Matthews goes fastest in Japan opener

Australia’s Michael Matthews (Jayco-Skins) leads the Tour of Japan after winning the race’s opening 2.65 kilometre time trial. Matthews’ time over the Daisen Park stage was six seconds quicker than King Lok Cheung (Hong Kong China), while Kazujiro Mori (Aisan Racing Team) was the best of the local riders in third.

Matthews’ stage win comes a year after the teenager missed out on stage podiums in Japan on not one but three occasions. "Good to get on the podium here finally," said Matthews. "It was like big square basically. The back straight was probably the hardest point and we had a bit of a head wind but (it was) pretty flat and then a little kick up at the end, a little hill at the finish. It was quite hard."

Just missing out on the podium this time around was one of Matthews’ compatriots Darren Lapthorne. The Rapha Condor-Sharp rider finished in fourth place, with Italy’s Claudio Cucinotta splitting he and team-mate Zakkari Dempster in sixth.