Skydive Dubai’s Rafaa Chtioui retains lead in Tour of Japan

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  • The UAE's Skydive Dubai team with GC leader Rafaa Chtioui in blue. Photo credit: Catarina Cycle Parts.

    Skydive Dubai’s Rafaa Chtioui successfully retained his lead in the Tour of Japan while Nicolas Marini of Nippo-Vini Fantini won stage three.

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    The third stage of the 2.1 category tour saw the riders pedal through 139.4km, starting and finishing in Mino.

    Marini triumphed in the bunch sprint finish, clocking 3:32:18, with Chtioui and his team-mate Francisco Mancebo arriving at the same time.

    Chtioui, a Tunisian rider who is a former silver medallist at the World Junior Championships, hung on to his general classification jersey and now leads second-placed Mancebo by 19 seconds, with Drapac Professional Cycling’s Adam Phelan 23 seconds off the pace.

    Stage 3 winner. CREDIT: Catarina Cycle Parts.

    The North African also leads the points classification with 27 points – two more than Marini, who has shot up to second after his win yesterday.

    “I’m really happy to be the leader of this Tour of Japan, also to win a stage. Happy for myself, happy for the team… my team did a really good job yesterday for the win and also today to control the race. It’s really great to have these kind of days in the season,” Chtioui told Sport360°.

    “The Tour of Japan is one of the most important races in the Asia Tour. It’s one of the biggest, a professional race, it’s a 2.1. It’s a really hard race, there are strong teams. It’s not easy to win or have the leader’s jersey. I like this race because I know it’s a famous one, so I’m really motivated and that’s what gives me the plus to make a difference yesterday. It’s a really important race not just for Asian teams but for European teams as well.

    “About winning the whole tour, it’s really hard. There is a mountain stage coming up, it’s a really short stage, so it will be hard for me to keep the jersey because it’s not my specialty. It’s a short race with 13km of mountains, it will be really hard. But we are hopeful to keep the leader’s jersey in our team with Mancebo or any of our other riders.”

    Skydive Dubai are top of the teams classification, Phelan is in the Best Young Rider jersey, while Nippo-Vini Fantini’s Mattia Pozzo has the King of the Mountains jersey.

    The tour, which concludes on Sunday in Tokyo, resumes with stage four, a 123.6km trek from Minami to Shinshu.

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