Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked solo to win the 2025 Tour de France Saitama Criterium to close out a successful season in which he finished runner-up at the Tour and won the Vuelta a España.
Vingegaard had created a late attacking move alongside Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), but accelerated to go alone to the line with two kilometres left to race.
Roglič was caught by the chasing group as Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) came through for second after his win in Singapore the week prior. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finished in third place.
“I just slipped, I came in a little too fast and lost control,” Vingegaard said afterwards. “But I wasn’t hurt anywhere, so I was able to get back on quickly.”
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Tour de France stars head to Japan
Several stars of the 2025 Tour de France made the annual trip east to the Tour de France Saitama Criterium in Japan, alongside a number of local riders and others from the WorldTour.
The route took the riders on a 3.5km loop of the city of Saitama, with long straight sections and a couple of short hills to negotiate. The riders would cover 17 laps with a total distance of 59.5km.
A number of attacks rolled off the front of the bunch before being caught, but the decisive move was made in the 15th lap. Vingegaard and Roglič accelerated away alongside Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility).
With five kilometres to go, Vingegaard attacked the group, followed by Roglič. The pair worked together until Vingegaard decided to go solo with two kilometres left. The two-time Tour de France winner kept his lead all the way to the line.
Behind, Roglič was caught as Lidl-Trek set up the sprint for Milan, who was second as Groves completed the podium.
Earlier in the day, a short three-rider team-time-trial was contested over the same course, with Lidl-Trek coming home as winners.
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