Japan Cup 2011

Japan Cup 2011
Host country	Japan
Competition period	October 23, 2011
overall length	151.3 kilometers
Starting field	79 from 10 nations in 15 teams (42 of which arrived at the finish)
winner
Overall rating	1. Nathan Haas 4:08:35 h 2. Taiji Nishitani same time 3. Junya Sano same time
← 2010	2012 →

The 20th Japan Cup (officially: Japan Cup Cycle Road Race ) took place on 23 October 2011 at the Japanese Utsunomiya instead. The one-day race was part of the UCI Asia Tour 2012 and was classified in the 1st HC category within this. The first fifteen drivers thus received points for the Asia ranking list; ProTeams drivers were not entitled to collect points. The total distance of the race was 151.3 kilometers.

Attendees

At the start were four ProTeams , for whom the race marked the end of the 2011 season, nine Continental teams and a Japanese national team. Well-known participating drivers included Ivan Basso from Liquigas-Cannondale , the Swede Gustav Erik Larsson and the Australian Richie Porte from Saxo Bank SunGard , Damiano Cunego from Lampre-ISD , Paolo Tiralongo and Roman Kreuziger from the Pro Team Astana , Yukiya Arashiro from the national team or the Iranians Amir Zargari of Azad University Cross team . Defending champion Daniel Martin was not at the start this year. German-speaking drivers were not at the start.

ProTeams Liquigas-Cannondale Saxo Bank SunGard Lampre ISD Pro team Astana

Continental teams Jelly Belly Cycling Genesys Wealth Advisers Azad University Cross Team Team Nippo Aisan Racing Team

Bridgestone anchor Matrix Powertag Shimano Racing Team Utsunomiya lightning National teams  Japan

Track and course of the race

In the city of Utsunomiya north of Tokyo , the Japan Cup 2011 took place on a 14.1 kilometer circuit that had to be driven ten times. Then there was a final lap of 10.3 kilometers. At the beginning of each lap there was an ascent that had to be overcome about 125 meters in altitude. Towards the end of each lap there was another smaller ascent with about 50 meters of altitude. A total of 151.3 kilometers had to be covered on the topographically not easy route.

Surprisingly, the Australian Nathan Haas from Genesys Wealth Advisers won the race in the sprint of a top group of eleven drivers. A week after winning the Herald Sun Tour in his home country, it was the second important win for Haas within a very short time, which a little later earned him a contract for 2012 with ProTeam Garmin-Cervélo . The Australian defeated the locals Taiji Nishitani and Junya Sano . The best driver of a ProTeam was Damiano Cunego in fourth. Ivan Basso was tenth, a total of four Japanese were among the top ten.

Final score

Result

	driver	nation	team	time	Points Asia tour
1.	Nathan Haas		Genesys Wealth Advisers	4:08:53 h	100
2.	Taiji Nishitani		Aisan Racing Team	same time	70
3.	Junya Sano		Team Nippo	same time	40
4th	Damiano Cunego		Lampre ISD	same time	30 (0)
5.	Yūsuke Hatanaka		Shimano Racing Team	same time	25th
6th	Manuele Mori		Lampre ISD	+ 0:02 min	20 (0)
7th	Damiano Caruso		Liquigas-Cannondale	same time	15 (0)
8th.	Miyataka Shimizu		Bridgestone anchor	+ 0:04 min	10
9.	Cristiano Salerno		Liquigas-Cannondale	+ 0:07 min	9 (0)
10.	Ivan Basso		Liquigas-Cannondale	+ 0:09 min	8 (0)
11.	Yukiya Arashiro		Japan	same time	7th

Web links

• Official website of the race (Japanese)
• Results on the UCI Asia Tour website
• Report on radsport-news.com
• Results and route map on live-radsport.ch