Rio 2016 Olympic champion Nino Schurter proved he is warming up nicely in his bid to defend his title next year as he won the men's event in 1 hour 17min 18sec.

The 33-year-old has a full set of Olympic medals after winning bronze at Beijing 2008 and silver at London 2012.

France's Victor Koretzky ended two seconds behind the 11-time world champion after a sprint for the line.

Italy's Luca Braidot was third, 10 seconds adrift.

Five-time world champion Jolanda Neff won the women's race as she led home a Swiss 1-2 in front of Sina Frei.

It was a dominant victory for Neff who clocked 1:16:12, with Frei coming home 1:46 behind.

Anne Terpstra of The Netherlands ended exactly two-and-a-half minutes behind the winner to complete the top three.

Sweden's reigning Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds was expected to compete but did not start.

As with all Olympic test events, today's action was held under the Ready Steady Tokyo banner.

Only 1,000 people were allowed to attend after winning a lottery organised by Shizuoka prefecture.

Izu is located nearly 150 kilometres outside of Tokyo, and will also host track cycling.

The four kilometre mountain bike course features several steep climbs and single-track descents.

It also includes views of Mount Fuji.