The Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) has put an end to his season with the victory in the Saitama criterium by winning in the final, after a tough fight, the American Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma).
Pogacar, who set a time of 1h23:03 (42.956 km/h), took the lead on the climb at the exit of a tunnel prior to the finish line and ended the resistance of the North American runner, who, broken, had no choice. to give in and arrive with a disadvantage of a second.
The Slovenian Peter Sagan completed the podium, 16 seconds behind, and the large group was led, 20 seconds behind, by the British Mark Cavendish, who surpassed the Frenchman Axel Zingle in the lead. The Spaniards José Vicente Toribio (sixteenth) and Pello Bilbao (twenty-seventh) arrived in this package.
