Japan

37-year old Fortunato Baliani invested forty minutes and twenty three seconds of his life and got 18 seconds back. Though other riders got better relative returns in today’s 11.4 kilometer mass-start hill climb up Fujisan, the...

Whether it’s circuit races in industrial zones, or sterile city-to-city stages, some of the racing in this season’s AsiaTour has lacked a certain optical energy. This has been most evident when a parcours is the product of...

Can a 150 meter climb be a decisive element of a 148 kilometer stage? Surely not! What if those 148 kilometers were the aggregate of a 12.2km circuit completed 12 times, with that same climb featuring...

Former Giro d’Italia stage runner-up Maximiliano Richeze presented Team Nippo its first Tour of Japan stage win from a clean bunch sprint in Mino city (Gifu Prefecture) today, following the calculated capture of a plucky local duo...

2012 Tour Down Under stage winner Will Clarke has given his Champion System Pro Cycling team a much-needed victory in its home region, winning today’s Tour of Japan prologue in Sakai. Better yet, teammate Cameron Wurf...

Following visits to Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Korea and Iran, the 2012 UCI AsiaTour finally lands in Japan; one of Asia’s true cycling culture centers. Having missed 2011 due to Japan’s natural disasters, Tour...

As professional road cycling continues to spread its global wings, it has been fascinating to witness the number of Asian, Australian and Kiwi cyclists breaking into the top echelon of professional road cycling; sometimes via quite long...

Consistently amongst the top three UCI AsiaTour nations, Japan has been a force within the professional road cycling scene long before 2005, when the UCI Continental Circuits calendar was born. Regional success aside, Japan still punches...

As the highest of Japan’s three Holy Mountains, Mt Fuji is a national icon, a tourist drawcard and a breathtaking example of evolution that ranks it amongst the earth’s finest natural features. Anyone who stands before...

Last year’s March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan abruptly ended the lives of thousands and profoundly impacted the lives of millions. Almost one year later, recovery efforts continue. A collaboration between Chris King and...