The JCL Team Ukyo resumes its Asian calendar with the Tour de Taiwan, a race that has already provided satisfaction to the Japanese team with a training base also in Italy.
The competition takes place over five stages, scheduled from March 16 to 20. The route offers several opportunities for sprinters: the general classification could be decided by time bonuses and breakaways.
The JCL Team Ukyo fields an Italo-Japanese lineup for the Tour de Taiwan. Yuma Koishi returns to the Asian competition a year after his second place in the general classification, on a harder course than this year's.
Alongside him will be Masaki Yamamoto, already very active at the start of the season with two breakaways at the AlUla Tour and fifth place in the Asian Championships road race.
The team's sprinter is Andrea D'Amato, perfect for several finishes of the Tour de Taiwan. In his first races with the JCL Team Ukyo, the 2002-born rider has already collected a fourth-place stage finish at the Tour of Oman and a tenth place at the AlUla Tour.
Completing the team's roster are Nicolò Garibbo and Simone Raccani, suitable for the rolling terrain of the second and third stages.
The route of the Tour de Taiwan 2025 presents fewer difficulties than the previous edition. The first and last stages, with finishes at Taipey City Hall and Liudui Hakka Cultural Park respectively, are completely flat and will be opportunities for sprinters.
The classification could therefore be decided during the second stage, with the finish at Green Pond Park preceded by a 2.1 km climb with an average gradient of around 6% that ends 4 km from the finish. The next stage is rolling, with two mountain primes (a first category climb of 11 km at 4.5% and a second category climb of 800 meters at 5.9%): the latter ends 19 km from the finish and could encourage some attacks towards the Shingang Visitor Information Center.
The fourth stage, from Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum to Kaohsiung National Stadium, is challenging and demanding in the first part, but will likely be decided by a sprint given that the last 60 km are essentially flat.
Second in last year's Tour de Taiwan, Yuma Koishi is ready for this year: "The Tour de Taiwan is a beautiful race. Last year I finished second in the general classification, and I was very happy with the result. This year the route will be a bit different, the third and fourth stages will be flatter in the finale, so we won't know until the end how it might go. I'll try to improve this year. I think we have a strong team in sprints, with D'Amato."
Andrea D'Amato is also aware of having good opportunities: "I want to get good results here at the Tour de Taiwan. On paper, I can do well in all five stages. I'll try to do my best in the sprints, the team is really very motivated."
These are the five stages of the Tour de Taiwan 2025:
Stage 1: Taipey City Hall > Taipey City Hall (83.2 km)
Stage 2: Tayouan City Hall > Green Pond Park (123.31 km)
Stage 3: Baozhong Yiming Temple, Xinpu > Shingang Visitor Information Center (154.3 km)
Stage 4: Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum > Kaohsiung National Stadium (146.44 km)
Stage 5: Meinong Hakka Cultural Museum > Liudui Hakka Cultural Park (121.41 km)
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