the sprint, Australian Allan Davis (7th at the U23 World Championships last year), crossed first and Polish Kazimiesz Stafiej (Mroz) followed him. They kept their lead and quickly gained 2 minutes on the peloton.

"My brother Scott was on the same time as the leader before the start," said Davis afterwards. "And Stafiej was 4 minutes behind the leader, so it wasn't problem for the General Classification. So I had to watch that our break didn't get over 4 minutes, because obviously he [Stafiej] would pass my brother Scott. We got working and had between 2 and 3 minutes."

When the pair went onto the final lap, three riders attacked from the poloton, New Zealander Graeme Miller, Frenchman Guillaume Laloux (St Quentin) and Polish Mateusz Mroz (Mroz). They were 1'20 behind Davis and Stafiej.
Click for larger image
Davis crashes out
Photo: © Miwako Sasaki

Everybody thought that one of the two riders would win the stage, but tragedy struck. As they were going down a hill with 2 kilometres to go, suddenly a car came onto the course and Davis was hit by the car. After the accident, Stafiej was caught by the three riders, and Miller dominated the final sprint. It was his third stage victory in the Tour of Japan for him (he won stages in 1999 and 2000 at Motegi).

Pawel Niedzwiecki (Mroz) finished 32 seconds behind Miller, and kept his green leader's jersey and blue point's jersey.

After the accident, Davis could finish the race,but he was injured on his left shoulder, elbow, fingers and knee. He said "Tonight I'll see my doctor. My hand is swelling up, shoulder is hurting. So I hope nothing's broken inside...".

The accident isn't the first of its type in the history of the Tour of Japan. American rider Frank McCormack was hit by a car during the Shuzenji Stage in 1999.

Davis has now got a red Mountains Jersey, as he took first in mountain sprints on two occasions today. Tommorrow is a rest day and the riders transefer to Shuzenji, where they will face their toughest day of the tour.

*Miwako Sasaki is a journalist with Japanese Cycle Sport magazine

Results

1 Graeme Miller (NZl) New Zealand National Team         3.07.24
2 Mateusz Mroz (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy                0.05
3 Guillaume Laloux (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos                  0.08
4 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy           0.11
5 Pietro Zucconi (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola        0.32
6 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy
7 Soon-Young Choi (Kor) Korean National Team
8 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
9 Lars Teutenberg (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi
10 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
11 Scott Davis (Aus) Australian National Team
12 Adam Wadecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy
13 Matthew Yates (NZl) New Zealand National Team
14 Dae-Hong Chun (Kor) Korean National Team
15 Hiroshi Sakaguchi (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
16 Koki Shinbo (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
17 Satoshi Hirose (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo
18 Arturas Trumpauskas (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos
19 Andy Cappelle (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos
20 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
21 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy
22 Seth Pelusi (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex
23 Yoshiyuki Abe (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro
24 Marco Gili (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
25 Ronny Assez (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex
26 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
27 Tae Chan Chang (Kor) Korean National Team
28 Dirk Schumann (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi
29 Mitsuteru Tanaka (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
30 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
31 Hisafumi Imanishi (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
32 Kyoshi Miura (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi
33 Jerome Desjardins (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos
34 Warren Clark (NZl) New Zealand National Team
35 Guillem Munos (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi
36 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi
37 Martin Laciak (Cze) Wüstenrot-ZVVZ
38 Jeremy Yates (NZl) New Zealand National Team
39 Shinji Suzuki (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
40 Remigijus Lupeikis (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy         0.46
41 Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
42 Kaoru Ouchi (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
43 Michal Kalenda (Cze) Wüstenrot-ZVVZ
44 Patrick Calcagni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola     0.49
45 In-Chan Park (Kor) Korean National Team                 0.52
46 Scott Guyton (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex                    0.54
47 Geoffrey Burndred (NZl) New Zealand National Team       0.58
48 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor        1.00
49 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi
50 Roger Argelaguer (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi             1.01
51 Yasuhiro Yamamoto (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
52 Min-Woo Kong (Kor) Korean National Team
53 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi
54 Dominik Raza (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex
55 Tjarco Cuppens (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex
56 Takumi Beppu (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo
57 Koji Nagano (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi
58 Massimo Apollonio (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
59 Mikhail Teteryuk (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo
60 Joshua Collingwood (Cze) Wüstenrot-ZVVZ                 1.09
61 Gene Bates (Aus) Australian National Team
62 Katsuya Ryugo (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo
63 Michal Prusa (Cze) Wüstenrot-ZVVZ
64 Jonas Hudalla (Cze) Wüstenrot-ZVVZ                      1.17
65 Tsutomu Fujita (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi        1.25
66 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi         1.26
67 Massimiliano Razzari (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro
68 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi                      1.29
69 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Australian National Team            1.30
70 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo
71 Robin Reid (NZl) New Zealand National Team              1.35
72 Tomokazu Fujino (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
73 Yosuke Suga (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi                  1.42
74 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
75 Valeriy Titov (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo
76 Makoto  Iijima (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi        1.51
77 Kazuaki Akasaka (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi       2.18
78 Giosue Bonomi (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro
79 Allan Davis (Aus) Australian National Team              3.23
80 Daniel Mackey (Aus) Australian National Team            5.01
81 Chris Matthys (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex                   9.02
82 Graeme Brown (Aus) Australian National Team            10.33
83 Naoki Takamura (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi       11.49
84 Dong-Hyuk Huh (Kor) Korean National Team               17.06
85 Yoshitaka Koriyama (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
ELM Ken Akita (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
DNF Nicola Chesini (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
DNF Hiroyuki Yamashita (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi
DNF Gregory Faghel (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos
 
General classification after stage 2
 
1 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy        6.09.40
2 Dirk Schumann (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi                 0.06
3 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy           0.08
4 Pietro Zucconi (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola        0.12
5 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
6 Scott Davis (Aus) Australian National Team
7 Hiroshi Sakaguchi (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
8 Andy Cappelle (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos
9 Satoshi Hirose (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo
10 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
11 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
12 Yoshiyuki Abe (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro
13 Kyoshi Miura (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi
14 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
15 Michal Kalenda (Cze) Wüstenrot-ZVVZ                     0.26
16 Scott Guyton (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex                    0.34
17 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi                     0.41
18 Koji Nagano (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi                        2.44
19 Graeme Miller (NZl) New Zealand National Team           4.02
20 Mateusz Mroz (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy               4.07
21 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy          4.13
22 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team                 4.34
23 Lars Teutenberg (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi
24 Adam Wadecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy
25 Arturas Trumpauskas (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos
26 Koki Shinbo (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
27 Jerome Desjardins (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos
28 Marco Gili (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
29 Martin Laciak (Cze) Wüstenrot-ZVVZ
30 Seth Pelusi (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex
31 Jeremy Yates (NZl) New Zealand National Team
32 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi
33 Shinji Suzuki (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
34 Remigijus Lupeikis (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy         4.48
35 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi        5.02
36 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
37 Mikhail Teteryuk (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo                   5.03
38 Joshua Collingwood (Cze) Wüstenrot-ZVVZ                 5.11
39 Guillaume Laloux (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos                 6.42
40 Soon-Young Choi (Kor) Korean National Team              7.06
41 Dae-Hong Chun (Kor) Korean National Team
42 Mitsuteru Tanaka (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
43 Hisafumi Imanishi (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
44 Warren Clark (NZl) New Zealand National Team
45 Guillem Munos (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi
46 Patrick Calcagni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola     7.23
47 In-Chan Park (Kor) Korean National Team                 7.26
48 Tjarco Cuppens (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex                  7.35
49 Massimo Apollonio (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
50 Michal Prusa (Cze) Wüstenrot-ZVVZ                       7.43
51 Gene Bates (Aus) Australian National Team               7.52
52 Tsutomu Fujita (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi        7.59
53 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo                   8.04
54 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Australian National Team
55 Makoto  Iijima (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi        8.25
56 Daniel Mackey (Aus) Australian National Team            9.03
57 Geoffrey Burndred (NZl) New Zealand National Team       9.14
58 Yasuhiro Yamamoto (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team             9.17
59 Jonas Hudalla (Cze) Wüstenrot-ZVVZ                      9.41
60 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi         9.42
61 Massimiliano Razzari (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro
62 Yosuke Suga (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi                  9.58
63 Valeriy Titov (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo                     10.06
64 Ronny Assez (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex                    12.11
65 Matthew Yates (NZl) New Zealand National Team
66 Tae Chan Chang (Kor) Korean National Team
67 Kaoru Ouchi (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team                  12.25
68 Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
69 Roger Argelaguer (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi            12.40
70 Dominik Raza (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex
71 Min-Woo Kong (Kor) Korean National Team
72 Takumi Beppu (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo
73 Katsuya Ryugo (Jpn) RT Nippon Hodo                     12.48
74 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi                     13.08
75 Tomokazu Fujino (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor          13.14
76 Robin Reid (NZl) New Zealand National Team
77 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor         13.21
78 Kazuaki Akasaka (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi      13.57
79 Giosue Bonomi (Ita) Team Colpack-Astro
80 Allan Davis (Aus) Australian National Team             15.02
81 Naoki Takamura (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi       20.05
82 Chris Matthys (Bel) Flanders-Prefetex                  20.41
83 Graeme Brown (Aus) Australian National Team            22.12
84 Dong-Hyuk Huh (Kor) Korean National Team               25.22
85 Yoshitaka Koriyama (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
ELM Ken Akita (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
DNF Nicola Chesini (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola
DNF Hiroyuki Yamashita (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi
DNF Gregory Faghel (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos
DNS Kon-Fa Rai (Jpn) Kinan Maruishi
 
Points classification
 
1 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy              5 pts
2 Graeme Miller (NZl) New Zealand National Team               5
3 Dirk Schumann (Jpn) Rigida DPX - Bianchi                    4
4 Mateusz Mroz (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy                   4
5 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy              3
6 Guillaume Laloux (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos                     3
7 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team                2
8 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy              2
9 Pietro Zucconi (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola           2
 
Mountains classification
 
1 Allan Davis (Aus) Australian National Team                 11 pts
2 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi            5
3 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy              4
4 Matthew Yates (NZl) New Zealand National Team               3
5 Graeme Brown (Aus) Australian National Team                 1
 
Sprints classification
 
1 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy             10 pts
2 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team                       8
3 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team                3
4 Gregory Faghel (Fra) St Quentin-Oktos                       2
5 Matthew Yates (NZl) New Zealand National Team               1
 
Teams classification
 
1 Kinan Maruishi                                       18.32.08
2 Mroz - Supradyn Witaminy                                 0.46
3 Shimano Racing Team                                      1.50
4 Team Bridgestone Anchor                                  2.04
5 Saint-Quentin - Oktos                                    5.48
6 Aisan Ind. Racing Team                                   6.12
7 Wustenrot - ZVVZ                                         7.03
8 Rigida DPX - Bianchi                                     8.38
9 Tacconi Sport - Vini Caldirola                           9.01
10 Flanders - Prefetex                                     9.06
11 RT Nippon Hodo                                          9.42
12 Australia National Team                                10.19
13 New Zealand National Team                              12.34
14 Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi                            17.53
15 Korea National Team                                    18.10
16 Team Colpack - Astro                                   20.43