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Tour of Japan - 2.2
Japan, May 20-27, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage
Stage 7 - May 27: Hibiya City - Ohi Wharf, 148.9 km
Masciarelli the first Italian winner, Arashiro takes final stage
By Miwako Sasaki
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Francesco Masciarelli became the first Italian winner of the Tour of Japan today after his red Acqua e Sappone-Caffe Mokambo train kept things under control on the final flat stage to Tokyo, won by Japanese rider Yukiya Arashiro (Nippo Corporation).
Describing his first victory in a UCI stage race, Masciarelli said: "The hardest day was Mt. Fuji," referring to Friday's individual time trial held on the side of Japan's highest mountain, where he took the leader's jersey away from Kazakh Valentin Iglinskiy. "Izu [yesterday's mountain stage] was also a difficult one," he added.
Usually accompanied on the team by his brother, Andrea Masciarelli, the race winner admitted that the last two days had been difficult after his sibling crashed out on Stage 6 and was taken to hospital. "I always ride with my brother Andrea, but he wasn't beside me yesterday, I felt strange." said Masciarelli. "There are many people here today and I'm happy that I could win here. It's a dream comes true."
Twenty-two year old Arashiro, who hails from the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, had suffered a string of near misses in this year's race, coming second on stages one and three, but was finally rewarded at the last possible opportunity. "I'm really happy," he exclaimed. "Everybody said to me 'please win the stage', so I feel relieved now I've finally done it."
How it unfolded
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The seventh and final day at the 11th Tour of Japan proved the hottest so far, with riders setting out from Hibiya in downtown Tokyo for seven 19km laps around the Ohi Wharf circuit. In the nervous opening laps many riders tried to go clear, until finally the SouthAustralia.com-AIS pairing of Sean Finning and Miles Olman broke away, immediately gaining a minute over the Acqua e Sappone controlled peloton.
As the Aussie pairing reached the final circuit, still holding a 40 second advantage, Japanese rider Akira Kakinuma (Team Miyata) attempted to jump across but Finning was alert to the move and the Commonwealth Games points champion hit out alone before finally being dragged back by a rampaging peloton inside the final kilometre.
In the final gallop, Arashiro proved quickest holding off Olman and Ken Hashikawa (Matrix-Powertag) with the remainder of the bunch finishing 13 seconds back, including race winner Masciarelli - the Italian holding his arms aloft as he sailed across the finish line wearing the green leader's jersey.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Miwako Sasaki
- Italy's Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo dominates the 11th Tour of Japan.
- Francesco Masciarelli (Acqua e Sappone-Caffe Mokambo) celebrates with his teammates.
- Dutch rider Thijs Zonneveld is the only survivor for Discovery Channel-Marco Polo Team at the finish line.
- Supporters come in all shapes and sizes, here is some of Pearlizumi-Sumita Ravanello's fans.
- Valentin Iglinskiy was a favourite for the final stage of the 11th Tour of Japan.
- The jersey holders for the 11th Tour of Japan line in front of the peloton at the start.
- The peloton starts in Hibiya, in the central of Tokyo.
- Two Australian and 10 Japanese riders make a break.
- Acqua e Sapone control the peloton.
- Australian Sean Finning (South Australia.com-AIS) joins the break.
- Alexandr Dyachenko (Kazakhstan National Team), in the red mountains jersey, leads the peloton.
- Australian Miles Olman (South Australia.com-AIS) leads the break with Koji Fukushima (Nippo-Meitan Hompo-Asada).
- Yukiya Arashiro (Nippo-Meitan Hompo-Asada) wins the final stage in Tokyo.
- Alexandr Dyachenko (Kazakhstan National Team) wins the red mountains jersey.
- Valentin Iglinskiy (Kazakhstan National Team) wins the blue points jersey.
- Adding to its tally, the Kazakhstan National Team also won the team classification.
- Francesco Masciarelli (Acqua e Sappone-Caffe Mokambo) is waiting for the presentation with his brother Andrea.
- Masciarelli takes the final green leader's jersey.
- The final jerseys: Alexandr Dyachenko, Valentin Iglinskiy and Francesco Masciarelli.
Results
1 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 3.08.24 2 Miles Olman (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 3 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 4 Sean Finning (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 0.03 5 Nariyuki Masuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 6 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 0.05 7 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 0.07 8 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 0.09 9 Masaru Fukuhara (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 0.11 10 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 0.13 11 Shinpei Fukuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 12 Christian Lademann (Ger) Team Sparkasse 13 Aurélien Passeron (Fra) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 14 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 15 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 16 Aleksey Lyalko (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 17 Yoshimitsu Tsuji (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 18 Herman Fouche (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 19 Alexandr Dymovskikh (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 20 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 21 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 22 Andrey Medyannikov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 23 Yusuke Hatanaka (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 24 Keita Iwashima (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 25 Timo Honstein (Ger) Team Sparkasse 26 Kaoru Obata (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 27 Masanari Komuro (Jpn) Team JBCF 28 Ho Ting Kwok (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 29 Kam-Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 30 Yasuhiro Nito (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 31 Alessandro Donati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 32 Yuzuru Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 33 Hitoshi Urushizawa (Jpn) Team JBCF 34 Kazunari Asano (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 35 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 36 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 37 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 38 Thijs Zonneveld (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 39 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 40 Yoshinori Iino (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 41 Christof Van Heerden (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 42 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 43 Chris Froome (Ken) Team Konica Minolta 44 Mitsunari Mitaki (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 45 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 46 Keisuke Kamata (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 47 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 48 Shinya Oba (Jpn) Team JBCF 49 Jumpei Murakami (Jpn) Team JBCF 50 Arthur Ayers (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 51 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 52 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 53 Naoki Mukaigawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 54 Takumi Beppu (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 55 Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 0.20 56 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 57 Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 58 William Ford (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 59 Cameron Meyer (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 0.22 60 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 61 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 0.24 62 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 0.28 63 Jay Thompson (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 64 Yosuke Kojima (Jpn) Team JBCF 65 René Schild (Ger) Team Sparkasse 0.31 66 Jonas Owczarek (Ger) Team Sparkasse 67 Dennis Van Niekerk (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 0.33 68 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 69 Francesco Di Paolo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 70 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Team JBCF 71 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 0.39 72 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 73 Makoto Nakamura (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 0.43 74 Takamitu Tsuji (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 0.47 75 Kaoru Ouchi (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 1.04 76 Kenichi Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 1.05 77 Gang Xu (Chn) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 1.13 78 Tomoya Sano (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 1.44 79 Hideya Akiyama (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 1.48 80 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 2.45 81 Norihide Murayama (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 4.53 DNF Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo Final general classification 1 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 22.47.16 2 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 1.57 3 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 2.24 4 Andrey Medyannikov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 2.25 5 Alessandro Donati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 2.26 6 Chris Froome (Ken) Team Konica Minolta 3.33 7 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 3.36 8 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 3.55 9 Timo Honstein (Ger) Team Sparkasse 4.14 10 Alexandr Dymovskikh (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 11 Nariyuki Masuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 4.34 12 Takumi Beppu (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 5.01 13 Thijs Zonneveld (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 5.11 14 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 6.03 15 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 6.34 16 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 6.38 17 Yoshinori Iino (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 9.21 18 William Ford (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 9.57 19 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 10.28 20 Francesco Di Paolo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 10.54 21 Kam-Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 12.27 22 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 14.54 23 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 16.48 24 Makoto Nakamura (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 17.22 25 Yasuhiro Nito (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 20.07 26 Aleksey Lyalko (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 20.37 27 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 20.45 28 Mitsunari Mitaki (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 21.28 29 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 24.02 30 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 24.14 31 Kazunari Asano (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 24.46 32 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 28.26 33 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 28.57 34 Yusuke Hatanaka (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 29.47 35 Dennis Van Niekerk (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 30.32 36 Norihide Murayama (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 30.45 37 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 32.00 38 Kenichi Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 33.30 39 Herman Fouche (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 34.00 40 Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 36.32 41 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 38.34 42 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 43.59 43 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Team JBCF 44.35 44 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 45.44 45 René Schild (Ger) Team Sparkasse 46.11 46 Shinya Oba (Jpn) Team JBCF 50.27 47 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 51.26 48 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 52.23 49 Keita Iwashima (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 52.24 50 Aurélien Passeron (Fra) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 53.01 51 Cameron Meyer (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 53.23 52 Jonas Owczarek (Ger) Team Sparkasse 53.56 53 Masanari Komuro (Jpn) Team JBCF 54.58 54 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 56.05 55 Yuzuru Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 56.32 56 Jay Thompson (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 56.47 57 Christof Van Heerden (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 59.04 58 Shinpei Fukuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 59.25 59 Yosuke Kojima (Jpn) Team JBCF 59.49 60 Kaoru Ouchi (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 1.01.36 61 Ho Ting Kwok (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 1.02.03 62 Kaoru Obata (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 1.08.27 63 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 1.08.36 64 Naoki Mukaigawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 1.12.23 65 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 1.13.20 66 Sean Finning (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 1.17.26 67 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 1.21.33 68 Keisuke Kamata (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 1.27.16 69 Gang Xu (Chn) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 1.33.12 70 Jumpei Murakami (Jpn) Team JBCF 1.35.01 71 Yoshimitsu Tsuji (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 1.37.59 72 Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 1.38.25 73 Masaru Fukuhara (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 1.44.45 74 Hideya Akiyama (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 1.45.42 75 Christian Lademann (Ger) Team Sparkasse 1.54.03 76 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 2.03.14 77 Arthur Ayers (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 2.06.04 78 Hitoshi Urushizawa (Jpn) Team JBCF 2.09.24 79 Takamitu Tsuji (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 2.12.08 80 Tomoya Sano (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 2.18.02 81 Miles Olman (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 2.39.28 82 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 2.41.27 Points classification 1 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 61 pts 2 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 51 3 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 29 4 Alessandro Donati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 29 5 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 27 6 Kam-Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 22 7 Aurélien Passeron (Fra) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 21 8 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 18 9 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 17 10 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 17 11 Chris Froome (Ken) Team Konica Minolta 15 12 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 13 13 Yoshinori Iino (Jpn) Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 12 14 Miles Olman (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 12 15 Herman Fouche (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 10 16 Nariyuki Masuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 10 17 Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 10 18 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 10 19 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 9 20 Sean Finning (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 8 21 Francesco Di Paolo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 7 22 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 6 23 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 5 24 Shinpei Fukuda (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 5 25 Andrey Medyannikov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 4 26 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 4 27 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 3 28 René Schild (Ger) Team Sparkasse 3 29 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 3 30 Jonas Owczarek (Ger) Team Sparkasse 3 31 Thijs Zonneveld (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 2 32 Norihide Murayama (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 2 33 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 2 34 Yoshimitsu Tsuji (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 2 35 Masaru Fukuhara (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 2 36 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 1 37 Keita Iwashima (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 1 Mountains classification 1 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 22 pts 2 Andrey Medyannikov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 19 3 Alessandro Donati (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 18 4 Francesco Masciarelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 15 5 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 12 6 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 12 7 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 12 8 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 12 9 Kam-Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 8 10 Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 8 11 Herman Fouche (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 7 12 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 5 13 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 5 14 Masaru Fukuhara (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 5 15 Chris Froome (Ken) Team Konica Minolta 5 16 Andrea Rossi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 5 17 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 3 18 Makoto Nakamura (Jpn) Myata - Subaru Racing Team 3 19 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 3 20 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 2 21 Francesco Di Paolo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 2 22 William Ford (Aus) South Australia.com - AIS 1 Teams classification 1 Kazakhstan National Team 68.29.06 2 Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 4.42 3 Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 17.38 4 Aisan Racing Team 25.59 5 Skil - Shimano 27.09 6 Team Konica Minolta 30.37 7 Team Bridgestone Anchor 33.05 8 Myata - Subaru Racing Team 58.30 9 Pearlizumi Sumita Ravanello 1.17.51 10 Hong Kong Pro Cycling 1.22.27 11 Team Sparkasse 1.36.45 12 South Australia.com - AIS 1.56.03 13 Matrix Powertag 2.07.31 14 Nalsima Frend 2.13.04 15 Team JBCF 2.18.43
