Japan Cup 2012
| Japan Cup Cycle Road Race 2012 | |
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| Host country |
 Japan
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| Competition period | October 21, 2012 |
| overall length | 151.3 kilometers |
| Starting field | 68 drivers from 14 nations in 14 teams (39 of them arrived at the finish) |
| winner | |
| Overall rating | 1. Ivan Basso 4:01:58 h 2. Daniel Martin same time 3. Rafał Majka same time  
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| ← 2011 | 2013 → |
The 21 Japan Cup (officially: Japan Cup Cycle Road Race ) took place on 21 October 2012 at the Japanese Utsunomiya instead. The one-day race was part of the UCI Asia Tour 2013 and was classified in the highest category 1.HC within it. The first fifteen drivers thus received points for the Asia ranking list; ProTeams drivers were not entitled to collect points.
Attendees
At the start there were four ProTeams and a Professional Continental team , for whom the race marked the end of the 2012 season, seven Continental teams and two national teams. Well-known participating drivers included Ivan Basso and Peter Sagan from Liquigas-Cannondale , Daniel Martin , Christophe Le Mével and defending champion Nathan Haas (all Garmin-Sharp ) and the local Fumiyuki Beppu from Orica GreenEdge . German speaking drivers did not start.
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Track and course of the race
In the city of Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo , the Japan Cup 2012 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. Each lap started with the ascent to Kogashi, where about 125 meters of altitude had to be overcome. 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.
About twenty kilometers from the finish, the final group of four with Daniel Martin , Ivan Basso , Rafał Majka ( Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank ) and Julián Arredondo ( Team Nippo ) broke up on the Kogashi climb . The quartet was able to develop a lead of 46 seconds over their closest rival Christian Meier ( Orica GreenEdge ). In the final sprint, Basso prevailed ahead of Martin on the upward stretch of the home straight and celebrated his first win of the season in the last race of the year. It was also the last success for the Liquigas-Cannondale team in its previous form, as the long-term sponsor Liquigas withdrew at the end of the season.
Final score
| driver | nation | team | time | Points Asia tour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ivan Basso |
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Liquigas-Cannondale | 4:01:58 h | 100 (0) |
| 2. | Daniel Martin |
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Garmin-Sharp | same time | 70 (0) |
| 3. | Rafał Majka |
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Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | same time | 40 (0) |
| 4th | Julián Arredondo |
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Team Nippo | same time | 30th |
| 5. | Christian Meier |
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Orica GreenEdge | + 0:46 min | 25 (0) |
| 6th | Miyataka Shimizu |
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Bridgestone anchor | + 0:59 min | 20th |
| 7th | Simon Clarke |
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Orica GreenEdge | same time | 15 (0) |
| 8th. | Christophe Le Mével |
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Garmin-Sharp | + 1:38 min | 10 (0) |
| 9. | Yūsuke Hatanaka |
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Shimano Racing Team | + 1:39 min | 9 |
| 10. | Nathan Haas |
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Garmin-Sharp | + 1:39 min | 8 (0) |
| 11. | Masahiro Shinagawa |
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Aisan Racing Team | + 1:39 min | 7th |
| 12. | Taiji Nishitani |
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Aisan Racing Team | + 1:39 min | 6th |
| 13. | Damiano Caruso |
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Liquigas-Cannondale | + 1:39 min | 5 (0) |
| 14th | Tomoyuki Iino |
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Utsunomiya lightning | + 1:39 min | 4th |
| 15th | François Parisien |
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SpiderTech-C10 | + 1:39 min | 3 |
| 16. | Fumiyuki Beppu |
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Orica GreenEdge | + 1:39 min | 0 |
| 17th | Jarosław Marycz |
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Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank | + 1:39 min | 0 |
