Onoda and Imaizumi catch the front of the race, rewarding Naruko's efforts. Midousuji gets frustrated at a revived Sohoku team.
Line.19 - "The Approaching Peak"
Hmm.
It's too bad Midousuji can only come up with negative nicknames. Calling Imaizumi "Crackizumi" was pretty good. We already know that for the competitors he respects, he just calls them by their actual names. Manami is just Manami, because he doesn't know him well enough to call him Sangaku, but Onoda is Sakamichi. That comes from respect, fear, and intimacy. Since Midousuji can only do negative nicknames, I'll do a positive one for Onoda - "Gluekamichi," because he stuck the damaged Imaizumi back together.
Imaizumi had been beating himself up most of the day because he thought he made the wrong decision in waiting for Teshima instead of following Naruko's wheel as he attached himself to the front group. But Onoda, in the way only an otaku can follow convoluted anime logic, pieced together how Imaizumi's one decision to wait started the domino effect of bringing the entire team back together.
I've already talked about how pro team tactics advocate placing a single rider up the road to help the team in the final catch before the end of the stage, and that's how things played out here, to dramatic effect with Naruko reaching his limit. For the purposes of Sohoku, the rule is always that their team rides best when they ride together. Hopefully Imaizumi is integrating that ethic into his development as the next Super Ace in the style of Kinjou. If he's really serious about that, he needs to work on his bro fist and wear some sunglasses...
Anyway, it was good to see Imaizumi be grateful to have "Gluekamichi" with him on that final climb. One other thing that stuck in my mind was how Imaizumi's bike frame got a crack in it on the last climb of the last stage last year. That eliminated him from having final redemption against Midousuji from all the years of junior racing. This year, Midousuji cracked his spirit, but having good teammates and THE NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN makes effecting repairs on the road much easier. Now, let's see Imaizumi get some racing personality besides needing to get to front for some peace and quiet.
Heh.
Ooh. Lots of story to tell this episode. No 2 minute recap; just straight to the opening credits.
Onoda and Imaizumi have already passed the Kumamoto guys. I guess we don't need to see their broken faces.
Yay! Imaizumi is finally dealing with shortcomings on the day and overcoming his broken spirit.
Ha. He says he's not mature enough to be an ace that can sit back and get towed to the front. Onoda was plenty rested since he conserved his strength will all his might for a climbing race with Manami that didn't happen.
Aw. Toudou sees a tailwind coming up the mountain, which would have been ideal for Manami to fly, but he heard that the race situation had already set up for the finish line. No need to stay up there since the title of Mountain King wouldn't be decided between Onoda and Manami.
Naruko is on his limit and he's just holding out for Imaizumi to get to the front.
Midousuji sure does love bumping people where judges can't see it. In a bunch sprint, this is fine. Incidental contact can't be avoided in those situations, but two riders on a climb? That's a time penalty and Mountain Points relegation.
Here it comes! The Catch! Those are looks of despair from the other teams, not surprise. THE NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN, the Mountain King, is leading his ace to the top. There is nothing that can be done in this situation, and they know it.
Tag out. Naruko did his job. Pro effort.
Grossuji didn't count on Gluekamichi to put Crackizumi back together.
Oh. Imaizumi does a zip up maneuver like Izumida? Is this going to be his thing from now on?
Har. Midousuji is now playing mindgames on Mizuta to ride him as far as he can go. He knows exactly how to motivate him too. Such a simple soul, this Braces-kun.
Oho. Yuuto and Ashikiba are talking tactics about needing the mountain sprint line to be the finish line because of the descent and Sohoku is saying the same thing. The difference? THE NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN is going to do it from further out.
Blammo. Instant catch! That's right Yuuto. THE NATIONAL CHAMPION OF JAPAN is the Mountain God, not the Mountain King. Worse yet, you're only seeing him in phase two, where he rides faster for his friends. You haven't seen him smile yet.
I like this version of Ashikiba. He's assertive and decisive, not airheaded at all. He really is the ace of Hakone.
Yuuto is starting to see how far away he is from where the Mountain God rides.
Watch out. Onoda is starting to smile. This is his sad smile too, where he's having fun riding, but he knows the race is going to be over soon because he's just going to beat you.
Nice. Makishima was there to watch the climbing fireworks. Onoda is small, but he's huge... calm down fujoshi. I'm sure Maki-chan was hiding from Toudou too.
And it's a total reset at the front. The three teams who matter are all together with their aces. Desperate Midousuji is going to be desperate on the other side of this cliffhanger.
Hee. Yuuto made the mistake of engaging Onoda's Love Hime sense. Yuuto does have a mask from that series that he picked up in Akihabara, but I'm sure he's not an otaku. This doesn't matter to Onoda as long as they can talk about merchandise.
Aoyagi takes his turn for the end card.
Cycling Porn.
There wasn't much in the way of tactics to talk about this week. Naruko being placed in the breakaway is normal pro stuff. The only difference is that he played a spoiler tactic because he was about to blow up instead of having one last match to play a launchpad tactic. The slow burnout was much more dramatic since it allowed a last moment reveal of the cavalry coming to the rescue. Good enough. Otherwise, we got good looks at Scott, BMC, Pinarello, Anchor, De Rosa, Willier Triestina, and Cervelo.
🚴🏻🚴🏻🚴🏻
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