Valverde wins Saitama Criterium

It won’t be added to his official palmares or UCI results but Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) celebrated his first win in the world champion’s rainbow jersey at the Saitama Tour de France criterium in Japan on Sunday, beating Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) in a sprint finish.

The two headline riders in the exhibition criterium got away in the final laps of the 3.1km Saitama circuit. They were joined by home rider Yukiya Arashiro (Bahrain-Merida) but he faded in the final kilometre, leaving Valverde to take on Thomas after the final corner.

Despite racing in leg warmers, Valverde opened a gap on the Welshman in the kick for the line and won by several lengths and celebrated with his arms in the air.

“It’s great to win here. This is my first victory in the rainbow jersey, so I’m very happy,” Valverde told the numerous Japanese media and the international media in Saitama.

“It’s always nice to raise your arms and there was a lot of public who cheered us along on the circuit as we raced. This is my second time in Saitama after riding in 2013. I came to enjoy myself and put on a show, so it was perfect.”

Some 50 riders took part in a sprint competition and team time trial before the main afternoon criterium race.

Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) won his round and then the final to take the sprint title, while the Special Team Japan for Saitama won the 2.5km team time trial ahead of Team Ukyo and Shimano Racing Team. The big-name WorldTour teams were lower down the results, with Mitchelton-Scott the best in fifth place at four seconds.

Thomas lined up for the 58.9km criterium in his Tour de France winner’s yellow jersey and on his yellow bike next to Valverde in the rainbow jersey. The riders started the racing cautiously but began to have some fun as the local riders went on the attack. Kittel and Kristoff fought for the intermediate sprints and other riders taking turns to join the attacks.

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) had returned from his holidays the day before travelling to Japan from Europe but went on the attack in the final laps to fire up the race. He was joined by teammate Arashiro, Valverde and Thomas. With three laps to go Valverde dragged Thomas away only for Arashiro to join them. However, Valverde and Thomas went away on the final lap with the world champion comfortably beating Thomas. Nibali was fourth, at 22 seconds, with Kittel winning the sprint behind for sixth place at 50 seconds.

Kristoff won the sprints competition, Nibali won the climber’s competition and Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) won the combativity award, meaning all the big-name rider went home with a prize.

Thomas went a little deep after only training briefly last week in Wales before travelling to Japan. However, he was able to go with Valverde’s attack.

“It was hard at first and so I just tried to survive. I felt better later and so waited for the final quieter of the race,” Thomas explained. “Valverde is fast in a sprint and so there wasn’t much I could do there. The main thing was to enjoy the race. The crowds were so big that it reminded me of racing in the UK.”

Cyclingnews will have a special feature interview with Geraint Thomas on Monday, where talks about enjoying his Tour de France victory and his hopes for team leadership at Team Sky for the 2019 Tour de France. He also responds to the critics who suggest Team Sky’s dominance in the Tour de France should be somehow limited or controlled.

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