Nicolas Marini is the winner, preceding Bonifazio, of the opening criterium at SAKAI, before the Tour of Japan. A good signal looking to next sprint arrivals.
The team NIPPO Vini Fantini is well doing in the Giro d’Italia and begin in the best way also the Tour of Japan. Today it was the opening Criterium, but the desire to begin in the best way as possible was a lot. The demonstration is the victory of the young italian talent Nicolas Marini, preceding Bonifazio of the Lampre, the other italian team in Japan.
The Tour of Japan is a very important race in the calendar for the Italian-Japanese team, and the sponsor delegation of the NIPPO and ENEOS now in Italy in these days could appreciate both the Cunego action at Giro d’Italia, with the great work of Manabu Ishibashi for the team and this morning know that the first winner of the Tour of Japan criterium is from NIPPO Vini Fantini.
Nicolas Marini is happy about the race: “I know it is only an opening criterium, but a race is a race, and all riders want always to compete to be the first. I was missing how it feels to be under the arrival line before all other riders, and its great. I am really happy and honored that this happened here in Japan, where for the team and the sponsor is very important to win. Now we are yet looking forward to next races. Personally I think that the Wednesday stage and the last one in Tokyo are the most suitable to me, but we will see with the team what will be the strategy to try to win again.