Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) claimed his second straight victory in the Japan Cup Criterium on Saturday.
The Belgian rider got the better of Cofidis puncheur Axel Zingle, who has had a breakthrough season, in the bunch sprint.
Home favourite Atsushi Oka, who rides for the EF Education Development team but has been called up to the WorldTour squad, grabbed the final spot on the podium.
The Japan Cup Criterium is a tune-up event ahead of Sunday’s main attraction, the Japan Cup road race.
Theuns now has two straight titles but two in four years, given the Japan Cup didn’t take place in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After 15 laps of a 2.25km circuit around Utsunomiya City, Theuns emerged victorious after edging out Frenchman Zingle.
Sunday’s road race is a much hillier affair, totalling 144.2km over 14 laps of a 10.3km circuit that features the Koga Shirindo climb.
The top three from the Criterium will all be in action, with Trek-Segafredo, Cofidis, and EF among five WorldTour teams, the others being Bahrain Victorious and Lotto Soudal.
Zingle is joined at Cofidis by Guillaume Martin, while other favourites include Giuliop Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), and Neilson Powless (EF).
| Position | Rider (Country) Team | |
| 1 | Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo | |
| 2 | Axel Zingle (Fra) Cofidis | |
| 3 | Atsushi Oka (Jap) EF Education-EasyPost |
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