6th Tour of Japan - 2.4Japan, May 20-27, 2001Main page Results Previous stage Stage 2 - May 21: Nara: Todaiji Temple - Nunome Dam Circuit, 146.2 kmVeteran Miller takes stage marred by crashBy 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.
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.
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 Results1 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 |
