Press Release: South Australia’s Jack Bobridge has given Team AIS it’s third stage win in the Tour of Japan with his victory in 148km fourth stage in Minami Shinsu.
20 year old Bobridge won a four-up sprint across the finish line after being in a break away for more than 90 kilometres. Bobridge had launched his attack after an earlier group, including his team mate Adam Semple was reeled in by the bunch. Croatian Matija Kvasina (Amica Chips – Knauf) joined Bobridge and the pair forged a lead that at one point was close to five minutes.
On the final lap the main field, led by the Kazakhstan National Team, almost brought the pair back but they held on. As the lead duo reached the top of the climb for the final time, about nine kilometres from the finish, they were joined by Spaniard Sergio Bellon Pardilla (Carmiooro – A Style) and Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ).
"It was pretty hard circuit," said Bobridge of the loop they covered 12 times. "The climb was in two parts, you went up for around a kilometre and then a little descent before the second half of the climb which was pretty steep."
"We could see from the time board that they (Fofonov and Pardillo) were coming but I just nailed it to get to the top before they caught us and then I just sat on them to recover a bit," said Bobridge. "I didn’t have to work as I’d been away all day and both Fofonov and Pardilla were pretty keen to work hard to try and improve their overall standing."
"Pardillo went early to try and get the win and I jumped on him," said Bobridge. "The Amica guy (Kvasina) was on my wheel but I got around Pardillo and won fairly comfortably."
Team Director, Brian Stephens, says he didn’t expect Jack to deliver the win.
"He was away for more than 90 kilometres on a really, really hard course and I didn’t think he’d have the legs to do the job on the line," said Stephens. "But if Jack gets a sniff of a win he seems to grow another leg."
"I think I picked right day to flog myself since tomorrow’s a rest day," said a happy but exhausted Bobridge.
The chase to reel in the leaders decimated the bunch but Team AIS riders, Michael Matthews and Travis Meyer stayed in contention with Matthews leading home the second group for fifth place and Meyer crossing in the same group. The Australian pair are still sitting in the top five with Fofonov the new Tour leader. (please note official results were not available at time of issue – visit the Tour of Japan website for Stage 4 results and the overall time gaps after Stage 4 or check the Cycling Australia site where this story will be updated when results are available)
Thursday’s rest day will be a welcome chance for the riders to prepare for Friday’s brutal mountain time trial on Mount Fuji. The 11.4km stage has a ten percent gradient and is likely to decide the Tour.
Source: Cycling Australia
