Claro Brisil Ride Stage 5 Wrap

A Tactical Affair By Jason Sumner

MUCUGE, Brazil-The second to last day of the inaugural Claro Brasil Ride mountain bike stage race was essentially a transfer stage, as what’s left of this inaugural race’s battered and bruised field migrated from Rio de Contas north back to Mucuge, the town the event started in on Saturday.

Total distance: 135km. Climbing: 1716 meters. Percentage spent on dirt road and pavement: nearly 100 percent. Rain: a ton if you were riding at the front. Blistering heat: a ton if you were riding at the back end of the field.

All that road riding opened the door for a tactical affair, with the overall GC leaders content to let non-threatening riders roll away. That set the stage for a unlikely win by the Czech tandem of Milan Spolc and Martins Horak (Ked Eleven), who broke away with the Brazilian duo of Gilberto Gois and Ricardo Pscheidt (Jamis).

The quartet cooperated the entire day until the final uphill of pavement just outside Mucuge. Then Spolc and Martins Horak attacked, opened a small gap and held them off at the line.

Besides the noteworthiness of new faces on the podium is the fact that Spolc, a real estate developer, is 52.

Czech countrymen Robert Novotny and Kristian Hynek remain on top of the GC, with a 17:44 gap and only Friday’s relatively flat stage 6 Mucuge circuit remaining.

The same can be said for the mixed and women’s divisions, which for the fifth day in a row saw stage wins for Brian and Jenny Smith and Ivonne Kraft and Celina Carpinteiro respectively. Both teams own all but insurmountable leads in the chase for the overall crowns.

Racing in Bahia, Brazil concludes Friday with a 98.5km Mucuge circuit.

All images curtesey Claro Brasil Ride

Pereira was first accross the line	Bischof hydrates	Brian and Jenny Smith
Pedal Problems for Kerkove	River ride	Road section
Smiths smooth - yeuk	Vaporized brake pads	red bend
Brazil weather

Overall Results After Stage 5:

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