– Race of the month –
The 30thedition of the Tour de Okinawa saw Alan Marangoni bow out of professional cycling in style. The Italian rider, racing for the Nippo - Vini Fantini - Europa Ovini team, won the Japanese one-day race in a solo breakaway… signing his first ever professional victory on the final day of his career before retiring. Marangoni attacked out of the lead break to win by 19 seconds over Australian Freddy Ovett (BMC Racing Team) and Chun Kai Feng (Bahrain-Merida).
“A fairytale ending that I have dreamed of many times and that today has become a reality,” Marangoni told the press after his emotional victory.
The Tour de Okinawa took place on November 11th this year. Theclass 1.2 UCI Asia Tour event is raced in the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan, in the south islands of the Japanese archipelago. After ten years as an amateur race, it became professional in 1999, and joined the UCI Asia Tour in 2005. At 210 kilometres, it is among the longest road races in Japan. This year's race began and finished in Nago City, and took riders around the coastline of the northern half of the island of Okinawa.2018 Final Standings1. Alan Marangoni (ITA), Nippo - Vini Fantini - Europa Ovini, 5:05:04 2. Freddy Ovett (AUS), BMC Racing Team at 0:19 3. Chun Kai Feng (TPE), Bahrain-Merida, s.t. 4. Derk Abel Beckeringh (NED,) at 0:50 5. Rei Onondera (JPN), Utsunomiya Blitzend, at 1:29
– UCI Continental Circuits rankings as of December 16th, 2018 –
Individual Rankings UCI Africa Tour - Daryl Impey (RSA) UCI America Tour - Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (COL) UCI Asia Tour - Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) UCI Europe Tour - Alejandro Valverde (ESP) UCI Oceania Tour - Michael Matthews (AUS)
Nation Rankings UCI Africa Tour - South Africa UCI America Tour - Colombia UCI Asia Tour - Kazakhstan UCI Europe Tour - Belgium UCI Oceania Tour - Australia
– Focus on Fumiyuki Beppu (JPN) –
Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek Segafredo) moved into second in the UCI Asia Tour standings in December. He has been in the professional ranks since 2005, beginning with the Discovery Channel team; he has been with Trek since 2014, and is signed through to 2020. In 2018 Beppumade two podium appearances at the Asian Games, winning the silver medal in the road race and bronze in the time trial. At the Asian Continental Championships, he was a member of the Japanese team that won the team time trial title, was second in the road race and fourth in the individual time trial. He has participated in six Grand Tours during his career: four times in the Giro d' Italia, and once each in the Tour de France and Vuelta a España. In 2009, along with Yukiya Arashiro, he became the first Japanese rider to complete the Tour.
Follow Fumiyuki on Instagram.