Konica Minolta in Japan

The Konica Minolta Continental Cycling Team has announced its lineup for the Tour of Japan, which begins on Sunday, May 14: Peter and Martin Velits, together with four young South African riders, John Lee Augustyn, Marnus Potgieter, Hanco Kachelhoffer, and Johann Rabie. Peter Velits has shown excellent form recently in Europe in the Tour of Bretagne, where he finished 4th overall on general classification

The six stage race starts on Sunday with a testing 140km stage consisting of 11 laps of the Senbuku Circuit. Stage 4 however will be the deciding factor in the Tour: an 11.4km time trial which rises almost 2000 meters in altitude.

"We are well prepared and we have a good team with depth, besides we are under pressure to perform next week," said team manager John Robertson. "This has been a big team objective for the team this year. Most of the other teams are going to be watching us closely as John Lee was already fifth overall in the Tour last year. Therefore, we are going to have to ride a smart race, but we are all confident and I have a lot of faith in the riders on this team who have shown a maturity beyond their years this season."