THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Stage 3: Tour de Langkawi: Fukushima finally has his day
It probably won’t be the big break that launches him onto a ProTour team roster. And it is not likely the signal that the dawn of Asian cycling dominance is upon us. But make no mistake about it, the fact that Japan’s Koji Fukushima finally made one of his suicide breaks stick, winning the third stage of the 2005 Tour de Langkawi on Sunday, had plenty of significance.
Outside of last year’s opening stage, which was neutralized before the finish, Fukushima’s win was only the second for an Asian rider in the 10-year history of this 10-day stage race in Malaysia. And for the first time ever, an Asian rider earned legitimate ownership of the race leader’s yellow jersey.
“It’s hugely significant,” said race controller Alan Rushton, who’s been involved with the TdL for eight of its 10 years. “The commercial implications alone are off the charts. We have live TV in Japan for this race everyday. Think what that means after today.”
As usual Fukushima’s heroics began before many of his peers had even broken a sweat. The Bridgestone rider went on the attack right as the peloton rolled under the banner that marked the official start of the 172.5km west-to-east run from Gerik to Tanah Merah, quickly building on an advantage that would eventually balloon to more than 13 minutes. Behind him the peloton could not have cared less, figuring that while Fukushima would probably gobble up the sprint and KoM points on offer during the first stage with any real climbing (two category 1 ascents), he could never hold off the group during the 86kms of downhill and flat terrain that preceded the finish. “No one reacted when he went because he’s been doing that every stage,” admitted Discovery’s Tony Cruz. “Give him credit, though. He pulled it off.”
At the finish Fukushima had given much of his advantage back, but still had a hard fought win and a 2:38 lead in the overall standings. Acqua & Sapone’s Denis Bertolini won the bunch sprint for second, with the Aussie Graeme Brown in third. Only five national team riders lost more than a handful of seconds to the peloton.
Granted Fukushima benefited from a contest of chicken between the race’s top teams, none of which were willing to take up the chase unless others joined in. The showdown started 90km into the race when Ceramica-Panaria team director Roberto Reverberi started making the rounds of the race caravan, trying to solicit assistance in chasing down Fukushima. By then the gap was already above 11 minutes, and Reverberi saw Panaria rider Brown’s hold on the yellow jersey quickly slipping away. More importantly, if the move stuck, Panaria would have no chance of making it three sprint wins in three days.
But despite Reverberi’s best efforts, there was little cohesion in the tenuous agreement he was able to work out with Barloworld and Navigators. And Colombia Selle Italia wasn’t willing to help at all, at least not right away.
“It’s not a problem for us if Koji wins,” Selle Italia team boss Gianni Savio told Navigators Ed Beamon. “We have no sprinter. At the finish we can work for the general classification, but not for the sprint. That is for Panaria.”
Of course Beamon, too, had a stake in the sprint, as his Russian speedster Oleg Grishkine was third in the two opening stages. But Navigators also has a shot at the bigger prize with Colombian climber Cesar Grajales, so Beamon wasn’t willing to sacrifice much. Eventually he would send American Jeff Louder to the front, but instructed him to “not to work too much. Just enough.”
That seemed to be the attitude of all the teams during the pair of moderate climbs through the jungle-covered Titiwangsa Range. No one was going to sacrifice much. No one, except for Fukushima.
The 31-year-old with the infectious smile pounded away at his pedals for mile after mile, seemingly impervious to the scorcher of a day in Southeast Asia. The longtime French amateur circuit racer, who’s in his second year with Bridgestone, was doing his best to prove that teams from outside the traditional cycling factories of Europe and the U.S. could compete on the international stage.
“There’s been a general increase in the performance of the Asian riders over the last couple years, and it’s because they are forming into pro teams,” said Rushton. “The Bridgestone team is a pro team in every sense of the word and they’re getting the results to prove it. They’re well trained, experienced and everything else. With the amateur teams it was like ‘You do this race and you do that race.’ But there was no gelling there.”
On Saturday, that gelling reached a solid state.
“The emotion is too much for me,” said Fukushima, after walking gingerly from the podium presentation to the post-race press conference, the pain of the day on clear display. “Normally my job is too work for others. But this race we really have no set strategy. I do my best and attack. Now I want to keep the jersey as long as I can.”
And while his time in yellow will almost certainly end at Monday’s 20km time trial, the impact of his feat on Sunday will last far longer.
RACE NOTES
Time trial time
While Sunday saw the first real climbing of the 2005 TdL, Monday’s time trial will serve as the first real test. Though only a flat 20.3kms, it should be enough of a challenge to separate contender from pretender.
“After tomorrow we will know who are the strong guys and then you can decide the tactic for the race,” said Discovery Channel director Lorenzo LePage. “We saw good things in training camp from a lot of the guys here, so I have some idea for the rest of this race. But I can’t decide for sure until after the time trial. The time trial never lies and you will see who the good guys are, so then you can say to guys you have to work for him. You cannot say to guys on the first day of the season he is the leader. Everyone can take their chance and after tomorrow you can see who the leader is.”
North American update
Only Navigators Louder lost any time to the bunch on Sunday, surrendering 33 seconds after making tempo for much of the day in the ill-fated chase of Fukushima. The other seven North Americans all sit at 3:00 to the Bridgestone rider going into Monday’s time trial. JERSEY UPDATE
Yellow (Overall): Koji Fukushima (Jpn), Bridgestone
Green (Points): Graeme Brown (Aus), Ceramica-Panaria
Polka Dot (KoM): Koji Fukushima (Jpn), Bridgestone
Blue (Top Asian): Koji Fukushima (Jpn), Bridgestone
NEXT UP: Stage 4 — Bachok Time Trial, 20.3km
Monday brings the first-ever time trial in this eastern town of Bachok. The course is reasonably flat, but at 20.3km it will sort out those who can win the overall from those just here for training.
