Nobeyama is hosting UCI racing in Japan once again, and the picturesque, high altitude mountain town’s race weekend should make the world traveler’s bucket list. We’ve attended, photographed and raced the event in 2011, and it’s grown tremendously since, drawing more foreign star power.
This year, Australian National Champion Lisa Jacobs, Belgian Ben Berden, Tim Johnson and American Zach McDonald were some of the bigger foreign names to make the trip. Last year, Italian National Champions Alice Maria Arzuffi and Gioele Bertolini made the trip to Nobeyama and came home with back-to-back wins. But foreign talent doesn’t guarantee foreign wins, and this year, while Jacobs took home the victory on Day 1, Japan’s National Champion Yu Takenouchi escaped Ben Berden and Kohei Yamamoto for the win. McDonald showed off his typical fast start, but faded at altitude.
Photo slideshow from photographer Kei Tsuji below. See the 2015 Nobeyama Rapha Super Cross Cup highlight video here. Full results below the photos:
Nobeyama Rapha Super Cross Women's Results - Day 1
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lisa JACOBS | AUS | 34 | 44:10:00 | 40 |
| 2 | Eri YONAMINE | JPN | 24 | 45:23:00 | 30 |
| 3 | Miho IMAI | JPN | 28 | 45:48:00 | 20 |
| 4 | Ayako TOYOOKA | JPN | 35 | 46:42:00 | 15 |
| 5 | Waka TAKEDA | JPN | 23 | 46:59:00 | 10 |
| 6 | Seika AINOTA | JPN | 21 | 48:57:00 | 8 |
| 7 | Michiko KAWASAKI | JPN | 37 | 51:49:00 | 6 |
| 8 | Mutsumi SUDOU | JPN | 46 | 4 | |
| 9 | Miyuki NISHIYAMA | JPN | 35 | 2 | |
| 10 | Saya SAKAMOTO | JPN | 26 | 1 | |
| 11 | Keiko AYANO | JPN | 46 | ||
| 12 | Yukie HAYASHIGUCHI | JPN | 42 | ||
| 13 | Orie TAKAHASHI | JPN | 37 | ||
| 14 | Risa YOSHIOKA | JPN | 19 | ||
| 15 | Tomoko YASUDA | JPN | 46 | ||
| 16 | Yuka MIYAZAKI | JPN | 24 | ||
| 17 | Michiho WATANUKI | JPN | 44 |
2015 Nobeyama Rapha Super Cross Elite Men's Results - Day 1
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yu TAKENOUCHI | JPN | 27 | 1:05:00 | 40 |
| 2 | Ben BERDEN | BEL | 40 | 1:05:21 | 30 |
| 3 | Kohei YAMAMOTO | JPN | 30 | 1:05:22 | 20 |
| 4 | Hikaru KOSAKA | JPN | 27 | 1:05:25 | 15 |
| 5 | Toki SAWADA | JPN | 21 | 1:06:34 | 10 |
| 6 | Kyosuke TAKEI | JPN | 37 | 1:06:35 | 8 |
| 7 | Atsushi MARUYAMA | JPN | 37 | 1:07:06 | 6 |
| 8 | Kota YOKOYAMA | JPN | 20 | 1:07:31 | 4 |
| 9 | Yoshitaka NAKAHARA | JPN | 22 | 1:07:51 | 2 |
| 10 | Masanori KOSAKA | JPN | 52 | 1:07:53 | 1 |
| 11 | Yoshitaka HAMA | JPN | 31 | 1:08:17 | |
| 12 | Josh KELLEY | USA | 32 | 1:08:47 | |
| 13 | Masaki YAMADA | JPN | 18 | 1:08:50 | |
| 14 | Hiroaki KANEKO | JPN | 31 | 1:09:03 | |
| 15 | Makoto SHIMADA | JPN | 29 | 1:09:29 | |
| 16 | Motoshi KADOTA | JPN | 39 | 1:09:47 | |
| 17 | Kohei MAEDA | JPN | 21 | 1:09:56 | |
| 18 | Shinya IKEMOTO | JPN | 37 | 1:10:12 | |
| 19 | Shun MATSUMOTO | JPN | 39 | 1:10:19 | |
| 20 | Yoshihide KIMURA | JPN | 21 | 1:10:24 | |
| 21 | Koji MUKOYAMA | JPN | 37 | 1:10:33 | |
| 22 | Yuichi ONDA | JPN | 35 | 1:10:38 | |
| 23 | Mazahiro WATANABE | JPN | 30 | 1:10:49 | |
| 24 | Tomohiro SAITO | JPN | 38 | ||
| 25 | Asahi MIYAZU | JPN | 21 | ||
| 26 | Toshio KUNII | JPN | 38 | ||
| 27 | Yoshinori SUZUKI | JPN | 28 | ||
| 28 | Ryoji TOYA | JPN | 34 | ||
| 29 | Daisuke YAMADA | JPN | 22 | ||
| 30 | Ataru HIGO | JPN | 22 | ||
| 31 | Zach MCDONALD | USA | 24 | ||
| 32 | Takafumi IIZUKA | JPN | 31 | ||
| 33 | Ryoji NEMOTO | JPN | 33 | ||
| 34 | Hiroyuki ONIKATA | JPN | 37 | ||
| 35 | Ryo TAKEUCHI | JPN | 18 | ||
| 36 | Toshihide SATO | JPN | 33 | ||
| 37 | Obuchi KOKI | JPN | 40 | ||
| 38 | Takashi MAKINO | JPN | 42 | ||
| 39 | Yuya MURAYAMA | JPN | 23 | ||
| 40 | Shinji KUBO | JPN | 46 | ||
| 41 | Toshiro HIRAGA | JPN | 31 | ||
| 42 | Fu KANEKO | JPN | 21 | ||
| 43 | Yuki OCHIAI | JPN | 32 | ||
| 44 | Ryu SUZUKI | JPN | 23 | ||
| 45 | Masato SAMATA | JPN | 39 | ||
| 46 | Satoshi INAGAKI | JPN | 30 | ||
| 47 | Yuichi NAKASO | JPN | 29 | ||
| 48 | Makoto KAWAMURA | JPN | 27 | ||
| 49 | Ryota NISHIZONO | JPN | 28 | ||
| 50 | Jin KANAI | JPN | 41 | ||
| 51 | Junichiro HASHIGUCHI | JPN | 37 | ||
| 52 | Hirohiko ITO | JPN | 44 | ||
| 53 | Hisashi MORI | JPN | 41 | ||
| 54 | Yuichi SAWADA | JPN | 46 | ||
| 55 | Shintarou NAKAMA | JPN | 35 | ||
| 56 | Masanori KUNIYOSHI | JPN | 43 | ||
| 57 | Wataru OTSUKA | JPN | 29 | ||
| 58 | Toyoshige IKEYAMA | JPN | 28 | ||
| 59 | Akisumi SUZUKI | JPN | 38 | ||
| 60 | Hiroyuki ANDO | JPN | 40 | ||
| 61 | Natsuki YAMADA | JPN | 47 | ||
| 62 | Shinji IWANAMI | JPN | 44 | ||
| 63 | Ryoichi MASAI | JPN | 41 | ||
| 64 | Maeda NAO | JPN | 35 | ||
| 65 | Kenichi II | JPN | 48 | ||
| 66 | Kouichi MATSUMURA | JPN | 43 | ||
| 67 | Yuji SOGAWA | JPN | 28 | ||
| 68 | Keisuke UZUNNBE | JPN | 24 | ||
| 69 | Makoto SHIMAMOTO | JPN | 41 | ||
| 70 | Suzuki YUSUKE | JPN | 38 | ||
| 71 | Yasumasa SAWADA | JPN | 50 | ||
| 72 | Koudai TAKEDA | JPN | 26 | ||
| 73 | Fitoshi KUNO | JPN | 30 |
