BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team  has announced anagreement with Japanese rider Yukiya Arashiro for 2017.

Yukiya Arashiro is a Japanese rider from Okinawa. He joined professional cycling in 2006. In 2005 he was the Japanese Under-23 National Time Trial and Road Race Champion. He has also won the Japanese National Road Race Championships twice, in 2007 and 2013.

In 2009 he was selected by his team to ride the Tour de France. By finishing the 2010 Giro d’Italia, he became the first Japanese rider to finish two Grand Tour events. He completed his third Tour de France in 2012 and earned the most combative award on Stage 4.He participated in the men’s road race at the 2012 Olympics and finished in 48th place. A few weeks after the Olympics, he became the first Japanese to win a race categorized as HC by the UCI, the Tour du Limousin. After competing in the 2015 Vuelta an Espana, he became the first Japanese to finish the three Grand Tours.

Arashiro is a talented rider and that is just one of the reasons why BAHRAIN MERIDA is more than happy to welcome him to the team. Not only will his talent be a great asset to the newly formed team, he can also be a great help to his teammates in the first season. Bringing in a Japanese rider makes the BAHRAIN MERIDA a truly international team and so they move even closer to the team’s main strategy.

General Manager of the BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team Brent Copeland said:

“The signing of Yukiya brings us all great joy at BAHRAIN MERIDA, firstly because the class of a rider that Yukiya has. He has shown in the past his very determined way of racing and also with his incredible results he has achieved. Only this year for example, what amazed me with Yukiya was his comeback from a broken femur when he crashed during the beginning of the season. Within a very short time he was back in training and within only a few months he was back racing. This was a great example of a true professional and a determined athlete. His constant results also show the type of rider he is. He is always doing the extra work to do his best as well being as a great team mate who is always willing to help where needed. Secondly it shows the internationality that we are putting into the team BAHRAIN MERIDA. Having a rider from Japan is of great importance to the team and we are very pleased to see Yukiya in the Bahrain-Merida clothing next year.”