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12th Tour of Japan - 2.2
Japan, May 18-25, 2008
Main Page Results Overall standings Next Stage
Stage 1 - May 18: Senbokou circuit race, 140.8km
Dempster takes first international victory in Japan
By Miwako Sasaki
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South Australia.com-AIS's Zakkari Dempster took his first international victory after taking the first stage of the 12th Tour of Japan. The 20 year old Australian took the bunch sprint ahead of Japan's Taiji Nishitani (Aisan Racing Team) and German Benjamin Stauder (Stegcomputer-CKT-Cogeas). "This is fantastic and I'm very happy!" Dempster said at the press conference following the stage. He also got the green leader jersey and the blue point jersey.
"I had a knee injury and couldn't ride last two months, which ruined the first part of my season. My plan was to come back to win a stage in the Tour of Japan, so to have done that straight away, I am really satisfied," Dempster explained.
A crash with 300 meters which included pre-race favourite Dutchman Leon Van Bon (Trek-Marco Polo Cycling Team) marred the finish. Van Bon was not seriously injured and will continue tomorrow. Mroz's Mariusz Witecki and Marek Rutkiewicz, two favourites for the general classification, were also involved in the incident. Rutkiewicz sustained some bad scrapes on his left hand and foot, but declared that he was "ok" after the race. All riders involved were awarded the same time as the stage winner.
How it unfolded
Ninety three riders started the biggest stage race in Japan under a clear blue sky. Japanese rider Ken Hashikawa (Matrix-Powertag) was unable to start. The action was hot from the beginning, with attacks as early as the first of 11 laps. With a peloton full of fresh legs, no one was able to make an attack stick and the peloton remained complete. At six laps to go, four Japanese riders attacked from the peloton and immediately got a two minute gap. Koji Fukushima and Kazuya Okazaki (both Meitan Hompo-GDR), Kazuyuki Manabe (Nippo-Endeka) and Takayuki Naganuma (Team Bridgestone Anchor) made up the break. The peloton were happy to let the break enjoy their time out front, but with two laps remaining they began a more serious chase.
The peloton eventually reeled in the breakaway, except for Okazaki, who defied the peloton, launching himself out of the break. As the main field began the final lap, he still held a slender lead, but his fate was inevitable. As expected the stage ended in a mass sprint.
Thanks to the hard work from his team-mates Dempster was first into the final corner and was able to accelerate away to grab his first international win.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Miwako Sasaki/Cyclingnews.com
- Stegcomputer-CKT-Cogeas gives a special picture for cyclingnews reader!
- South Australia.com-AIS's Zakkari Dempster and Simon Clarke.
- A-Style's riders give autographs for their sponsor's shops in Japan.
- Polish Robert Radosz (Mroz-Action-Uniqa) is the current UCI Asia Tour reader.
- 12th tour of Japan starts under the clear sky.
- Twice Tour de France stage winner Leon Van Bon (Trek-Marco Polo Cycling Team) rides the 12th Tour of Japan.
- An international peloton races through the city of Sakai, Osaka.
- Kazuyuki Manabe (Nippo-Endeka) leads the all Japanese breakaway.
- Dutchman Leon Van Bon (Trek-Marco Polo Cycling Team) sits comfortably in the peloton.
- New color for the peloton of the Tour of Japan: A-Style-Somne and Stegcomputer-CKT-Cogeas.
- Calm Down! South Australia.com-AIS's Zakkari Dempster and Simon Clarke relax in the peloton.
- Skil Shimano's Yoshimasa Hirose leads the peloton with Mroz-Action-Uniqa's Piotr Chmielewski.
- South Australia.com-AIS's Zakkari Dempster takes his first international victory.
- Simon Clarke (South Australia.com-AIS) celebrates his team-mate's success at the finish line.
- Leon Van Bon (Trek-Marco Polo Cycling Team) is a victim for the crash at 300m to go.
- OUCH! Marek Rutkiewicz (Mroz-Action-Uniqa) is involved in the crash at 300m to go.
- Many Japanese fans congratulate the stage winner.
- Stage 1 winner Zakkari Dempster (South Australia.com-AIS).
- Tour of Japan's points leader jersey is a bit small for big Zak?
- Australian Zakkari Dempster (South Australia.com-AIS) gets the first green leader jersey.
- Can you read Japanese, Zak?
- What a sweet first victory, Zak!
Images by Hitoshi Omae/PhotoSport International UK, USA, ASIA
- A throng of people watched the start of stage 1.
- The peloton is in single file as they reach high speeds on the circuit.
- Zakkari Dempster takes a clean win on the first day in Japan.
- Koji Fukushima leads the break but they couldn't stay away.
- The peloton was chasing hard and reeled in the break for a bunch sprint.
Results
1 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 3.05.56 2 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 3 Benjamin Stauder (Ger) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 4 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 5 Sung Baek Park (Kor) Seoul Cycling 6 Robert Rodosz (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 7 Aristide Ratti (Ita) A-Style Somn 8 Marcin Gebka (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 9 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 10 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 11 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 12 Wojciech Pawlak (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 13 Rogelio Carvalho (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 14 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 15 Devis Miorin (Ita) Nippo-Endeka 16 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 17 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 18 Ki Hong Yoo (Kor) Seoul Cycling 19 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 20 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 21 Won Jae Lee (Kor) Seoul Cycling 22 Timo Albiez (Ger) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 23 Kenta Onoguchi (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 24 Alberto Di Lorenzo (Ita) A-Style Somn 25 Sano Junya (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 26 Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 27 Jai Crawford (Aus) Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team 28 Keita Iwashima (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 29 Takashi Nakayama (Jpn) Team JBCF 30 Tomoyuki Kaneda (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 31 Masayuki Kimura (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 32 Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 33 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 34 Marco Weilenmann (Swi) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 35 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 36 Sylvain Georges (Fra) A-Style Somn 37 Seok Kyu Suh (Kor) Seoul Cycling 38 Masafumi Nishitani (Jpn) Team JBCF 39 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 40 Akira Kodan (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 41 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 42 Yoshiyuki Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 43 Mitsuhiro Matsumura (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 44 Masaki Hirabayashi (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 45 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 46 Masaru Fukuhara (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 47 Gu Hyeon Kim (Kor) Seoul Cycling 48 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 49 Hiroshi Nara (Jpn) Team JBCF 50 Yasuhiro Nito (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 51 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 52 Maxim Gourov (Kaz) A-Style Somn 53 Kazunari Asano (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 54 Keisuke Kamata (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 55 Yosuke Kojima (Jpn) Team JBCF 56 Kohei Tsusue (Jpn) Team JBCF 57 Shota Saito (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 58 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 59 Ikuo Hosoki (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 60 Hyo Suk Gong (Kor) Seoul Cycling 61 Dimitri Jiriakov (Lie) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 62 Takayuki Naganuma (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 63 Simon Clarke (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 64 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 65 Michael Haiser (Ger) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 66 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 67 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 68 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 69 Naoki Mukaigawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 70 Asa Eazu (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 71 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 72 Makoto Nakamura (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 73 Peter Andres (Swi) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 74 William Ford (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 75 Alexandre Aulas (Fra) A-Style Somn 76 Simone Bruson (Ita) A-Style Somn 77 Kaoru Obata (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 78 Mark Jamieson (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 79 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 80 Hideya Akiyama (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 81 Tetsuya Fujioka (Jpn) Team JBCF 82 Rhys Pollock (Aus) Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team 83 Vicenzo Garofalo (Ita) Nippo-Endeka 84 Kenichi Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 85 Mariusz Witecki (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 86 Masafumi Yamane (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 87 Tomoya Sano (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 1.27 88 Genta Nakamura (Jpn) Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team 89 Kazuo Inoue (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 90 Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 91 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 92 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team 93 Yoshiaki Sudou (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 11.27 DNS Ken Hashikawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag Points 1 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 15 pts 2 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 12 3 Benjamin Stauder (Ger) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 1 4 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 8 5 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 8 6 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 8 7 Sung Baek Park (Kor) Seoul Cycling 6 8 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 5 9 Robert Rodosz (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 5 10 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 4 11 Aristide Ratti (Ita) A-Style Somn 4 12 Kazuo Inoue (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 3 13 Marcin Gebka (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 3 14 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 2 15 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 2 16 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 1 Teams 1 Mroz Action Uniqa 9.17.48 2 Meitan Hompo-GDR 3 Seoul Cycling 4 Aisan Racing Team 5 Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 6 Stegcomputer-Ckt-Cogeas 7 A-Style Somn 8 Team Bridgestone Anchor 9 Nippo-Endeka 10 Nalsima Frend 11 Skil-Shimano 12 South Australia.com-AIS 13 Team JBCF 14 Matrix Powertag 15 Team Comrade Giant 16 Trek-Marco Polo Cycling Team General classification after stage 1 1 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 3.05.46 2 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 0.04 3 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 0.05 4 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 5 Benjamin Stauder (Ger) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 0.06 6 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 0.07 7 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 0.08 8 Kazuo Inoue (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 9 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 0.09 10 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 0.10 11 Sung Baek Park (Kor) Seoul Cycling 12 Robert Rodosz (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 13 Aristide Ratti (Ita) A-Style Somn 14 Marcin Gebka (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 15 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 16 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 17 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 18 Wojciech Pawlak (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 19 Rogelio Carvalho (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 20 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 21 Devis Miorin (Ita) Nippo-Endeka 22 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 23 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 24 Ki Hong Yoo (Kor) Seoul Cycling 25 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 26 Won Jae Lee (Kor) Seoul Cycling 27 Timo Albiez (Ger) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 28 Kenta Onoguchi (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 29 Alberto Di Lorenzo (Ita) A-Style Somn 30 Sano Junya (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 31 Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 32 Jai Crawford (Aus) Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team 33 Keita Iwashima (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 34 Takashi Nakayama (Jpn) Team JBCF 35 Tomoyuki Kaneda (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 36 Masayuki Kimura (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 37 Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 38 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 39 Marco Weilenmann (Swi) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 40 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 41 Sylvain Georges (Fra) A-Style Somn 42 Seok Kyu Suh (Kor) Seoul Cycling 43 Masafumi Nishitani (Jpn) Team JBCF 44 Akira Kodan (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 45 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 46 Yoshiyuki Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 47 Mitsuhiro Matsumura (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 48 Masaki Hirabayashi (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 49 Yoshiyuki Abe (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 50 Masaru Fukuhara (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 51 Gu Hyeon Kim (Kor) Seoul Cycling 52 Hiroshi Nara (Jpn) Team JBCF 53 Yasuhiro Nito (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 54 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 55 Maxim Gourov (Kaz) A-Style Somn 56 Kazunari Asano (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 57 Keisuke Kamata (Jpn) Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 58 Yosuke Kojima (Jpn) Team JBCF 59 Kohei Tsusue (Jpn) Team JBCF 60 Shota Saito (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 61 Ikuo Hosoki (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 62 Hyo Suk Gong (Kor) Seoul Cycling 63 Dimitri Jiriakov (Lie) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 64 Takayuki Naganuma (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 65 Simon Clarke (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 66 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 67 Michael Haiser (Ger) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 68 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 69 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 70 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 71 Naoki Mukaigawa (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 72 Asa Eazu (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 73 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 74 Makoto Nakamura (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 75 Peter Andres (Swi) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 76 William Ford (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 77 Alexandre Aulas (Fra) A-Style Somn 78 Simone Bruson (Ita) A-Style Somn 79 Kaoru Obata (Jpn) Nalsima Frend 80 Mark Jamieson (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 81 Hideya Akiyama (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 82 Tetsuya Fujioka (Jpn) Team JBCF 83 Rhys Pollock (Aus) Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team 84 Vicenzo Garofalo (Ita) Nippo-Endeka 85 Kenichi Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 86 Mariusz Witecki (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 87 Masafumi Yamane (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 88 Genta Nakamura (Jpn) Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team 89 Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 90 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 91 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team 92 Tomoya Sano (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 1.37 93 Yoshiaki Sudou (Jpn) Team Comrade Giant 11.37 Points 1 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Southaustralia.com-AIS 15 pts 2 Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan Racing Team 12 3 Benjamin Stauder (Ger) Stegcomputer - CKT - Cogeas 1 4 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 8 5 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 8 6 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 8 7 Sung Baek Park (Kor) Seoul Cycling 6 8 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 5 9 Robert Rodosz (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 5 10 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 4 11 Aristide Ratti (Ita) A-Style Somn 4 12 Kazuo Inoue (Jpn) Nippo-Endeka 3 13 Marcin Gebka (Pol) Mroz Action Uniqa 3 14 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Meitan Hompo - GDR 2 15 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powertag 2 16 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 1 Teams 1 Mroz Action Uniqa 9.17.48 2 Meitan Hompo-GDR 3 Seoul Cycling 4 Aisan Racing Team 5 Pearl Izumi Sumita Ravanello 6 Stegcomputer-Ckt-Cogeas 7 A-Style Somn 8 Team Bridgestone Anchor 9 Nippo-Endeka 10 Nalsima Frend 11 Skil-Shimano 12 South Australia.com-AIS 13 Team JBCF 14 Matrix Powertag 15 Team Comrade Giant 16 Trek-Marco Polo Cycling Team
