11th Japan Cup - 1.3

Utsunomiya, Japan, October 27, 2002

2001 Results Results Past winners

Barbero wins Italian tussle

By Miwako Sasaki, Japanese Cycle Sports

Winning trio
Photo: © Miwako Sasaki

Italian Sergio Barbero (Lampre-Daikin) got his second Japan Cup victory after his win in 1999, while his team Lampre-Daikin again dominated the race as they have done for the past three years. Barbero beat Saeco's Igor Astarloa in a two man sprint after the pair had attacked with two laps to go. In third place was Saeco's Fabio Sacchi.

74 riders started the race which was held on the Utsunomiya Forest Park memorial circuit, the same used for the World's in 1990. The race is run over 10 laps of 14.1 km, with an extra 10.3 km lap to finish. The weather was fine with a temperature of about 18 degrees. But the race wasn't calm.

On the first lap, nine Japanese riders went away and had 1'00 to the peloton. On the third lap at the mountain sprint (2 km from the start/finish line), Japanese National Champion Shinri Suzuki (Shimano-Racing) crossed the line first and took the first Mountain Prize. Six riders were still away from the peloton: Suzuki, Koji Fukushima (JPCA), Akira Kakinuma (JPCA), Tomoya Kano Shimano-Racing), Makoto Takeuchi and Masashi Nishitani (Team Orbea Etxe Ondo), Junichi Shibuya (Team Bridgestone-Anchor). On the fifth lap, the advantage was 3'20".

On the sixth lap, Kano took the second Mountain Prize and six riders (Takeuchi was dropped) continued their escape, having 3'00 to the peloton which was now split as Team Coast put the pressure on. Jo Planckaert (Cofidis) and Jakob Piil (CSC-Tiscali) dropped out at this stage.

The final breakaway
Photo: © Miwako Sasaki

On the seventh lap, about 14 riders made up a second group and pursued the first group on the climb. On the descent, the Japanese break ended. By four laps to go, 13 riders made the first group; three from Lampre (Barbero, Massimo Codol, Rubens Bertogliati), three from Saeco (Igor Astarloa, Fabio Sacchi, Juan Fuentes), two Mapei-Quick Step (Luca Paolini, Patrik Sinkewitz) and Manuel Beltran (Team Coast), Michael Rasmussen (CSC-Tiscali) and Japanese riders Kano, Ken Hashikawa (Team Bridgestone-Anchor), Koki Shimbo (Asian Ind. Racing Team).

Beltran accelerated on the climb with three laps to go, but he couldn't get clear and Astarloa took the third Mountain Prize.

As they approached the end with two laps to go, Astarloa broke away from the first group and Barbero followed him. The two men battled it out on the final lap, but Barbero was a former winner of this race and had a lot of experience here, so he beat Astarloa in the final sprint. 18" later, Sacchi crossed the line to take third place. It was the first victory for Barbero after winning the GP Prato in September 2000.

Photos

Images by Miwako Sasaki/Japanese Cycle Sports

The podium (l-r), Igol Astarloa (2nd), Sergio Barbero (1st), Fabio Sacchi (3rd
Saeco team's Fabio Sacchi (left), Damiano Cunego, and Igor Astarloa relaxed before the start
Michael Rogers smiles for Cyclingnews before the start
Michael Rogers with his director Alvaro Crespi before the start
Three Japanese Riders (Tomokazu Fujino, Tetsuya Okada and Shinji Suzuki) had a retirement ceremony before the start
Japanese Tomoya Kano (Shimano-Racing) looks back at the Mountain Prize point
The peloton reaches the top of the mountain on the course
The breakway group with two laps to go
Sergio Barbero, winner of the 11th Japan Cup, prepares for the Podium
Massimo Codol (6th) and Rubens Bertogliati (8th) did a good job for Barbero in the breakaway

Results - 151.3 km

1 Sergio Barbero (Ita) Lampre-Daikin                     4.03.29  (37.28 km/h)
2 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport
3 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport                    0.18
4 Luca Paolini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step
5 Manuel Beltran (Spa) Team Coast
6 Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
7 Koki Shimbo (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
8 Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Lampre-Daikin
9 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali
10 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) Mapei-Quick Step                  0.37
11 Juan Fuentes (Spa) Saeco-Longoni Sport                   1.59
12 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippon Hodo-Jura Suisse             6.11
13 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
14 Hisafumi Imanishi (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
15 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Team Bridgestone-Anchor
16 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team          6.15
17 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone-Anchor         6.17
18 Hiroshi Sakaguchi (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team           6.19
19 Takumi Beppu (Jpn) Nippon Hodo-Jura Suisse               6.20
20 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Mapei-Quick Step
21 Marcelino Garcia (Spa) Team CSC Tiscali
22 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
23 Kentaro Eshita (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
24 Hideto Yukinari (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team
25 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC Tiscali
26 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
27 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Mapei-Quick Step
28 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport
29 Masashi Nishitani (Jpn) Team Orbea Etxe-Ondo
30 Bekim Christensen (Den) Team Coast
31 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
32 Claude Lamour (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone
33 Mederic Clain (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone
34 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone
35 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali
36 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone
37 Michael Rogers (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step
38 Raphael Schweda (Ger) Team Coast
39 Kairat Baigudinov (Kaz) Team Orbea Etxe-Ondo
40 Jaime Hernandez (Spa) Team Coast
41 Giuseppe Ribolzi (Ita) Nippon Hodo-Jura Suisse
42 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Team Bridgestone-Anchor              8.36
TC Koji Fukushima (Jpn) JPCA
TC Tetsuya Okada (Jpn) Team Bridgestone-Anchor
DNF Angel Casero (Spa) Team Coast
DNF Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone
DNF Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC Tiscali
DNF Damiano Cunego (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport
DNF Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) JPCA
DNF Noriyuki Iijima (Jpn) JPCA
DNF Hidenobu Otsuka (Jpn) JPCA
DNF Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
DNF Mitsuteru Tanaka (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
DNF Taiji Tanaka (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pearl Izumi
DNF Shinichi Amagasa (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pearl Izumi
DNF Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) Nippon Hodo-Jura Suisse
DNF Masashi Fujita (Jpn) Nakagawa-As-K'design
DNF Koji Wanouchi (Jpn) Nakagawa-As-K'design
DNF Takashi Nakata (Jpn) Nakagawa-As-K'design
DNF Kenji Tsuzuki (Jpn) Nakagawa-As-K'design
DNF Taijyu Kobayashi (Jpn) Nakagawa-As-K'design
DNF Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) Team Bridgestone-Anchor
DNF Shinya Numata (Jpn) Team Orbea Etxe-Ondo
DNF Teruo Iida (Jpn) Team Orbea Etxe-Ondo
DNF Makoto Takeuchi (Jpn) Team Orbea Etxe-Ondo
DNF Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team
DNF Yasuki Uchiyama (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team
DNF Koichi Asano (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team
DNF Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pearl Izumi
DNF Hideaki Fujii (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pearl Izumi
DNF Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pearl Izumi
DNF Shinji Suzuki (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing Team
DNF Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Shimano Racing Team
DNF Masahiko Shiraki (Jpn) JPCA

Starters: 74
Classified: 42

Past winners

2001 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
2000 Massimo Codol (Ita) Lampre-Daikin
1999 Sergio Barbero (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Bianchi
1998 Fabien De Waele (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
1997 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jap) Mapei-GB
1996 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Team Polti
1995 Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Carrera Jeans
1994 Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Carrera Jeans
1993 Claudio Chiappucci (Ita) Carrera Jeans
1992 Hendrik Redant (Bel) Lotto