Neilson Powless (EF Education-Easypost) took his second victory at the 1.Pro ranked Utsunomiya Japan Cup Road Race on Sunday, launching his sprint early to beat his break companions to the line after an attack-heavy final 5km.
Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-Quickstep), who had to fight his way back to the lead group on the final lap, came second. Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) was third in the 144.2km race run over 14 laps of the 10.3km Utsunomiya City Forest Park circuit.
The podium was settled among the riders from a break of five that formed when the race was around two-thirds of the way through. Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) came fourth and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-Quickstep) was fifth, tailing off slightly after having launched a late attack that Powless used to his advantage.
"Second win in Japan Cup," the 2022 and 2024 winner said in an interview broadcast on the race Youtube livestream. "This time it was a lot more tactical because there were five of us coming to the finish line.
"I knew I was pretty confident in my sprint but in the end, it was tricky as QuickStep had two riders, so when Vansevenant attacked I knew it was the perfect moment to use it and jump in his draft.
"I just had to wait until close to the end and I really opened my sprint with about 300m to go. It was really far out but I still felt quite good, so it was a nice victory."
For Powless it wasn't just his second Japan Cup victory, but also his second this month with the rider from the United States opening up his win tally for the season at Gran Piemonte on October 10.
How it unfolded
The Japan Cup, which first ran in 1992, is the top UCI-ranked road event in Japan, The race which works its way past the Akagawa Dam and delivers a total of 2,590m of elevation gain through the 14 laps on the 10.3km loop. The bulk of the climbing comes in a winding uphill section through Kogashi Forest Road soon after the start.
Just as the climbing started early, so did the action within the field of 108, with a group of riders quick to take advantage of the uphill straight from the gun. Andrea Pasqualon (Bahrain-Victorious) opened up the attacks but the peloton was determined not to capitulate quite so early, keeping the race largely intact to the top of the first ascent. However, the gap was then established on the long descent.
It started as a group of six – Pasqualon, Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), Masai Yamamoto (JCL Team UKYO), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Hamish Beadle (Novo Nordisk) and Iribe Shotaro (Shimano), but before long it was down to four. Beadle and Shotaro fell away and back to the peloton, which was just over 30 seconds behind. The others held out front longer, but the early break didn’t last with the remaining break members reeled back in during the fourth lap.
After that, the attacks kept coming, with the aggressors including Anthony Perez (Cofidis) and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) on the descent, plus the attrition within the peloton also continued. Still, it wasn’t until the ninth lap that a move that lasted started to form.
It was first a group of nine that then fluctuated, with a number joining from the now shattered peloton while others launched off the front. By the eleventh lap, Powless and Woods had capitalised on the climb to launch off the front, with Mohorič, Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-Quickstep) and his teammate Mauri Vansevenant utilising the downhill to then make the junction.
By the time the lead group of five had 20km to go, just inside the final two laps, the gap to the next chase had stretched out to closer to a minute. The quintet out front also held the gap as the bell rang for the final lap and then on the last climb to the KOM point both Van Wilder and Mohorič dangled, though the Bahrain-Victorious rider battled to keep the lead three within sight, quickly rejoining on the descent.
At 5km to go, with Van Wilder still in pursuit, the lead group of four started looking at each other, giving the Soudal-Quickstep rider a chance to rejoin the group that also included his teammate Vansevenant. Rather than just slotting in, he rode right on by, opening up a volley of attacks. The five kept battling to the line.
Powless ultimately triumphed in the tactical battle at the end of the mild and sunny edition of the event, quite a contrast to the conditions of last year, when Rui Costa won a rain-soaked edition of the race.
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