In 2009 he was selected by his team to ride the Tour de France. Along with Fumiyuki Beppu, he was the first Japanese national to complete that race, as on prior occasions Kisso Kawamuro and Daisuke Imanaka had started, but not finished, the race. By finishing the 2010 Giro d'Italia, he became the first Japanese person to finish two Grand Tour events. He recorded a third-place stage finish on the fifth stage, behind breakaway companions Jérôme Pineau and Julien Fouchard. He completed his third Tour de France in 2012 in 84th place—the highest placing of a Japanese person at that time—and earned the most combative award on Stage 4. He participated in the men's road race at the 2012 Summer 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 of the Palais des Sports de Beaublanc in Limoges. Competing in the 2015 Vuelta a España, he became the first Japanese person to finish the three Grand Tours. He finished 27th in the 2016 Summer Olympics men's road race.