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As for this week’s Yowapeda, well, it was a cracker – certainly the best episode of the season so far, despite not a glimpse of Onoda (and that’s rare).  I’ve come around for the most part on Midousuji-kun, who really took me out of the moment so much in his first few appearances that I couldn’t warm to him as a character.  But as absurd as he is (and it still sometimes feels like he’s from a different show), he brings a ton of entertainment value.  And as we’ve gotten to know him a bit he doesn’t seem quite so far-fetched, at least in terms of personality if not physiognomy – there are win at all costs maniacs out there in all sports.  But who would have thought someone would come along to make Midousuji seem like the normal one on Kyoto Fushimi?

The way this episode played out was really interesting in purely sports terms.  Kishigami-kun (my goodness, he’s a freak) causes enough of a disruption when KyoFushi catches up to the leaders that Midousuji is able to slip away in chaos (seriously though, feeling up another rider’s thigh certainly ought to be illegal, if it isn’t).  Riders taking advantage of chaos to attack is certainly normal in road races, though, especially on tough climbs late in the race.  There’s panic everywhere, especially on Imaizumi’s part when he sets off to give chase and Naruko is nowhere to be found.

Naruko-kun, however, has proved the quickest thinker in that lead pack.  He was the only one to latch onto Midousuji’s acceleration (they have some unfinished business in his eyes) and he and Chimera-kun form a two-man breakaway with about three kilometers left to the finish.  This in itself is an interesting cat-and-mouse – Midousuji repeatedly tries to shake the “chicken-headed bean” on the twisting climb above Lake Chuzenji, but can’t do it.  There’s even a grudging sense of respect from Midousuji here, though his offer to work together was clearly pretty hollow.

The most interesting dynamic in the episode, however, is what’s happening behind those two.  Kuroda is desperate to give chase and drag Ashikiba with him, of course, but so is Imaizumi.  Kishigami has no interest in doing that of course, for obvious reasons – or rather they should be obvious, but apparently aren’t to Imaizumi.  He’s forced to make a decision on the fly (as cyclists in grand tours are all the time) and he breaks a cardinal rule in the team sport of cycling – never team up to chase down a breakaway with your own man in it.  Naruko is alone with Midousuji, basically with a 50-50 chance to win the stage – and Imaizumi decides to help drag Hakone Gakuen’s ace up to the front and give them a chance to win.  I don’t care what Wataru-sensei says, that’s bad strategy – Imaizumi should have offered those two no help whatsoever.

That mistake is compounded by the fact that Naruko has, in fact, a very good chance to win the day.  Breakaways are always wary of riders with sprinter skills, and Naruko has been a sprinter for most of his young career.  After he survives Chimera-kun’s attack on the climb, the advantage swings to him when the race finishes on a 1 KM flat – even if Midousuji bested him in Osaka, you never bet against the sprinter in a sprint.  But now that Imaizumi has helped Kuraoda and his “switch” close the gap, Ashikiba is likely to be a huge threat on that final straight.  This promises to be an interesting finish, even if Sakamichi-kun and Manami-kun are nowhere to be seen…

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