It’s a cruel sport, road racing.  Only one rider can win, not six.  And every team has to decide who that one is (assuming they’re good enough for it to matter, as only three schools are in Yowamushi Pedal).  In the real world it isn’t always the strongest rider either – politics can play a role, as witness what happened with Team Sky and Brad Wiggins/Chris Froome at the Tour de France a few years ago (and in the more distant past Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond – where Hinault broke his promise to support eventual winner LeMond in 1986 and tried to break him in the mountains).

There’s no sign of any of that with the three teams fighting for supremacy in Yowapeda, though it’s never been totally clear to me who Sohoku was planning to support on the third day.  Remember Onoda only ended up being the ace because Kinjou got hurt and Imaizumi didn’t have the legs.  In theory Onoda is the climbing specialist and Imaizumi the all-rounder, so while climbing is where races like the grand tours are won and lost, at the inter-high Imaizumi should be the one heading the race to the line.

What’s certain is that riders like Aoyagi and Kaburagi are domestiques – their role is to sacrifice themselves and make sure the leader(s) are in the mix.  For two days at the inter-high the priority is to keep everyone together as closely as possible.  Then on the third day it becomes the opposite – at some point all but one are supposed to sacrifice themselves.  Teshima getting himself carelessly swallowed up by the peloton accelerated the timing for Aoyagi to fall on his shifter, but with his knee being shot it may not have been much longer anyway.

It makes perfect sense, then, for Aoyagi to completely spend himself getting his teammates back level pegging with Hakone Gakuen.  Still, I get where Issa is coming from – it’s sad, because not only is Aoyagi ending his race here, but his racing career (in high school anyway).  But it’s mission accomplished – with his absurd special skill he pulls Sohoku back to the front, then cashes out.  Abu’s congratulations are sincere, even if he is getting a little dig in.  And he wastes no time in responding, instructing his own most expendable rider, Doubashi, to attack.  It’s Sohoku’s next man up, Kaburagi, who has to take up the challenge.

But not, however, the bait.  Doubashi was surely instructed by Izumida to try and get Kaburagi to scatter his team by racing for the sprint checkpoint, but for once Kaburagi shows some restraint and doesn’t bite.  He has a job to do now that his hero has fallen – he has to be the one to pull Sohoku until his legs give out and he too retires to the team van.  The next big benchmark is the mountains, just 3.3 KM away, and that’s where Manami and Onoda will come to the fore.  We know Teshima will support Sakamichi on the climb, but HakoGaku as ever has the most firepower – they have three riders (Ashikiba, Kuroda, and Shinkai Jr.) who have been climbers at one point or another.  You’d think Ashikiba would be saved as a Plan B for the all-around title, but they’re sure spoiled for choice.

Sohoku is doing fine – Sakamichi even acknowledges Issa’s growth by dropping the honorific – but they’re still a rider down to HakoGaku.  And then there’s Kyoto Fushimi, not a part of this week’s drama at all.  They’re the one team with absolutely no uncertainty as to role – Chimera-kun is their best sprinter, best climber, and their ace for the final run to the line.  Midousuji only has three riders supporting him, but in the end only one KyoFushi rider really matters.  I think that’s both their greatest strength and their greatest weakness.