photo credits @ Le Tour
This year’s criterium saw riders set off from the Super Arena to face 17 laps around a 3.5 km circuit through the streets of Saitama, with the a series of attacks coming from Japanese teams in an effort to form the day’s first breakaway, moves that were closely marked by Valentin Paret-Peintre, as the Mont Ventoux stage winner from earlier this summer showed he still had plenty of strength left.
In the final laps, a powerful breakaway finally emerged, consisting of Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic, Tim Wellens and Jonas Abrahamsen, with quartet quickly becoming the duo of just Roglic and Vingegaard, which later turned into a solo effort after the two-time Tour winner (2022 and 2023) broke away from his former teammate during the final lap.
From there, the Dane easily rode to victory, holding off any late attacks.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Milan and his striking green jersey had to settle for second place ahead of Kaden Groves.
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