CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious are set to compete in The Japan Cup, scheduled for tomorrow.
The event is the continent’s only UCI Proseries one-day race, and it will be held at the ‘bicycle city’ of Utsunomiya, which has hosted a real ‘festival’ of cycling over the years.
A traditional and unique presentation of the teams took place yesterday, followed by a criterium today ahead of tomorrow’s main event.
The startlist is made up of six UCI World Teams, four UCI Pro Teams, eight UCI Continental teams, and six riders representing the home nation.
Bahrain Victorious’ selection will have co-leaders in Lenny Martinez and Afonso Eulalio, as sports director Michal Golas explains. “I think we are competitive, seeing how Lenny came back in the second part of the season,” Golas said. “He was in the mix at Lombardy and we will give full support to him and also to Afonso, who at the end of a long season has proved he’s in good shape. I think the race suits him, but like I said, the season is long and races in the middle of October require some focus and a really strong will to perform. Those two riders will have the full support of the team.”
Bahrain Victorious achieved their best in the race last year as Matej Mohoric finished third, and with the podium being the objective once again, the four riders supporting the team’s French-Portuguese duo will be crucial tomorrow.
“We have Torstein Traeen, who is an experienced rider and I think he will be very important for us to guide these two boys,” said Golas. “Vlad Van Mechelen will also be support, but he will have the chance to ride aggressively, even though the race is slightly too hard for him.
“Rainer Kepplinger is another support guy, and after a couple of races in Italy he will also be key for us to control the first half of the race. When the race gets hard and the selection is big enough, we will start to ride aggressively ourselves with our two leaders.
“Completing the lineup is our Devo rider Yoshiki Terada, riding on home roads, who will provide more support on Sunday.
“It’s worth mentioning too that Vlad has a nice chance to show our jersey and have a fight on Saturday’s criterium so we will support him lots then.”
The grand finale of the three-day event – the ‘Utsunomiya Japan Cup Road Race’, will be held in and around Utsunomiya City Forest Park. The route is 144.2km (14 laps of a 10.3km circuit), which includes 14 ascents of the extremely challenging Mt Kogashi (1.4km, averaging 7.7 per cent).
Golas brings more detail: “The race itself is 14 laps and is pretty selective. Basically it’s just up and down with only a short flat part. We need to be ready from the start: if there are some big moves from the World Tour teams we need to follow, but like I said, the main thing is to have the race under control in the first phase and make the selection in the second, using our strength in numbers, because I really believe that those two guys are able to win the race.”
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