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Tour of Japan - 2.2
Japan, May 20-27, 2007
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Stage 3 - May 22: Mino City - Mino Washi Paper Museum, 164.7 km
Finalmente! Acqua e Sapone triumphs in Japan
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Italian Francesco Masciarelli finally brought some much anticipated success to his Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo squad by dominating a five-up sprint to win the third stage of the Tour of Japan into Mino. Masciarelli's team-mate Aurelien Passeron made it a double day of celebration for the Italian squad by taking over the green leader's jersey.
"There were many spectators in this stage particularly, so it was like winning a World Championship!" said the 21 year-old Masciarelli who hails from Pescara. "I'm new to professional racing and still gaining experience, but if I have a chance in this race I can work freely."
Twenty-three year-old Passeron is also in his first year as a professional but the Frenchman chose to give his Italian team-mate the chance of victory in the final sprint. "Francesco is very young and it's better for him for his first year," Passeron said.
Now wearing the green leader's jersey, Passeron was asked if he'd like to someday wear the maillot vert at the Tour de France, even though it's a sprinter's jersey. "Of course!" he replied. "In future..."
How it unfolded
It was a new stage for the 11th Tour of Japan, held around the city of Mino, famous for its traditional Japanese paper. And with the city's preserved rows of 18th century houses providing the backdrop, Stage 3 of the Tour of Japan got underway.
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Fifteen riders attacked the peloton approaching the circuit around Mino's Washi Paper Museum, gaining around 2'30 with 100 kilometres to go. The breakaway included Andrea Rossi (Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo), Andrey Medyannikov (Kazakhstan National Team), Shinri Suzuki (Team Miyata) and Kazuya Okazaki (Nippo Corporation).
"Today my role was to join in the first breakaway and prepare the final sprint for Yukiya Arashiro and Takashi Miyazawa," explained Okazaki, who jumped away from the escape with 50km remaining and led the race until the final hill at 7km to go. "I didn't have an obligation to work in the breakaway, so I could do [what I wanted]."
The Kazakhstan National Team eventually moved forward to protect the interests of their race leader Valentin Iglinskiy, catching Okazaki on the final climb and setting the stage for what seemed like an obvious bunch sprint in front of Mino's Washi Paper Museum.
Acqua e Sapone's boys in red had other ideas though and launched Alessandro Donati, Passeron and Masciarelli off the front. The trio were joined by Yukiya Arashiro (Nippo Corporation) and Yoshinori Iino (Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello) and the five combined to gain 11 seconds on the pursuing peloton with Masciarelli flying home ahead of Japanese hope Arashiro.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Miwako Sasaki
- A lot of spectator gathered for the new stage in Mino.
- No hamburgers or no sausages for a Japanese race, but you can taste local product, like broiled Ayu (fish).
- The Kazakhstan National team controls the peloton.
- Valentin Iglnskiy (Kazakhstan National team) couldn't hold on to his green leader jersey.
- Kindergarten kids wait at the final sprint, waving flags.
- Francesco Masciarelli (Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo) takes the stage victory.
- Francesco Masciarelli (Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo) celebrates with his brother Andrea after the finish.
- Japanese rider Yoshiyuki Abe (Skil-Shimano) responds to the cheering fans.
- Stage winner Francesco Masciarelli (Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo).
- Takashi Miyazawa (Nippo-Meitan Hompo-Asada) goes to Hospital after the finish with a suspected broken reak collarbone.
- Andrea Masciarelli (Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo) takes pictures for his brother Francesco.
- Japanese rider Shinri Suzuki (Team Miyata) gets the red mountain jersey.
- Valentin Iglnskiy (Kazakhstan National team) keeps his blue points jersey.
- Aurelien Passeron (Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo) becomes the new leader of Tour of Japan.
- Stage winner Francesco Masciarelli (Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo) gets a special gift on the podium.
Results
1 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 4.02.59 (40.496 km/h) 2 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 3 Alessandro Donati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 4 Yoshinori Iino (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 5 Aurélien Passeron (Fra) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 6 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 0.11 7 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 8 René Schild (Ger) Team Sparkasse 9 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 10 Francesco Di Paolo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 11 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 12 Masanari Komuro (Jpn) Team JBCF 13 Chris Froome (Ken) Team Konica Minolta 14 Keita Iwashima (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 15 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 16 Kam-Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 17 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 18 Thijs Zonneveld (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 19 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Team JBCF 20 Shinpei Fukuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 21 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 22 Dennis Van Niekerk (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 23 Nariyuki Masuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 24 Yuzuru Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 25 Andrea Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 26 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 27 Gang Xu (Chn) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 28 Kaoru Obata (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 29 Jonas Owczarek (Ger) Team Sparkasse 30 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 31 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 32 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 33 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 34 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 35 Timo Honstein (Ger) Team Sparkasse 36 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 37 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 38 Andrey Medyannikov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 39 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 40 Takumi Beppu (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 41 Mitsunari Mitaki (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 42 Alexandr Dymovskikh (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 43 Ho Ting Kwok (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 0.37 44 Kazunari Asano (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 45 Herman Fouche (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 46 William Ford (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 47 Jay Thompson (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 48 Shinya Oba (Jpn) Team JBCF 49 Christof Van Heerden (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 50 Cameron Meyer (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 51 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 52 Makoto Nakamura (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 53 Keisuke Kamata (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 0.53 54 Wang Yip Tang (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 55 Yusuke Hatanaka (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 56 Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh (Mgl) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 57 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 58 Yoshimitsu Tsuji (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 59 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 60 Sergei Kudenisov (Rus) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 61 Yasuhiro Nito (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 62 Hisanori Akiyama (Jpn) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 63 Kin San Wu (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 64 Kenichi Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 1.02 65 Christoph Schweizer (Ger) Team Sparkasse 1.23 66 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 67 Robin Reid (NZl) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 68 Aleksey Lyalko (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 1.54 69 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 70 Yosuke Kojima (Jpn) Team JBCF 71 Jumpei Murakami (Jpn) Team JBCF 3.01 72 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 3.23 73 Hideya Akiyama (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 74 Kaoru Ouchi (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 3.58 75 Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 76 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 77 Hitoshi Urushizawa (Jpn) Team JBCF 78 Norihide Murayama (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 4.29 79 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 5.33 80 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 81 Hideo Yoshida (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 10.39 82 Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 10.51 83 Naoki Mukaigawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 11.17 84 Masaru Fukuhara (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 12.10 85 Keita Onishi (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 12.43 86 Christian Lademann (Ger) Team Sparkasse 87 Tomoya Sano (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 15.22 88 Sean Finning (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 17.07 DNF Miles Olman (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS DNF Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Skil - Shimano DNF Arthur Ayers (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello DNF Takamitu Tsuji (Jpn) Skil - Shimano General classification after Stage 3 1 Aurélien Passeron (Fra) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 10.46.32 2 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 0.01 3 Alessandro Donati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 0.02 4 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 0.03 5 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 0.13 6 Yoshinori Iino (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 0.15 7 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 0.17 8 Francesco Di Paolo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 9 Kam-Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 0.22 10 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 0.26 11 Thijs Zonneveld (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 12 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 13 Andrey Medyannikov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 14 Alexandr Dymovskikh (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 15 Andrea Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 16 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 17 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 18 Chris Froome (Ken) Team Konica Minolta 19 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 0.33 20 Timo Honstein (Ger) Team Sparkasse 21 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 22 Shinpei Fukuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 0.35 23 Keita Iwashima (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 0.38 24 Masanari Komuro (Jpn) Team JBCF 25 Nariyuki Masuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 26 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 27 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Team JBCF 28 Gang Xu (Chn) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 29 Mitsunari Mitaki (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 30 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 31 Takumi Beppu (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 32 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 0.55 33 Herman Fouche (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 0.58 34 Jonas Owczarek (Ger) Team Sparkasse 1.00 35 Shinya Oba (Jpn) Team JBCF 1.04 36 Makoto Nakamura (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 37 Yusuke Hatanaka (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 1.08 38 William Ford (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 1.20 39 René Schild (Ger) Team Sparkasse 1.22 40 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 1.32 41 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 42 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 1.34 43 Yuzuru Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 1.39 44 Hisanori Akiyama (Jpn) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 1.42 45 Ho Ting Kwok (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 1.53 46 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 1.57 47 Yasuhiro Nito (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 2.07 48 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 2.14 49 Kazunari Asano (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 2.15 50 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 2.16 51 Aleksey Lyalko (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 2.21 52 Robin Reid (NZl) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 2.32 53 Christof Van Heerden (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 2.36 54 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 3.22 55 Jumpei Murakami (Jpn) Team JBCF 3.28 56 Yosuke Kojima (Jpn) Team JBCF 3.53 57 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 4.39 58 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 5.34 59 Norihide Murayama (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 5.35 60 Kaoru Ouchi (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 5.57 61 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 6.00 62 Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 6.33 63 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 6.51 64 Dennis Van Niekerk (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 7.25 65 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 66 Jay Thompson (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 7.51 67 Kaoru Obata (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 8.04 68 Yoshimitsu Tsuji (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 8.46 69 Kenichi Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 9.05 70 Hideya Akiyama (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 11.26 71 Naoki Mukaigawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 11.58 72 Cameron Meyer (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 12.30 73 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 12.32 74 Masaru Fukuhara (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 14.09 75 Christian Lademann (Ger) Team Sparkasse 21.11 76 Sean Finning (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 23.05 77 Hideo Yoshida (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 24.19 78 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 33.45 79 Sergei Kudenisov (Rus) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 34.33 80 Wang Yip Tang (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 81 Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh (Mgl) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 82 Kin San Wu (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 83 Keisuke Kamata (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 84 Christoph Schweizer (Ger) Team Sparkasse 35.03 85 Hitoshi Urushizawa (Jpn) Team JBCF 37.38 86 Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 44.31 87 Keita Onishi (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 46.23 88 Tomoya Sano (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 49.02 89 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 1.10.47 90 Miles Olman (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 91 Arthur Ayers (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 92 Takamitu Tsuji (Jpn) Skil - Shimano Points classification 1 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 34 pts 2 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 26 3 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 19 4 Aurélien Passeron (Fra) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 18 5 Alessandro Donati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 18 6 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 17 7 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 15 8 Yoshinori Iino (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 11 9 Herman Fouche (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 10 10 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 10 11 Kam-Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 10 12 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 10 13 Francesco Di Paolo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 7 14 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 6 15 Shinpei Fukuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 5 16 Jonas Owczarek (Ger) Team Sparkasse 3 17 René Schild (Ger) Team Sparkasse 3 18 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 2 19 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 2 20 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 1 21 Keita Iwashima (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 1 Mountains classification 1 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 12 pts 2 Kam-Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 8 3 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 8 4 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 5 5 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 5 6 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 5 7 Masaru Fukuhara (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 5 8 Makoto Nakamura (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 3 9 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 3 10 Alessandro Donati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 2 11 Francesco Di Paolo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 2 12 Andrey Medyannikov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 2 Teams classification 1 Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 32.19.54 2 Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 0.45 3 Kazakhstan National Team 0.51 4 Skil - Shimano 1.14 5 Myata - Subaru Racing Team 1.15 6 Hong Kong Pro Cycling 1.20 7 Team JBCF 2.02 8 Team Bridgestone Anchor 2.06 9 Team Sparkasse 2.37 10 Team Konica Minolta 2.56 11 Matrix Powertag 3.46 12 Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 3.52 13 Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 4.26 14 Aisan Racing Team 5.29 15 Nalsima Frend 10.31 16 South Australia.com - AIS 19.41
