Ireland's Dan Martin of Garmin-Transitions won the Japan Cup one-day race today in Utsunomiya. The 24-year-old finished ahead of Australian Peter McDonald and Japan's Yusuke Hatanaka.
"When we decided to attack with three laps remaining, I thought it was a little early, but it helped having two team-mates in the group behind," Martin told Cyclowired. "Also, the cheers from the roadside helped me get over the pain. I'm very grateful to the fans."
Two weeks ago, Martin finished second at the Giro dell'Emilia to Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and in August, won a stage and overall of the Tour of Poland.
The Japan Cup was held north of Tokyo, in Utsonomiya, where Belgian Rudy Dhaenens won the 1990 World Championships. The riders completed 10 laps of 14.1-kilometre circuit and then a final of 10.3 kilometres.
Martin was supported throughout the race by his Garmin-Transitions team-mates, including Johan Van Summeren. He made his winning solo move on the Kogashi climb with three laps to race, nearly 37 kilometres from the line.
Martin held 30 seconds at the top of the climb, and this gap grew to 57 seconds over McDonald by the finish.
"Martin's attack was early than expected," said McDonald. "I was situated behind the group and caught off guard."
The Japan Cup is in its 19th year and includes Damiano Cunego, Gilberto Simoni and Claudio Chiappucci as past winners. It is a challenging race that often decided on the Tsuru climb near the finish.
Last year, Dane Chris Sørensen (Saxo Bank) won ahead of Spaniard Daniel Moreno.
More to come...
Results
1 Daniel Martin IRL GRM 4:02:28
2 Peter Mcdonald AUS DPC +57
3 Yusuke Hatanaka JPN SMN +57
4 Taiji Nishitani JPN AIS +57
5 Shinri Suzuki JPN SMN +57
6 Takashi Miyazawa JPN PPO +57
7 Johannes Fröhlinger GER MRM +57
8 Anders Lund DEN SAX +57
9 Yukiya Arashiro JPN BTL +57
10 Luca Mazzanti ITA KAT +57
11 Thomas Peterson USA GRM +1:01
12 Shinichi Fukushima JPN GGA +1:01
13 Masahiro Shinagawa JPN AIS +1:03
14 Junya Sano JPN PPO +1:10
15 Kenji Itami JPN BGT +1:56
16 Yukihiro Doi JPN JPN +1:58
17 Timothy Duggan USA GRM +2:00
18 Kazuo Inoue JPN PPO +2:15
19 Jure Golcer SLO DER +2:20
20 Cristiano Salerno ITA DER +2:24