International riders have participated in Japanese domestic keirin for the first time since 2019 – and despite the unfamiliar rules, tracks and equipment, all four claimed comfortable victories.

The three-day meeting at Hofu is the first in the so-called Keirin World Series of 10 events from June to September.

Mathilde Gros (yellow, 5) – who rode in Japan in pre-covid times, winning 21 of her 28 races – was first up, in the day’s sixth race. She sat happily at the back of the bunch until the bell sounded with a lap and a half of the 333m track remaining. None of the local women could stay with her as she turned on the power – and she won by a massive 8 lengths.

Ellesse Andrews (blue, 4) found herself racing against Uta Kume (2, black), ranked no3 last year, and a late addition to the field. The New Zealander was a little more cautious, sitting halfway back as the pacer exited. But the local women had no response to her steady surge to the front, and she won by an even more impressive 9 lengths, with Kume missing out on second at the line.

Joseph Truman (blue, 4) was another rider with prior experience in Japan, again winning the majority of his races. He won today by 6 lengths, snapping the elastic with a lap left.

It was Harrie Lavreysen (red, 3) who had the closest contest of the day. Veteran Ryunosuke Azuma (2, black) positioned himself behind the world champion straight out of the start gate, and was able to stay on his wheel all the way to the line – but the win was never really in doubt.

The foreign stars’ success is not too surprising, given the relatively modest level of competition. The international men were racing against S2 riders, the upper-middle ranking of the Japanese system. This isn’t necessarily a concern for the organisers: Japanese gamblers tend to bet in combinations.

Day two will be more challenging, as they start to come up against riders in the higher S1 class. Truman has the tougher test, racing with Lavreysen’s pursuer Azuma and Nitta Yudai, now 40, who completed a Grand Slam set of G1 wins in 2022.

• Andrews: race 6 – 13:30 local time, 05:30 UK
• Gros: race 7 – 13:58 local time, 05:58 UK
• Truman: race 9 – 14:57 local time, 06:57 UK
• Lavreysen: race 10 – 15:28 local time, 07:28 UK

You will be able to follow it live (or on demand afterwards) on the Hofu track’s YouTube channel.