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7th Tour of Japan - 2.5
Japan, May 19-26, 2002
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Stage 5 - May 25: Utsunomiya Forest Park Circuit (Utsunomiya), 154.5 km
Fukushima gets first Japanese stage win since 1996
By Miwako Sasaki, Japanese Cycle Sport
Japanese Shinichi Fukushima (Team Bridgestone Anchor) won the 5th stage of Tour of Japan, the first Japanese victory since Daiske Imanaka won a stage of the race in 1996. And Italian Simone Mori (Team Jura Suisse) took the green leader's jersey after long break away with Fukushima and Olexandr Klymenko (Mroz).
79 riders started at the Utsunomiya Forest Park Circuit, the site of the World Championships in 1990, and completed 15 laps today. The weather was very fine and hot, with temperatures of over 30 degrees on the road.
The race got going from the first lap today when six riders attacked from the peloton and established a 1'50 advantage at 13 laps to go. The members of the break were Pawel Niedzwiecki (Mroz), Giuseppe Riborzi (Team Jura Suisse), and four Japanese riders, Kaoru Ouchi (Shimano Racing), Kentaro Eshita (Asian-Ind Racing), Junichi Shibuya and Yoshimasa Hirose (Team Bridgestone Anchor).
At 12 laps to go, there was first the first mountain sprint, easily taken by Niedzwiecki; Riborzi was 2nd and Shibuya was 3rd. And Klymenko, Mori, Kairat Baigdinov and Pavel Nevdakh (Team Orbea Etxeondo) chased 1 minute behind, and the peloton led by race leader Bert Scheirlinckx (RDM-Flanders) followed them soon after. Stijn Vanstraelen (RDM-Flanders) had mechanical trouble on the top of mountain and lost contact with the peloton.
At 11 laps to go, the first group except Eshita still had 30" advantage on the top of mountain and now another four riders including Kazimesz Stafiej (Mroz) and Klymenko chased to the first group, and Mori and David Chassot (Team Jura Suisse) followed them in front of the peloton.
At 10 laps to go, there were now 13 riders in the first group, including three Mroz men, Niedzwiecki, Stafiej, Klymenko as well as Mori. The peloton still led by Scheirlinckx was 30" behind.
At 8 laps to go Klymenko won the mountain sprint to defend his red jersey. At 7 laps to go, four riders attacked from the first group: Stafiej, Klymenko, Mori and Fukushima.
"In Shuzenji, I also attacked with Klymenko and Mori, but I couldn't follow them on that time. So I thought I might to keep follow them today," said Fukishima after the race.
The four immediately built a lead, 2'00 with 5 laps to go. Scheirlinckx struggled in the peloton without his teammate's support, effectively lost his jersey and Mori became the new leader on the course.
At four laps to go, the four had 2'30, and Australian Scott Davis jumped from the second group and chased them alone. At 3 laps to go, Stafiej dropped from the first group, and three riders continued to race in the lead. Those three riders competed for the final sprint, and Fukushima crossed the line first.
"I wanted to win as here is my country. But I thought I should win by my own ability."
This victory was very historic for Japanese riders, because since the race became too big and Trade Teams came here in 1997, Japanese couldn't win a stage for 5 years. Fukushima, who has ridden in France since 1998, also has a dream to become professional soon. This success will help him.
Mori, who finished behind Fukushima, became the new leader, as Scheirlinckx finished 1'34 after. "It was a very difficult race, as the breakaway was long and hard, as Klymenko was very strong too. I appreciate my teammates who worked hard today," said the 30 year old Italian.
Mori also dedicated his green jersey to his wife and son, and to his ex-teammate of Amica Chips, Amilcare Tronca who passed away by an accident in 1999. Mori has only a 6" advantage to Klymenko now, but tomorrow's stage is very flat and Klymenko isn't a sprinter. So Mori can keep his green jersey at last.
Photography
Photos courtesy of Miwako Sasaki
- Stefan Ganser (Team Comnet-Senges) shows his points jersey before stage 5.
- The riders struggle up the climbs.
- Bert Scheirlinckx (RDM-Flanders) fights to keep his green GC jersey.
- Scott Davis (Australian National Team) works with the bunch to pull in the three breakaways.
- Stage winner Shinichi Fukushima (Team Bridgestone Anchor) with the three jersey winners.
- Shinichi Fukushima (Team Bridgestone Anchor) talks to the press after his win.
- Simone Mori (Team Jura Suisse) fields some questions in his new leader's jersey.
Results
1 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 4.12.04 2 Simone Mori (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 3 Oleksandr Klymenko (Ukr) Mroz 4 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz 0.52 5 Pavel Nevdakh (Kaz) Team Orbea Etxeondo 0.59 6 Scott Davis (Aus) Australian National Team 1.09 7 Wolfram Wiese (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 1.28 8 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Shimano Racing 1.34 9 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 10 Hisafumi Imanishi (Jpn) Shimano Racing 11 Michel Klinger (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 12 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) RDM-Flanders 13 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 14 Mateusz Mroz (Pol) Mroz 15 Kam Po Wong (Hkg) Hong Kong National Team 16 David Mcpartland (Aus) Australian National Team 17 Koki Shimbo (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing 18 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 19 Kairat Baigudinov (Kaz) Team Orbea Etxeondo 20 Mitsuteru Tanaka (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing 1.38 21 Hans-Jurgen Juretzek (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 3.51 22 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) RT Nipponhodo 4.18 23 Bakhtiyr Mamyrov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 6.43 24 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Shimano Racing 25 Florian Ludi (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 6.50 26 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz 27 Tetsuya Okada (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 8.52 28 Guiseppe Ribolzi (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 29 Markus Ganser (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 30 Andrey Medyannikov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 14.19 31 Kaoru Ouchi (Jpn) Shimano Racing 15.06 32 Satoshi Hirose (Jpn) RT Nipponhodo 15.57 33 Takumi Beppu (Jpn) RT Nipponhodo 34 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pealizumi 35 Viktor Shestakov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 36 Gene Bates (Aus) Australian National Team 15.59 37 David Chassot (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 16.59 38 Alexandr Dymovskikh (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 39 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pealizumi 40 Yusuke Takahashi (Jpn) Team Orbea Etxeondo 41 Kentaro Eshita (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing 42 Teruo Iida (Jpn) Team Orbea Etxeondo 17.59 43 Stefan Ganser (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 44 Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 45 Axel Hauschke (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 18.59 46 Ah.Thiam Wong (Mas) Malaysia National Team 47 Suhardi Hassan (Mas) Malaysia National Team 48 Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 49 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 50 Pawel Zugaj (Pol) Mroz 19.59 51 David Plas (Bel) RDM-Flanders 52 Jurgen Landrie (Bel) RDM-Flanders 53 Nico Indekeu (Bel) RDM-Flanders 54 Marco Engels (Bel) RDM-Flanders 55 Marcel Luppes (Ned) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 56 Edward Dunning (Ned) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 57 Danny Stam (Ned) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 58 Jan Hordijk (Ned) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 59 Tjarco Cuppens (Ned) Team Comnet-Senges 60 David Pell (Aus) Australian National Team 61 Ngai Ching Wong (Hkg) Hong Kong National Team 62 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Shimano Racing 63 Shinji Suzuki (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing 64 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) RT Nipponhodo 65 Takehiro Mizutani (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 66 Tomokazu Fujino (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 67 Taiji Tanaka (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pealizumi 68 Yasuki Uchiyama (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 69 Hideto Yukinari (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 70 Koichi Asano (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 71 Jun Otsuka (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 72 Nor.Effendy Rosli (Mas) Malaysia National Team 21.59 73 Adrian Laidler (Aus) Australian National Team 22.59 74 Peep Mikli (Est) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 75 Kazutaka Fukao (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pealizumi 76 Zbigniew Wyrzykowski (Pol) Mroz 24.59.00 77 Stijn Vanstraelen (Bel) RDM-Flanders 78 King Nin Lau (Hkg) Hong Kong National Team DNF Makoto Takeuchi (Jpn) Team Orbea Etxeondo - General classification after stage 5 1 Simone Mori (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 18.01.06 2 Oleksandr Klymenko (Ukr) Mroz 0.06 3 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) RDM-Flanders 0.40 4 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 1.06 5 Kam Po Wong (Hkg) Hong Kong National Team 1.31 6 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 1.41 7 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz 2.04 8 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Shimano Racing 2.23 9 Scott Davis (Aus) Australian National Team 2.25 10 Wolfram Wiese (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 2.31 11 Kazuyuki Manabe (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 2.35 12 Mateusz Mroz (Pol) Mroz 2.43 13 Pavel Nevdakh (Kaz) Team Orbea Etxeondo 2.46 14 Hisafumi Imanishi (Jpn) Shimano Racing 2.53 15 Kairat Baigudinov (Kaz) Team Orbea Etxeondo 2.53 16 Koki Shimbo (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing 3.05 17 David Mcpartland (Aus) Australian National Team 4.07 18 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 4.20 19 Hans-Jurgen Juretzek (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 4.57 20 Mitsuteru Tanaka (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing 5.21 21 Florian Ludi (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 6.53 22 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) RT Nipponhodo 8.09 23 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Shimano Racing 8.09 24 Tetsuya Okada (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 10.09 25 Bakhtiyr Mamyrov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 11.00 26 Markus Ganser (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 13.05 27 Michel Klinger (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 14.56 28 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz 17.17 29 Andrey Medyannikov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 19.41 30 Gene Bates (Aus) Australian National Team 20.55 31 David Chassot (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 21.01 32 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pealizumi 22.06 33 Takehiro Mizutani (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 23.49 34 Alexandr Dymovskikh (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 27.34 35 Edward Dunning (Ned) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 28.16 36 Satoshi Hirose (Jpn) RT Nipponhodo 29.23 37 Takumi Beppu (Jpn) RT Nipponhodo 30.50 38 Hideto Yukinari (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 31.09 39 Adrian Laidler (Aus) Australian National Team 31.38 40 Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 32.41 41 David Plas (Bel) RDM-Flanders 34.18 42 Stefan Ganser (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 34.24 43 Zbigniew Wyrzykowski (Pol) Mroz 34.28 44 Yusuke Takahashi (Jpn) Team Orbea Etxeondo 34.49 45 Guiseppe Ribolzi (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 34.52 46 Jurgen Landrie (Bel) RDM-Flanders 36.45 47 Viktor Shestakov (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 39.19 48 Ikki Yoneyama (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pealizumi 41.45 49 Kaoru Ouchi (Jpn) Shimano Racing 41.52 50 Nor.Effendy Rosli (Mas) Malaysia National Team 42.28 51 Axel Hauschke (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 44.29 52 Takeaki Ayabe (Jpn) RT Nipponhodo 44.47 53 Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 44.49 54 Kentaro Eshita (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing 45.51 55 Shinji Suzuki (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing 46.53 56 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 46.57 57 Tomokazu Fujino (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 47.09 58 Yasuki Uchiyama (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 47.12 59 Marco Engels (Bel) RDM-Flanders 47.14 60 Tjarco Cuppens (Ned) Team Comnet-Senges 47.34 61 Stijn Vanstraelen (Bel) RDM-Flanders 47.37 62 Pawel Zugaj (Pol) Mroz 48.19 63 Taiji Tanaka (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pealizumi 48.31 64 Teruo Iida (Jpn) Team Orbea Etxeondo 48.36 65 Nico Indekeu (Bel) RDM-Flanders 48.52 66 Jan Hordijk (Ned) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 49.22 67 David Pell (Aus) Australian National Team 51.06 68 Masamichi Yamamoto (Jpn) Shimano Racing 51.25 69 Marcel Luppes (Ned) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 51.30 70 Peep Mikli (Est) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 53.06 71 Suhardi Hassan (Mas) Malaysia National Team 55.03 72 Koichi Asano (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 56.06 73 Jun Otsuka (Jpn) Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 57.29 74 King Nin Lau (Hkg) Hong Kong National Team 58.36 75 Ngai Ching Wong (Hkg) Hong Kong National Team 1.00.06 76 Ah.Thiam Wong (Mas) Malaysia National Team 1.03.03 77 Danny Stam (Ned) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 1.06.37 78 Kazutaka Fukao (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pealizumi 1.15.22 Points classification 1 Oleksandr Klymenko (Ukr) Mroz 8 pts 2 Simone Mori (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 8 3 Stefan Ganser (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 6 4 Kam Po Wong (Hkg) Hong Kong National Team 6 5 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) RDM-Flanders 5 6 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 5 7 Jan Hordijk (Ned) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 5 8 Mateusz Mroz (Pol) Mroz 4 9 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz 4 10 Stijn Vanstraelen (Bel) RDM-Flanders 4 11 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Shimano Racing 4 12 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pealizumi 3 13 Marcel Luppes (Ned) AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 3 14 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 2 15 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz 2 16 Gene Bates (Aus) Australian National Team 2 17 Wolfram Wiese (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 1 18 Pavel Nevdakh (Kaz) Team Orbea Etxeondo 1 19 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 1 20 Florian Ludi (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 1 Mountains classification 1 Oleksandr Klymenko (Ukr) Mroz 19 pts 2 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz 12 3 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz 11 4 Simone Mori (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 10 5 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) RDM-Flanders 5 6 Shinri Suzuki (Jpn) Shimano Racing 5 7 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 3 8 Guiseppe Ribolzi (Swi) Team Jura Suisse 2 9 Scott Davis (Aus) Australian National Team 2 10 Koki Shimbo (Jpn) Asian Ind. Racing 1 11 Gene Bates (Aus) Australian National Team 1 12 Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 1 Sprints classification 1 Tjarco Cuppens (Ned) Team Comnet-Senges 17 pts 2 Makoto Iijima (Jpn) Sumita-Ravanello-Pealizumi 5 3 Takehiro Mizutani (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 5 4 Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 5 5 Mateusz Mroz (Pol) Mroz 4 6 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz 2 7 Adrian Laidler (Aus) Australian National Team 2 8 Zbigniew Wyrzykowski (Pol) Mroz 2 9 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 2 10 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Kazakhstan National Team 1 11 Stefan Ganser (Ger) Team Comnet-Senges 1 12 Kaoru Ouchi (Jpn) Shimano Racing 1 13 Pawel Zugaj (Pol) Mroz 1 Teams classification 1 Mroz 54.06.58 2 Team Jura Suisse 8.44 3 Shimano Racing 9.45 4 Kazakhstan 13.20 5 Team Comnet-Senges 15.39 6 Australia 22.50 7 Team Bridgestone-Anchor 30.24 8 Team Orbea Etxe-Ondo 33.40 9 Aisan-Ind.Racing 34.14 10 Miyata-Subaru Racing Team 1.02.45 11 Rt.Nippon Hodo 1.04.18 12 Rdm Flanders 1.07.06 13 Hong Kong 1.45.02 14 Sumita Ravanello Pearlizumi 1.48.42 15 Axa-Vvz 1.57.02 16 Malaysia 2.36.54
