![\"Japan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4.png\")
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News & Racing<\/a><\/p>\n Japan has the money, the riders, and the races, but isn’t producing WorldTour talent.<\/p>\n Cor Vos<\/p>\n Shimano, Bridgestone, Panasonic, Panaracer, PEdALED. The list goes on. Japan is home to many of the world’s largest cycling brands. Its domestic road racing scene is busy, too, with a swell of young cyclists getting into the sport every year. The money is there, as are the potential stars. So why isn\u2019t Japan a major force in professional cycling?<\/p>\n There are currently no Japanese riders in the men’s or women’s WorldTour fields, and the nation does not host a WorldTour race. As cycling continues its globalisation, with impressive growth in India, Mexico, China, parts of Africa and elsewhere, Japan seems to be perfectly placed to jump on that trend.<\/p>\n Japan\u2019s national tour took place last week, with an iconic queen stage finish on Mount Fuji preceding a dazzling sprint finish on the streets of Tokyo. It\u2019s a race that can capture the imagination, but it also reveals several unseen challenges that prevent this sleeping giant from producing major talents on the world stage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Big plans afoot for cycling in India as \u2018world\u2019s first\u2019 franchise cycling league to launch<\/p>\n New competition to build on the back of the success of the Pune Grand Tour, with the UCI hinting at future plans for a world championships in India.<\/p>\n This year, the Tour of Japan was won by former Bora-Hansgrohe rider Matteo Fabbro, who proved himself a class apart on Mount Fuji and took advantage of his Solution Tech-NIPPO-Rali squad\u2019s power on the stage 3 team time trial. The Italian team were the only professional outfit in the race, facing off against Asia\u2019s best continental teams and a smattering of smaller Japanese teams.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mount Fuji stage was the key stage, and the most important thing was not losing time on the other stages. That’s how you win this race. But I have to say, the Mount Fuji stage was incredibly hard,\u201d Fabbro said<\/a> after the final day in Tokyo. \u201cTour of Japan is a great race and I really enjoyed racing here.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from the two key GC stages and an opening prologue, the rest of the race comprised of several sprint opportunities. After shocking WorldTour sprinters at the Tour of the Alps in April, Italian Tommaso Dati took three stages in his UKYO team\u2019s home race. Countryman Nicol\u00f2 Garibbo took another win for the team on stage 2. Australian Oscar Gallagher of CCACHExBODYWRAP and Germany\u2019s Lucas Carstensen, riding for KINAN rounded out the list of stage winners.<\/p>\n This post is for paying subscribers only Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n \n \ud83d\udc4dYep![\"Dan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DanChallis.jpeg\")
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