Avancini and Paiva win Brasil Ride stage 5

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After five days of mountain biking in Bahia, Brasil, riders start to become like a big family. From the start of stage 5 on Thursday, there was drama, just like in any family. At the end of the day, Brazilians Henrique Avancini and Sherman Paiva (Caloi Racing Team) won the day's stage which crossed Serra das Almas in the Chapada Diamantina, one of the highest mountains in the Northeast of Brazil.

As the teams were lining up for the start of the 93km stage, race leader Jiri Novak (Brentjens Superior MTB Team) of the Czech Republic found a small cut in his front tire. He and his partner, Dutchman Hans Becking, seemed anxious because they was unsure whether the sealant would fix the cut.  Later, they would have to pull out due to Novak being ill.

The top teams stayed together until feed station 1 when the Brazilian duo Avancini and Paiva decided to attack and slowly opened considerable difference compared to the other top teams. Even despite a small puncture that was fixed by a hit of CO2 for Avancini, their efforts were paying off. Avancini decided not to stop and take the time it would cost to install a tube.

"Luck was on our side today. Of course, we attacked from the beginning of the race to try to win the stage. We had a flat tire, but we didn't want to stop to fix the tire to save time," said Paiva. "We used CO2 to get more air and in the last part, it was a big drama. We were in our own and trying to keep our advantage."

A Brazilian also made the second spot on the day's podium: Hugo Prado Neto and his Swiss partner Lukas Kaufmann (Focus OCE Racing Team). Belgians Roel Paulissen and Johann Pallhuber (RH- Racing.it) were third.

Ricardo Pscheidt and Oriol Colome got their best stage finish yet - fifth. "Today was a nice stage. Oriol was feeling bad in the second stage, and in the cross country stage we both had problems with the chain, but today we remained in the first group from the beginning while several teams had mechanical problems. Then we lost touch with Avancini and Sherman, but we got this fifth place, the best so far in Brasil Ride," said Pscheidt.

Overall favorites Christoph Sauser and Kohei Yamamoto had a day filled with bad luck. Sauser punctured four times during the stage, so he and Yamamoto finished sixth. Sauser estimated the flats cost them about 20 minutes total during the stage and that without the flats they might have come within two or three minutes of taking the overall lead.

Rebecca Rusch and Selene Yeager (Specialized Racing Team) were the first female duo to finish the race, continuing domination of the category. Rusch commented on the spirit of the race. "The cool thing about an ultra-marathon event like this is when all the athletes mingle. They all help each other because their goal is to finish. We become like a family, united by one goal."

One such example happened after racer Gustavo Astolphi fell and broke his glasses. Another team saw the incident and loaned him their glasses so that he would protect his wound from dirt for the remainder of the stage.

Masters racers Bart Brentjens and Abraão Azevedo also had three flats. "We went as fast as possible, trying to ride along with a few elite teams. It was a difficult stage. We expected it to be shorter, but it was not. There were beautiful trails in the beginning and we survived again," said Brentjens.

Mixed team Ivonne Kraft and Mateus Ferraz (Niner Bikes / Pedal.com.br / Free Force) arrived ahead of mixed team overall leaders Annabella Stropparo and Piero Pellegrini (Team Hersch Amicco Di Annabella), reducing the gap between them as the fight for the overall title in this category continues.

Heleno Caetano Borges and Dorivaldo Corrêa de Abreu (Ice Racing Team) extended their lead among the grand masters.

Friday's penultimate stage 6 will be the longest of this year's race at 143.5km with 3,252m of climbing. It will take racers from Rio de Contas City to Mucugê City.

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