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Tour of Japan
Race details
Date	May
Region	Japan
English name	Tour of Japan
Local name(s)	ツアー・オブ・ジャパン (in Japanese)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI Asia Tour 2.2
Type	Stage race
Organiser	Cycle Month Promotion Council
Race director	Goro Murayama
Web site	www.toj.co.jp
History
First edition	1996
Editions	26 (as of 2024)
First winner	Jean-Philippe Duracka (FRA)
Most wins	Fortunato Baliani (ITA); Samad Pourseyedi (IRI); Óscar Pujol (ESP); ; Nathan Earle (AUS); (2 wins)
Most recent	Giovanni Carboni (ITA)

The Tour of Japan is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Japan since 1996 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.1 category race.

History

Tour of Japan was formed as the successor of the Kokusai Cycle Road Race which began in 1982.^[1] In 1996, Tour of Japan began as a UCI category 2-5 stage race,^[2] and became category 2–4 in 1997. It was downgraded to category 2–5 in 2002.^[3]

As the UCI race system was reformed in 2005, it was included in the UCI Asia Tour as a category 2.2 event. It became a category 2.1 event in 2013.

The race has only been cancelled three times in its history. The 2003 edition was canceled for concern over the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak, and the 2011 edition was canceled because of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The 2020 edition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2021 edition was held as a class 2.2 event and a three-day stage race with all domestic teams, exempted by the UCI from the mandatory invitation of foreign teams under Japan's international travel restrictions. The 2022 edition was held as a four-stages, class 2.2 event. It restored the eight-stages class 2.1 form in 2023. The 2024 edition was held as the eight-stages, class 2.2 event.

Past winners

General classification

Year	Country	Rider	Team
1996	France	Jean-Philippe Duracka	France (national team)
1997	United States	Bart Bowen	Saturn
1998	United States	Frank McCormack	Saturn
1999	Poland	Andrzej Sypytkowski	Mróz
2000	Switzerland	Mauro Gianetti	Vini Caldirola-Sidermec
2001	Poland	Paweł Niedźwiecki	Mróz–Supradyn Witaminy
2002	Ukraine	Oleksandr Klymenko	Mróz–Supradyn Witaminy
2003	No race due to the SARS outbreak
2004	Japan	Shinichi Fukushima	Bridgestone Anchor
2005	Colombia	Félix Cárdenas	Barloworld
2006	Ukraine	Vladimir Duma	C.B. Immobiliare–Universal Caffè
2007	Italy	Francesco Masciarelli	Acqua & Sapone–Caffè Mokambo
2008	Australia	Cameron Meyer	SouthAustralia.com–AIS
2009	Spain	Sergio Pardilla	Carmiooro A Style
2010	Italy	Cristiano Salerno	De Rosa–Stac Plastic
2011	No race due to the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
2012	Italy	Fortunato Baliani	Team Nippo
2013	Italy	Fortunato Baliani	Team Nippo–De Rosa
2014	Iran	Samad Pourseyedi	Tabriz Petrochemical Team
2015	Iran	Samad Pourseyedi	Tabriz Petrochemical Team
2016	Spain	Óscar Pujol	Team Ukyo
2017	Spain	Óscar Pujol	Team Ukyo
2018	Spain	Marcos García	Kinan Cycling Team
2019	Australia	Chris Harper	Team BridgeLane
2020	No race due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Japan	Nariyuki Masuda	Utsunomiya Blitzen
2022	Australia	Nathan Earle	Team Ukyo
2023	Australia	Nathan Earle	JCL Team Ukyo
2024	Italy	Giovanni Carboni	JCL Team Ukyo

Notes

^ Murayama, Goro (March 2013). 日本における自転車ロードレース『ツアー・オブ・ジャパン』の歴史 [The history of the bicycle road race in Japan, about "Tour of Japan"] (PDF). 自転車文化センター研究報告書 (in Japanese) (5). Bicycle Culture Center.
^ "2001 6th Tour of Japan". Tour of Japan Organizing Committee. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
^ NEXT TOJ 〜TOJの歴史を振り返る〜 Vol.68. 2017-04-09. Retrieved 2017-04-27.