Egan Bernal, the winner of the 2019 Tour de France, will take starter’s orders on the 7th edition of the Saitama Criterium. So will his team-mate Chris Froome who will be making his return to competition on 27th October. The Colombian winner of this year’s Yellow and White Jerseys will again cross paths with the 2019 Polka Dot Jersey winner, Romain Bardet (Fra) but finally without the title holder Alejandro Valverde, who has been replaced by the winner of La Vuelta and world number one Primoz Roglic. Chris Froome, who holds the highest number of participations in the event, started his stay in Japan with a visit to a school before heading for Mont Fuji to make a particularly wet reconnaissance of the route of the Olympic race.