Saxo Bank withdraw Miyazawa from Tour of Beijing

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Takashi Miyazawa will not ride the Tour of Beijing for Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank. The Japanese rider has been withdrawn from the line-up in light of political difficulties between China and Japan.

"I can confirm, that our Japanese rider Takashi Miyazawa will not participate in the coming Tour of Beijing as originally planned,” team spokesman Anders Damgaard told Cyclingnews. “Our rider's safety always come first, it's absolutely vital for us, and after discussing the situation with the race organizer, the team has now taken the final decision not to race him in China."

There is currently political tension between China and Japan concerning sovereignty of the East China Sea islands. China had already asked Japanese citizens to leave the country, with Japanese riders, staff, journalists and photographers expelled during the recent Tour of China.

Earlier this week Team Argos-Shimano announced that it would not ride the Tour of Beijing. The Dutch team, which had received a wild-card invitation to the WorldTour race, has a Japanese sponsor, Shimano.