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Sunday, October 15: Utsunomiya - Utsunomiya, Japan, 14 13 x 10.3 km laps = 133.9 km
Rui Costa wins on a rainy day in Utsunomiya.
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Weather at the start/finish city of Utsunomiya at 10:00 AM, local time: 14C (57F), raining, with the wind from the north at 16 km/hr (10 mph). The rain is forecast to end a bit after 2:00.
The race: With about 55 kilometers to go Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) abandoned.
Here's the race report from winner Rui Costa's Team Intermarché-Circus-Wanty:
This Sunday, October 15, Rui Costa took the victory in the Japan Cup in the streets of Utsunomiya, offering the Intermarché-Circus-Wanty its twentieth success of 2023.
It was the very first participation in this event for the team of Jean-François Bourlart. For Rui Costa, who celebrated his 37th birthday earlier this month, it was his fifth victory this season, nine months after winning the Trofeo Calvia on his debut with the Walloon team.
The former world champion triumphed in a sprint with three, defeating Felix Engelhardt and Guillaume Martin in an exemplary collective race for the Walloon team, which also placed Georg Zimmermann (5th) and Lorenzo Rota (8th) in the top ten.
Initially composed of 15 ten-kilometer laps, with each of them containing the Kogashiyama climb (2km at 6%), the race was reduced by three laps due to the intense rain.
“Winning this Japan Cup has a special meaning for me. I started the season by winning my first race in the Mallorca Challenge in January and today I took the win in my last race in Japan. Just like then, it was a very hard day because of the cold and the ongoing rain from start to finish. It was also difficult, because my contenders in the final kilometers were very strong. I decided to try it my all in the final 300 meter. It was the right decision, I’m happy to win and to offer the team its twentieth victory of the season.” - Rui Costa
Complete results:
133.9 kilometers raced at an average speed of 38.557 km/hr
1 | Rui Costa | Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | 3hr 28min 22sec |
2 | Felix Engelhardt | Jayco-AlUla | s.t. |
3 | Guillaume Martin | Cofidis | @ 2sec |
4 | Maxim Van Gils | Lotto Dstny | 0:27 |
5 | Georg Zimmermann | Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | 1:34 |
6 | Riley Sheehan | Israel-Premier Tech | s.t. |
7 | Axel Zingle | Cofidis | s.t. |
8 | Lorenzo Rota | Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | s.t. |
9 | Michael Valgren | EF Education-EasyPost | s.t. |
10 | Julien Bernard | Lidl-Trek | 1:39 |
11 | Lucas Hamilton | Jayco-AlUla | 2:20 |
12 | Odd Christian Eiking | EF Education-EasyPost | s.t. |
13 | Bauke Mollema | Lidl-Trek | 2:25 |
14 | Fausto Masnada | Soudal Quick-Step | 2:27 |
15 | Hayato Okamoto | Aisan Racing Team | 5:08 |
16 | Hermann Pernsteiner | Bahrain Victorious | 5:12 |
17 | Edoardo Zambanini | Bahrain Victorious | 5:15 |
18 | Pieter Serry | Soudal Quick-Step | 7:36 |
19 | Eduardo Sepulveda | Lotto Dstny | s.t. |
20 | Stan Van Tricht | Soudal Quick-Step | 7:52 |
21 | Francesco Busatto | Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | s.t. |
22 | Pascal Eenkhoorn | Lotto Dstny | s.t. |
23 | Ramses Debruyne | Lotto Dstny | s.t. |
24 | Jan Maas | Jayco-AlUla | s.t. |
25 | Keigo Kusaba | Aisan Racing Team | 8:07 |
26 | Hamish Beadle | Team Novo Nordisk | s.t. |
27 | Dylan Hopkins | Ljubljana Gusto Santic | s.t. |
28 | Junsei Tani | Utsunomiya Blitzen | s.t. |
29 | David Lozano | Team Novo Nordisk | s.t. |
30 | Francisco Mancebo | Matrix Powertag | s.t. |
31 | Jonatan Abudraham | Israel-Premier Tech | s.t. |
32 | Jose Vicente Toribio | Matrix Powertag | s.t. |
33 | Hugo Toumire | Cofidis | s.t. |
34 | Yuma Koishi | JCL Team UKYO | s.t. |
35 | Simone Petilli | Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | s.t. |
36 | Nadav Raisberg | Israel-Premier Tech | 8:14 |
37 | Alexandre Delettre | Cofidis | 8:16 |
38 | Julian Alaphilippe | Soudal Quick-Step | 8:26 |
39 | Toki Sawada | Utsunomiya Blitzen | 9:09 |
40 | Carter Bettles | Victoire Hiroshima | 9:12 |
41 | Hijiri Oda | Japan | s.t. |
42 | Masahiro Ishigami | Aisan Racing Team | s.t. |
43 | Nariyuki Masuda | JCL Team UKYO | 10:06 |
44 | Benjamin Dyball | Victoire Hiroshima | 10:45 |
45 | Sean Quinn | EF Education-EasyPost | 11:00 |
46 | James Shaw | EF Education-EasyPost | s.t. |
47 | Yukiya Arashiro | Bahrain Victorious | 13:33 |
48 | Ryan Cavanagh | Kinan Racing Team | s.t. |
Start list with back numbers, October 14, 2023:
EF EDUCATION-EASYPOST | |
1 | Andrea Piccolo |
2 | Simon Carr |
3 | Sean Quinn |
4 | Odd Christian Eiking |
5 | James Shaw |
6 | Michael Valgren |
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | |
11 | Yukiya Arashiro |
12 | Nicolo Buratti |
13 | Hermann Pernsteiner |
14 | Chih Hao Tu |
15 | Edoardo Zambanini |
COFIDIS | |
21 | Guillaume Martin |
22 | Alexandre Delettre |
23 | Axel Zingle |
24 | François Bidard |
25 | Pierre-Luc Périchon |
26 | Hugo Toumire |
INTERMARCHÉ-CIRCUS-WANTY | |
31 | Simone Petilli |
32 | Lorenzo Rota |
33 | Rein Taaramäe |
34 | Rui Costa |
35 | Georg Zimmermann |
36 | Francesco Busatto |
LIDL-TREK | |
41 | Giulio Ciccone |
42 | Julien Bernard |
44 | Juan Pedro Lopez |
45 | Bauke Mollema |
46 | Edward Theuns |
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP | |
51 | Julian Alaphilippe |
52 | James Knox |
53 | Fausto Masnada |
54 | Pieter Serry |
55 | Stan Van Tricht |
56 | Ilan Van Wilder |
JAYCO-ALULA | |
61 | Edward Dunbar |
62 | Felix Engelhardt |
63 | Jan Maas |
64 | Hamish Mckenzie |
65 | Lucas Hamilton |
66 | Kevin Colleoni |
ISRAEL-PREMIER TECH | |
71 | Chris Froome |
72 | Nadav Raisberg |
73 | Ben Hermans |
74 | Jonatan Abudraham |
75 | Riley Sheehan |
76 | Brady Gilmore |
LOTTO DSTNY | |
82 | Pascal Eenkhoorn |
83 | Eduardo Sepulveda |
84 | Maxim Van Gils |
85 | Milan Paulus |
86 | Ramses Debruyne |
TEAM NOVO NORDISK | |
91 | Hamish Beadle |
92 | Sam Brand |
93 | Quinten De Graeve |
94 | Declan Irvine |
95 | Peter Kusztor |
96 | David Lozano |
LJUBLJANA GUSTO SANTIC | |
101 | Natan Gregorcic |
102 | Dylan Hopkins |
103 | Viktor Potocki |
104 | Andrew Sampson |
105 | Anze Skok |
106 | Jernej Hribar |
JCL TEAM UKYO | |
112 | Nariyuki Masuda |
113 | Benjami Prades |
114 | Nathan Earle |
115 | Yuma Koishi |
116 | Atsushi Oka |
119 | Manabu Ishibashi |
KINAN RACING TEAM | |
121 | Yusuke Hatanaka |
122 | Drew Morey |
123 | Ryan Cavanagh |
124 | Yudai Arashiro |
125 | Taishi Miyazaki |
126 | Yugi Tsuda |
MATRIX POWERTAG | |
131 | Francisco Mancebo |
132 | Jose Vicente Toribio |
133 | Georgios Boúglas |
134 | Edgar Nohales Nieto |
135 | Daiki Yasuhara |
136 | Marino Kobayashi |
VICTOIRE HIROSHIMA | |
141 | Keisuke Aso |
142 | Benjamin Dyball |
143 | Carter Bettles |
144 | Leonel Quintero |
145 | Masayuki Shibata |
146 | Yusuke Kubota |
LEVANTE FUJI SHIZUOKA | |
151 | Maral-Erdene Batmunkh |
152 | Bolor-Erdene Enkhtaivan |
153 | Ryota Tokoi |
154 | Daniel Guld |
155 | Mario Takanashi |
156 | Eiji Yamaguchi |
AISAN RACING TEAM | |
161 | Yuzuru Suzuki |
162 | Shotaro Watanabe |
163 | Hayato Okamoto |
164 | Keigo Kusaba |
165 | Hayato Tobaru |
166 | Masahiro Ishigami |
UTSUNOMIYA BLITZEN | |
171 | Takayuki Abe |
172 | Kai Feng Chun |
173 | Takaaki Hori |
174 | Toki Sawada |
175 | Junsei Tani |
177 | Hikaru Kosaka |
JAPAN | |
181 | Shoi Matsuda |
182 | Yusuke Kadota |
183 | Yuhi Todome |
184 | Jo Hashikawa |
185 | Hijiri Oda |
186 | Koki Kamada |