UAE’s Skydive Dubai are flawless in Tour of Japan stage two

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  • Rafaa Chtioui won the 130.7km stage.

    UAE’s Skydive Dubai continue to take the Asian cycling scene by storm as the team pulled off an impressive one-two in the second stage of the Tour of Japan on Tuesday.

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    Tunisian Rafaa Chtioui and Spanish veteran Francisco Mancebo finished the 130.7km stage first and second respectively to shoot to the top of the General Classification.

    Chtioui, a former World Junior Championship silver medallist, has clocked 3:10:06 and crossed the finish line 15 seconds ahead of his team-mate Mancebo.

    The talented North African has a 20-second advantage over Mancebo in the GC while Drapac Professional Cycling’s Adam Phelan is one second behind in third place.

    “It was a tough stage with steep climbs and a very hard final kilometre,” Skydive Dubai team manager Ricardo Martins told Sport360.

    “Tour of Japan is one of the most important events on the UCI Asia Tour circuit. So it’s a huge achievement for us being in the lead.

    “Rafaa is also the points classification leader while the Skydive Dubai is the leader in the teams classification.

    “It’s another achievement this season where we’ve already had 18 wins, stage wins, classification wins – stage, mountain, youth and team – as well as tour victories.”

    The Emirati outfit have indeed had a successful 2015 thus far with Mancebo winning the Tour of Egypt in January, Chtioui taking three stage wins – in Gabon and Japan, Soufiane Haddi triumphing in stages in Egypt and Morocco as well as other achievements from Edgar Pinto, Andrea Palini and Vladimir Gusev.

    Martins is particularly impressed by the team’s achievements so far, especially with this being just their second professional season.

    “A year and a half ago I was far from imagining that we would have 15 victories in the first season and in this second season already with 18,” said the Portuguese.

    “All the 16 athletes from our team are having amazing performances and our Emirati athletes are showing significant performance and technical improvement.”

    Stage three of the Tour of Japan will see the riders start and finish in Mino, completing 139.4km over six laps.

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