2023-10-07 11:45:00
The first stage of the Tour de Kyushu was held over 145km from Kitakyushu City in Fukuoka Prefecture to Omuta City, and Naoki Kojima (Team Bridgestone Cycling) won the race in a group sprint. He won the leader jersey and the points award jersey.
Athletes lined up at the starting line at Kitakyushu Media Dome photo: Satoru Kato
Ogura Gion Taiko drums echo at Kitakyushu Media Dome in the early morning photo: Satoru Kato Antonio Nibali signing the start sign (Astana Kazakstan team) photo: Satoru Kato
The first stage of Kyushu’s first UCI stage race “Mynavi Tour de Kyushu 2023” will be held in Fukuoka Prefecture. The 145km course starts at Kitakyushu Media Dome and heads south, finishing in front of Shin-Omuta Station on the JR Kyushu Shinkansen. Along the way, there will be three sprint points, two second-class mountains, and one first-class mountain. In particular, the first class mountain, Ushinari Pass, at the 90.9km point, and the second class mountain, Orange Road, at the remaining 5.2km point, will be key points that will determine the outcome of the race.
Start of Kitakyushu Media Dome photo:Satoru Kato
Team Bridgestone Cycling trains for the first sprint point ©️Tour de Kyushu 2023 Executive Committee
At the 19.7km point, the first sprint point was passed by Naoki Kojima (Team Bridgestone Cycling) in the lead ©️Tour de Kyushu 2023 Executive Committee
The race started at 8:00 a.m. on the infield inside the bank of Kitakyushu Media Dome. After a parade run under the Kitakyushu Monorail and a real start near the Kokura Minami Interchange, the attack battle begins. As the first sprint point at the 17.9km mark approached, Team Bridgestone Cycling gathered at the front of the group and increased the pace, and Naoki Kojima (Team Bridgestone Cycling), who had won the previous day’s Kokura Castle Criterium, took the lead. Pass 1st place.
An escape group formed in the early stages of Kohei Yokotsuka (VC Fukuoka), Yoshiki Terada (Shimano Racing) and others ©️Tour de Kyushu 2023 Executive Committee
Mohammad Nur Ayman Mohd Zarif (Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team) passed first on the first Class 2 mountain ©️Tour de Kyushu 2023 Executive Committee
Immediately following this, two riders, Kohei Yokotsuka (VC Fukuoka) and Mohamad Nur Ayman Mohd Zarif (Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team), took the lead. Furthermore, Yoshiki Terada (Shimano Racing) and Craig Wiggins (ARA Skip Capital) will join to form a four-man leading group. Although Wiggins fell behind at the 43.9km mark at Hase Pass, a class 2 mountain, and was reduced to three riders, the gap between him and the main group had widened to regarding two minutes, and the race seemed to be calming down for the time being.
Passing through rice terraces full of rice ©️Tour de Kyushu 2023 Executive Committee
Sunset Tomome increasing his pace on the climb (EF Education/NIPPO Development Team) ©️Tour de Kyushu 2023 Executive Committee
As we enter the second half of the course and approach Ushinari Pass, a Class 1 mountain, the group picks up its pace. Just before the summit, Yokozuka and Terada were absorbed, and Mohd Zarif, who passed the summit at the top, was also absorbed on the way down. At this point, the group is narrowed down to regarding 30 people.
Dan Gardner (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) and Kane Richard (ARA Skip Capital) who took the lead following 125km ©️Tour de Kyushu 2023 Executive Committee
At the end of the course, at the climb of Orange Road, Atsushi Oka and other JCL team Ukyo come out in front of the group ©️Tour de Kyushu 2023 Executive Committee
After the final sprint point at 125.6km, Dan Gardner (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) and Kane Richard (ARA Skip Capital) were in the lead. Although he had built up a difference of regarding 30 seconds, the group absorbed it on the final climb of Orange Road, a class 2 mountain. The racers descended as a group and it became a sprint race on the straight that leads to Shin-Omuta Station.
The leader of the sprint group is Naoki Kojima (Team Bridgestone Cycling) photo: Satoru Kato
Lined up from the left and right, Naoki Kojima (Team Bridgestone Cycling) in the center came first. Photo:Satoru Kato
Naoki Kojima (Team Bridgestone Cycling) wins the 1st stage photo: Satoru Kato
Kojima was the first to appear in the group. Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team’s Jean Valjamtu Seinbeyar and Youssef Reguigui approached from the left and right, but Kojima finished with a narrow margin. He won in front of his father, who came along with the local cheering squad.
In addition to the stage victory, Kojima won three other awards: the overall leader’s jersey, the points award jersey, and the best Japanese rider award. In particular, the point award for which Bridgestone is the jersey sponsor is said to be a must-win at this tournament.
Naoki Kojima (Team Bridgestone Cycling) wins the leader jersey photo:Satoru Kato
Naoki Kojima: “I thought I had a chance to win if I might stay on Orange Road.”
“I never expected that I would be able to win two consecutive races, but I was really motivated to race through my hometown.I think it was an overachieving result, but I’m honestly happy.The team’s strategy was to win the point prize jersey. My goal was to get the first point award for sure, so I formed a formation and went for it.After that, I expected that even if I might escape, I would be caught by Ushinari Pass, so I gathered my legs and joined the team. I ran with protection. After passing Ushinari Pass, Yamamoto (Tetsuo) caught up with me, but at the last Orange Road, I was alone. If I might survive that climb, everyone else would be at my weight. At the time of the test run, I thought that there would be many runners with light weights, so I had a good chance of winning, so I persevered.
Naoki Kojima’s cheering team rushed in. Photo: Satoru Kato Naoki Kojima’s father also rushed in to support him. Photo: Satoru Kato
Before the final sprint, there were two people in front of me, but if I tried to chase them I would lose my legs, so I held off until the others might chase me. I found someone who was chasing me, so I followed behind them and started a sprint from 3rd place. Yesterday’s criterium was also decided to be a sprint, so I thought I mightn’t afford to lose here, so I took it to the end.
Tomorrow’s Kumamoto will be a tough climb, so I think it will be difficult to maintain the overall lead. Rain is forecast, so I want to finish the race and prepare for the third day without getting timed out. I want to protect my points award jersey with the Bridgestone logo at all costs.”
Kohei Yokotsuka: “It was fun to receive the cheers, give strength, and run away.”
Kohei Yokotsuka (VC Fukuoka), who rode on a breakaway in the first half, finished with Keito Ikeda photo:Satoru Kato
“At the meeting the day before, we climbed immediately following the first sprint award, so if the climbers who are strong in climbing come forward, it becomes difficult to compete, so the pace slackens right following the point award or mountain award, where it is easy to run away. At that time, we were discussing whether to take advantage of someone else’s attack or try our own attack.Then we decided to use our own attack to escape.If we make an escape by deploying, we may not be able to keep up with the pace, but we were able to get on the flat ground and climb. We had a decent number of members, so it was a pretty stress-free experience.
I didn’t really feel like it was because it was the team’s hometown, but there were a lot of people holding VC Fukuoka flags along the road, and I was encouraged by the cheers, and it was fun to run away. Tomorrow the climb will be tougher than today, and it will be difficult to escape like we did today, but I want to meet with the team once more and try to get a better ranking.”
The second stage will be held tomorrow in Kumamoto. The first half of the course passes through the caldera of Mt. Aso, and the second half is a circular course with class 1 mountains. Will the number of participants be narrowed down due to repeated difficult climbs? The weather forecast is rain. Poor conditions are also likely to be a factor in narrowing down the number of groups.
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