Japan's Yukiya Arashiro is one of nine Bahrain Merida members who will compete in this summer's Tour de France, cycling's new top team from the Middle East announced Monday.

The 32-year-old Okinawa native will be participating in the prestigious three-week-long race in France for the second year in a row, for his seventh appearance overall. The race, made up of 21 stages, begins in Dusseldorf on July 1 and ends July 23 in Paris.

Last year, Arashiro, who broke his femur bone in a Tour of Qatar crash in February that year, returned from injury and raced in the Tour de France for the first time in two years, winning the combativity award in the sixth stage.

He and Fumiyuki Beppu became the first Japanese riders to complete the Tour de France in 2009.