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Japanese National Road Championships - CN
Japan, June 23-24, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage
Stage 2 - June 24: Elite Men & Women
Arashiro weathers the storm
By Makoto Ayano
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In stormy tropical weather, typical of the Japanese wet season, 22 year-old Yukiya Arashiro overcame heavy rain, thick fog and strong winds to land the biggest victory of his career on the southern island of Kyushu. Arashio motored clear with 28 kilometres remaining, leaving the other favourites in his wake and staying away to finish over two minutes ahead of Hidenori Nodera and Takashi Miyazawa.
Such was the severity of the weather, organisers were forced to shorten the championship parcours from 183.1km to 117.5km, making for 25 laps of the 4.7km long race track circuit. Visibility was down to 10 metres in places, with parts of the course covered in dangerous amounts of surface water.
The early break was initiated by the ever-aggressive Shinichi Fukushima (Nippo-Meitan-Equipe Asada) on lap three, who went clear with Yukihiro Doi(Skil-Shimano). After 12 laps Fukushima was dropped and Doi ploughed on alone until he was eventually reeled in with 38 kilometres remaining.
New champion Arashiro succeeds Discovery Channel rider Fumiyuki Beppu in wearing the red and white jersey of Japan. Beppu was absent from the championship due to his participation in the Tour de Suisse.
In the women's event, Miho Oki (Menikini - Gysko) overcame Ayako Tokooka in the final sprint to maintain her status as the only woman to win the Japanese women's championship in its 10-year history.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Makoto Ayano/www.cyclingtime.com
- Yukihiro Doi (Skil-Shimano) going solo
- Kazuya Okazaki & Yasuharu Nakajima (Nippo-Meitan-EquipeAsada) chase Doi
- Koji Fukushima (Nippo-Meitan) works for Arashiro
- Arashiro comes up in front of leading group
- Yukiya Arashiro (Nippo-Meitan-EquipeAsada) atacked, followed by Kaoru Ouchi (Skil-Shimano)
- Yukiya Arashiro (Nippo-Meitan-EquipeAsada) going solo
- Shinri Suzuki (Team Miyata) chashing
- Tomoya Kano (Skil-Simano) chashing Arasiro
- Yukiya Arashiro (Nippo-Meitan-EquipeAsada) rides through the fog
- Yukiya Arashiro (Nippo-Meitan-EquipeAsada) crosses the line on a solo break
- 2nd placed Hidenori Nodera (Skil-Shimano) and 3rd Takashi Miyazawa (Nippo-Meitan-EquipeAsada)
- Yukiya Arashiro is happy
- Fun on the men's podium Hidenori Nodera and Takashi Miyazawa hold up the winner Yukiya Arashiro
- Team bike of Nippo-Meitan-EquipeAsada Anchor RHM-9 by Bridgestone bicycles
- The women's field
- The women's breakaway rides in heavy fog
- Masami Mashimo (Global Racing Team)
- Miho Oki (Menikini-Selle Italia) in the fog
- Ayako Toyooka leads followed by Miho Oki (Grobal Racing Team)
- Ayako Toyooka atacked and is chased by Miho Oki (Grobal Racing Team)
- 10 times Japanese champ Miho Oki (Menikini-Selle Italia) shows 10 fingers
- The women's podium Ayako Toyooka, Miho Oki and Masami Mashimo
Images by Kenji NAKAMURA/JCF
- Miho Oki (Menikini-Selle Italia) beats Ayako Toyooka in the final sprint
Images by John Pierce/Photosport International
- Yukiya Arashiro leads in the fog and the rain
- Yukiya Arashiro crosses the line first after motoring away from the field with 28km remaining
- Skil-Shimano lead the depleted peloton
- Two riders away, while some spectators brave the wild weather
- Yukihiro Doi, eventually finished 8th , over three minutes down on the winner
Results
Elite Men - 117.5 km 1 Yukiya Arashiro 3.03.10 (38.48 km/h) 2 Hidenori Nodera 2.17 3 Takashi Miyazawa 4 Yasuharu Nakajima 2.18 5 Shinri Suzuki 2.26 6 Kazuyuki Manabe 2.28 7 Tomoya Kano 2.33 8 Yukihiro Doi 3.40 9 Makoto Iijima 3.47 10 Taiji Nishitani 3.48 11 Mitsunari Mitaki 12 Yoshiyuki Abe 13 Yoshimasa Hirose 3.49 DNF Kaoru Ouchi DNF Koji Fukushima DNF Nariyuki Masuda DNF Yoshimitsu Tsuji DNF Yoshiyuki Shimizu DNF Shinobu Noguchi DNF Masahiro Shinagawa DNF Kazuo Inoue DNF Ken Hashikawa DNF Kazuhiro Mori DNF Kazuya Okazaki DNF Shinichi Fukushima DNF Makoto Nakamura DNF Naoki Mukaigawa DNF Daisuke Hioki DNF Keiichi Tsujiura DNF Yasuhiro Nito DNF Miyataka Shimizu DNF Itsuki Yoneyama DNF Kaoru Obata DNF Masahiko Mifune DNF Keita Iwashima DNF Keisuke Kamata DNF Mitsuhiro Matsumura DNF Akiyama DNF Tetsuya Ishida DNF Akira Kakinuma DNF Masafumi Nishitani DNF Masamichi Yamamoto DNF Kazunari Asano DNF Masanari Komuro DNF Kenichi Suzuki DNF Masaru Fukuhara DNF Masafumi Yamane DNF Hideki Shimizu DNF Motoi Nara DNF Jun Otsuka DNF Dai Fukuhara DNF Hisashi Matsui DNF Yoshiaki Sudo DNF Yasushi Hamagashira DNF Kentaro Shibata DNF Akio Shimada DNF Manabu Hirose DNF Yusuke Higuma DNF Syogo Ito DNF Yosuke Suga DNF Takamitsu Tsuji DNF Shinichi Takano DNF Masahiro Mori DNF Atsushi Takano DNF Kohei Tsusue DNF Hideo Yoshida DNF Yasutaka Tashiro DNF Takeaki Ayabe DNF Takumi Beppu DNF Yosuke Kojima DNF Daikatsu Suemoto DNF Yasuyuki Toi DNF Jyunya Sano DNF Shigehiko Sato DNF Masanori Nijyo DNF Hiroshi Funaoka DNF Tomoya Sano DNF Masanori Yono DNF Hiroshi Nara DNF Tomoyuki Kaneda DNF Yoshinori Iino DNF Yushi Nomi DNF Akihiro Munehisa DNF Satoshi Hirose DNF Misao Koizumi DNF Atsushi Yamamoto DNF Kentaro Akao DNF Yoshihito Takahashi DNF Seiji Miyashita DNF Katsuyoshi Sugawara DNF Yusuke Takahashi DNF Hideharu Sasai DNS Kazuhiro Yamamoto DNS Yuya Uzawa DNS Tatsuro Fukushi DNS Nobuyuki Tabata DNS Makoto Nakata DNS Kengo Kowatari Women - 56.4 km 1 Miho Oki 1.47.04 (31.6 km/h) 2 Ayako Toyooka 3 Masami Mashimo 4 Ryoko Yamaguchi 5 Mao Chino 1.37 6 Tsubasa Makise 1.38 7 Akemi Moromoto 8 Yuka Yamashima 1.41 9 Masumi Sakai 2.47 10 Anna Miyazaki 3.48 11 Chisako Harigai 3.49 12 Mami Saito 13 Michiko Shimura 7.08 DNF Hiroko Ishii DNF Norie Kato DNF Chie Obuchi DNF Mariko Toi DNF Remi Inoue DNF Emi Wachi DNF Chihiro Kawamata DNF Hisae Kitano DNF Yuko Myochin DNF Erina Hoshikawa DNF Tsugumi Kimura DNF Megumi Ishii DNF Emiko Muranaka DNF Akari Hiromoto DNF Machi Ikebe DNF Fusae Aoki DNF Chiaki Tamai DNF Ayana Uehara DNF Sayaka Mori DNF Kanako Nishi
