8th Tour of Japan - 2.5

Japan, May 23-30, 2004

2002 results Stage List Preview Start List Past winners

The Stages

Stage 1 - May 23: Shinnittetsu Ironworks Circuit, Sakai City (Osaka), 96.8km
Stage 2 - May 24: Todaiji Temple - Nunome Dam Circuit, Nara, 146.2km
Rest day - May 25: Transfer to Shuzenji
Stage 3 - May 26: Special Circuit in Japan Cycle Sports Center, Shuzenji, 120km
Rest day - May 27: Transfer to Motegi
Stage 4 - May 28: Circuit in Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, 148.56km
Stage 5 - May 29: Utsunomiya Forest Park Circuit, Utsunomiya, 154.5km
Stage 6 - May 30: Hibiya city - Ooi Wharf Circuit, Tokyo, 149.1km

Preview

By Miwako Sasaki, Cycle Sports Japan

The 8th Tour of Japan will be held from Sunday, May 23 through until Sunday, May 30. The race was cancelled last year due to SARS, and although there are always rumours that it will disappear due to financial problems, it will be held the same as two years ago as a UCI 2.5 stage race. There are six stages in eight days, including three flat stages for the sprinters and three hilly stages for the climbers. The total distance is 815.16km.

The Polish Mroz team have been participants in the race since the second ToJ in 1997, and won the race in 1999 (Andrzej Sypytkowski), 2001 (Pawel Niedzwiecki) and 2002 (Olexandr Klymenko). But the strong Polish team doesn't exist this year and different (for the Japanese) international teams will compete in the tour together with the Japanese Teams.

A total of 16 teams will start Sunday, including eight TT3 teams and three national teams. 2002 Canadian National Road Champion Andrew Randell (Jet Fuel Coffee) will try to get a stage win and good general classification with his teammates Matthew Hansen, Ryan Roth, Thorben Wieditz and Kevin Miller, although Paul Kotyk won't be able to come due to an injury.

Swiss Team Macandina-KEWA Rad-VC Gippingen will be led by ex-rider Roland Müller as a director, and will be present with Swiss cyclo-cross champion Christian Heule, Roman Gugger, Bruno Butiger, Marcel Klaus, Michael Muller and Jan Ramsauer.

The German VC Frankfurt Radteam-Brugelmann will be present with Karsten Volkmann, Andre Schulze, Patrick Koeler, Henning Jaecks, Marc Hohmann and Mario Schmidt.

Dutch Team Fuji Bikes will be led by Marco Engels, who has past experience in the Tour of Japan as he rode it in 2002. He will be joined by Maarten De Jonge, Maikel Paas, Danny Sijen, Vladislavs Lukasenko and Bas Robroek.

The Australian National Team has had many excellent moments in the ToJ, and its new young riders will try to do the same: Aaron Kemps, Nicholas Sanderson, David Betts, Ashley Humbert, Bernard Sulzberger and Richard Moffatt. Glen Chadwick, Edmunds Hollands and Allan Iacuone will also take a spot with Giant Asia Racing Team.

Start list

Jet Fuel Coffee                     Giant Asia Racing Team
 
11 Andrew Randell (Can)             21 Kuan Hua Lai (Tpe)
12 Ryan Roth (Can)                  22 Allan Iacuone (Aus)
13 Kevin Miller (Can)               23 Glen Chadwick (Aus)
14 Thorben Wieditz (Can)            24 Edmund Hollands (Aus)
15 Matthew Hansen (Can)             25 Ghader Mizbani Iranagh (Iri)
                                    26 Ahad Kazemi Sarai (Iri)
 
Team Macandina                      Team Fuji Bikes
 
31 Bruno Buetiger (Swi)             41 Marco Engels (Ned)
32 Michael Mueller (Swi)            42 Vladislavs Lukasenko (Lat)
33 Roman Gugger (Swi)               43 Maarten De Jonge (Ned)
34 Christian Heule (Swi)            44 Maikel Paas (Ned)
35 Marcel Klaus (Swi)               45 Bas Robroek (Ned)
36 Jan Ramsauer (Swi)               46 Danny Sijen (Ned)
 
VC Frankfurt Radteam-Brügelmann     Australian National Team
 
51 Marc Hohmann (Ger)               61 Aaron Kemps (Aus)
52 Henning Jaecks (Ger)             62 Nicholas Sanderson (Aus)
53 Patrik Kohler (Ger)              63 David Betts (Aus)
54 Mario Schmidt (Ger)              64 Ashley Humbert (Aus)
55 Andre Schulze (Ger)              65 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus)
56 Karsten Volkmann (Ger)           66 Richard Moffatt (Aus)
 
Hong Kong China                     People's Republic of China
 
71 Kin San Wu (HKg)                 81 Guozhang Wang (Chn)
72 Chun Hing Chan (HKg)             82 Jianshi Luo (Chn)
73 Kai Tsun Lam (HKg)               83 Luanyun Feng (Chn)
74 Ngai Ching Wong (HKg)            84 Jiguo Li (Chn)
75 Chun Ming Tsoi (HKg)             85 Long Jin (Chn)
76 King Wai Cheung (HKg)
 
Shimano Racing                      Team Nippo
 
91 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn)              101 Satoshi Hirose (Jpn)
92 Tomoya Kano (Jpn)                102 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn)
93 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn)           103 Stefano Guerrini (Ita)
94 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn)              104 Alonso Aitor Galdos (Spa)
95 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn)            105 Mikhail Teteriouk (Kaz)
96 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn)         106 Mariusz Wiesiak (Pol)
 
Team Bridgestone Anchor             Aisan-Ind Racing Team
 
111 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn)        121 Mitsuteru Tanaka (Jpn)
112 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn)          122 Koki Shimbo (Jpn)
113 Takehiro Mizutani (Jpn)         123 Takumi Beppu (Jpn)
114 Junichi Shibuya (Jpn)           124 Hiroshi Sakaguchi (Jpn)
115 Koji Fukushima (Jpn)            125 Ken Akita (Jpn)
116 Kazuo Inoue (Jpn)               126 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn)
 
Miyata-Subaru Racing Team           Sumita Ravanello Pearl Izumi
 
131 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn)           141 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn)
132 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn)           142 Shinichi Amagasa (Jpn)
133 Kojiro Nakagawa (Jpn)           143 Yoshinori Iino (Jpn)
134 Takeshi Hashimoto (Jpn)         144 Kazutaka Fukao (Jpn)
135 Tetsuya Ishida (Jpn)            145 Hideaki Asano (Jpn)
136 Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn)        146 Takashi Yamada (Jpn)
 
Kinan CCD                           Team Etxeondo
 
151 Kyoshi Miura (Jpn)              161 Makoto Takeuchi (Jpn)
152 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn)             162 Takashi Nakazato (Jpn)
153 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn)            163 Shinya Numata (Jpn)
154 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn)             164 Robert Lozano (Spa)
155 Manabu Hirose (Jpn)             165 Miguel Luis Pena (Spa)
156 Osamu Sumida (Jpn)              166 Sebastian Franco (Spa)

Past winners

2002 Oleksandr Klymenko (Ukr) Mroz
2001 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz-Supradyn Witaminy
2000 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec
1999 Andrzej Sypytkowski (Pol) Mroz
1998 Frank McCormack (USA) Saturn
1997 Bart Bowen (USA) Saturn
1996 Jean-Philippe Duracka (Fra) French national team
Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com