Shake-up in Brasil Ride stage 5
On Thursday, the fifth of seven stages of the grueling mountain bike race the Brasil Ride, the men’s competition took a turn when underdog Czech duo of Horak Martins and Spolc Milan took the stage win
only five seconds ahead of local overall third-place pair, Ricardo Pscheidt and Gilberto Gois.
The fifth stage of the inaugural edition of the Brasil ride was a 135km ride from Rio Contas to Mucuge, the city where the race began. A sprint finish is a rare thing in a mountain bike race but this was
the day for it. The Czech stage winner won the day in a sprint ahead of the Brazilian team, while the battle for third place was also decided in a sprint between the two top teams in the overall classification. The Swiss team of Martin Gujan and Bischof Christof
finished the day 3:42 behind the stage winners and only two seconds ahead of the leading Czech team, Robert Novotny and Kristian Hynek, who remain in first place overall.
In the women’s race, Ivonne Kraft and Celina Carpinteiro of Portugal continued their streak of winning every stage and increasing their overall lead by nearly eight minutes. Again, the battle for the second
place ended in a sprint, with the Italian team of Sandra Araujo and Lorenza Menapace crossing the finish line only two seconds ahead of Brazilians Janildes Fernandes Silva & Julyana Rodrigues.
Stage 4
The fourth stage of the Brasil Ride was a 95km circuit around Rio de Contas contested on Wednesday. Riders faced a half-hour mid-race hike-a-bike and 1,750m of climbing, including a 25km grind at the start
and a nine kilometer paved climb at 13 per cent at the end on a cool and dry day. The Czech team of Robert Novotny and Kristian Hynek won ahead of the previous day’s winner and overall runner-up Swiss duo of Christof and Gujan.
“Our goal from the beginning was to not lose too much time in the technical, but also not take a lot of risks," said Hynek of the race-leading Czech team to the race press. “Our plan worked and when Robert
attacked on the last climb, Bischof could not follow.”
The Czech pair crossed the finish line in just over four hours and 40 minutes, 4:40 ahead of the Swiss duo. Andy Eyring and Lukas Kaufmann finished next after the Swiss team in the fourth stage despite
Kaufmann puncturing twice early in the day.
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