Japan Cup 2008 10/25-26

Seeing as I live near this one, thought I'd ride the 80 odd km to the course and watch Basso make his comeback.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Cup_(cycling)

2007 Manuele Mori Italy Saunier Duval-Prodir
2006 Riccardo Riccò Italy Saunier Duval-Prodir
2005 Damiano Cunego Italy Lampre-Caffita
2004 Patrik Sinkewitz Germany Quick Step-Davitamon
2003 Sergio Barbero (3) Italy Lampre
2002 Sergio Barbero (2) Italy Lampre-Daikin
2001 Gilberto Simoni Italy Lampre-Daikin

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bump. actually looking forward to read if the "clean" basso hurts a bit more after this race than after his giro win.

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"Kick over the statues and the tyrants die. Wave bye bye to their heroes with a hammer."
--The Redskins, Kick Over the Statues

I don't expect Basso to do anything in this race, except reaching the finish line.

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Danger is my life.
-- Flyer's.Finale!

I hope Cunego beats him. Better still I hope a Japanese rider beats them both!

bump

Great race.

Basso is back. Cunego is not gone yet...

small video clip of the last 100m or so I took....

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=9u9xkJ14fNg

Unfortunately I didn't get the last 10m in but you can see Cunego has it all under control....

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Find your ideal riding partner. Anywhere in the world!!!

pretty good result for a rider gone so long, especially since he never was a sprinter anyway. Too bad Lance won't do something like this to give us a sneak peek as how well he's doing.

Likewise.

Well, well, well. Another one of my predictions gets the mark of FAIL. Looking at the results on cyclingnews, it seems like he was sprinting for the win on a very selective course. That's extremely impressive without any race training for two years.

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Danger is my life.
-- Flyer's.Finale!

Basso was well protected as was Cunego for most of the race. They were both very fresh for the last lap.

The 3 man Japanese breakaway worked hard all day and the peloton didn't do much at all to chase them down. It all came apart in the last 2 laps when those that did all the work all day started dropping off. Especially after the 3 man breakaway broke down to 2. Was perfect cycling weather. Cool but not too cool. Overcast but light cloud. No wind.

The race probably needed one other strong rider with different tactics to have made it a harder ride. A Cancellara, De Luka or a Bettini would have added some fun to the race.

I hope they get some more class next year. Seems to be gaining in popularity.

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Japanic, is there a lot of money in the Japan Cup? Always seems to be 'serious' racing, which is interesting so late in the year.

Also, impressive ride by Basso. He came out and made it very clear in interviews here in Italy that he was overjoyed to have been able to ride with the brand new winner of the Giro di Lombardia...

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De Rosa Planet
Campagnolo Per Sempre!
PAOLO BETTINI CAMPIONE DEL MONDO x 2!

There are good sponsors but I don't know how much money changes hands. It is also the end of the racing season for most riders and they put on a big end of season party after the race. I heard that Cunego was looking forward to the party.
I also spoke to Fukashima Koji (wasn't racing that day) who also said he was looking forward to the party. Fukushima Shinichi (Koji's brother) was in the 3 man break away that was out in front for the first 11 laps of the race.

I'll try and find out for you what the prize money was.

SUBARU seem to be a big sponsor of all the main races in Japan and their pressence at this race was huge. I actually bought a SUBARU last year probably due to their support of cycling in Japan
.

A lot of the big name bicycle companies had stands too... Giant, Trek, Specialised, etc. The Japanese buy expensive top of the range bikes so it's important that the big cycling companies support the Japanese races. Probably more money being spent on cycling in Japan than any other country I can think of.

It's a shame there aren't more high level races in Japan.

The Tour of Japan in May doesn't attract many pros but seems to be a good tour for launching the careers of the young Aussies.

The Basso Cunego battle probably has elevated this race into the spot light and I'm hoping it will pull in some more big teams next year.

I'm going to get up there much earlier next year and stake out a prime location for the final sprint. On the 2nd last lap and the finish line there were still good spots... On the last lap the crowd just swarmed in and it was hard to find anywhere with a view of the road.

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Find your ideal riding partner. Anywhere in the world!!!