With Vingegaard and Milan

September 30 ^th 2025 - 22:58 [GMT + 9]

•   The 11th edition of the Tour de France J:Com Saitama Criterium will bring the cycling season to a close on November 9, with a circuit race held in the city of Saitama, just outside Tokyo. The peloton will feature 21 Tour de France riders, including several stage winners, along with a selection of top Japanese teams.
• As every year, large crowds are expected in Saitama to cheer on two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard (2022–23) and 2025 green jersey winner Jonathan Milan.

 They never miss a chance to keep the excitement alive. Since its creation in 2013, born out of the Tour de France’s 100th edition, the Saitama Criterium has become a tradition for the sport’s biggest names, an opportunity to pin on one last race number in Japan before the curtain falls on the season. The high-stakes tension of summer may have passed, but Tour champions remain committed to delivering a show worthy of the thousands of fans who crowd the streets of Saitama. For these riders who are always ready to “go again,” the trip to Asia is also an invitation to embrace new sporting and cultural encounters. Over the past decade, the highlights have included Chris Froome and Marcel Kittel squaring off with sumo wrestlers, Peter Sagan and Romain Bardet learning the art of mochi-making and strumming a traditional harp, and Michal Kwiatkowski taking a karate lesson alongside Joaquim “Purito” Rodríguez.

While the full program of festivities is still under wraps, the race itself already promises a star-studded lineup with the confirmed entries of Jonas Vingegaard and Jonathan Milan. The Dane has just completed his fifth consecutive Tour de France on the podium. Though edged out by his fiercest rival, he reaffirmed his standing as the world’s second-best stage racer, sealing his season with victory at the Vuelta—a third Grand Tour triumph he will proudly celebrate in Saitama. Milan, meanwhile, continues to build his reputation as one of the peloton’s most dominant sprinters. After four Giro stage victories (2023–24), he marked his first Tour de France with authority, sprinting to wins in Laval and Valence before claiming the green jersey for Lidl–Trek with commanding ease.