Pinto and Ferreira defend lead in queen stage

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The second day of the 2012 Brasil Ride covered 144km between the cities of Rio de Contas and Mucugê. It featured trails, river crossings and the high mountains of the Chapa Diamantina.

The 4:00 am wake-up call came early as racers thought ahead to the 3,300m of climbing that awaited them on the day. After breakfast, racers started at 6:00 am in ideal cycling temperatures: overcast skies and 16 degrees Celsius.

The first bunch of riders progressed rapidly along the course, passing through Piata, the highest city around the Northeast. Locals played music and cheered on the racers there as they passed.

The lead group, with those hoping to win this queen stage, broke into pieces after technical sections and climbs. The lead team from Portugal executed the perfect strategy.

"It is a mythical stage of Brasil Ride, for me it's one of the hardest stages in my life, but the important thing is our strategy worked well and we got to the end. I want to thank my partner Tiago Ferreira for his excellent work, but we still have five days ahead and we will continue fighting for the title," said stage winner and overall leader Luis Leão Pinto (Lapierre Cycles). He and Ferreira set a new stage record of six hours and one minute.

One of the favorite teams, led by 1996 Olympic Champion Bart Brentjens crashed along the way and finished in fourth place.

The Czechs from the BMC Savo team came in second place and the Specialized Brasil Team, formed by Kohei Yamamoto and Daniel Carneiro, finished in fifth place overall.

A highlight for locals was the Brazilians: marathon champion Gilberto Gois and Josemberg "Montoya" from Team JC Bikes / Trust, who finished in third place overall and secured the spot of top national team.

Mateus Ferraz and Ivonne Kraft secured the mixed leaders' jerseys for another day while Adriana Nascimento and Daniela Genovesi confirmed their role as favorites among the women.

Abraão Azevedo and Paulo Freitas dominated the masters category as did Marco Corrado and Marco Melo (from Ribeirão Preto/SP) in the new grand masters category.

Car racer Christian Fittipaldi, who is debuting in his first mountain bike stage race, said, "When lined up in the morning, I was quite nervous, which does not happen in car racing anymore. Along the way I got to push the bike, but I considered it as great achievement to finish the stage." He crossed the line in 8 hours, 52 minutes and 22 seconds.

The day's youngest rider, Zsuzsa Gyurka, 15, a national champion in Romania who is competing with his father, said, "It's a tough competition, but very beautiful."

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