Eyring & Kaufmann win opening time trial

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On paper, the six-day Claro Brasil Ride's stage 1 prologue time trial didn't look like a major difference maker. It was just 13km, included a pair of paved sections - and didn't start until noon, meaning racers could sleep in.

But in between time on tarmac were two testing - and often technical - stretches of dirt, rock and sandy trail that established the race's initial pecking order, and took its tool on dozens of scraped elbows, hips and knees.

Tops on the survivor's list were Andy Eyring and Lukas Kaufmann (Team European Youngsters), who stopped the clock in 31:07. That gave the Swiss-German duo an 18-second lead on second-placed Martin Gujan and Christof Bischof (Swiss Machine) in the men's open division. The Czech duo of Robert Novotny and Kristian Heynek (Free Cycling) snagged third, at 1:23.

Gujan and Bischof entered the day as favorites, but the 32-year-old Bischof crashed hard early on, costing the pair a chance at the stage win. "It was a pretty big crash in one of the fast sections," said Bischof, who had bloody scrapes on both his knee and elbow. "Fortunately I only lost some skin."

Eyring called the course "very" slippery, adding that "you had to be careful all the time".

It was a mantra the American duo of Jeff Kerkove and Sonya Looney (Topeak-Ergon) had intended to follow, but things didn't work out quite as planned. A bout of chainsuck (Kerkove) and a crash (Looney) cost the favored pair any chance at the stage win. Instead they ended up third, 1:30 behind Jenny and Brian Smith, a husband and wife duo who specialize in Xterra triathlons and stopped the clock in 37:22.

The Swiss pair of Renata Bucher and Damian Perrin (Zaboo Free) were second, just 20 seconds back.

Kerkove and Looney started a minute in front of Team Smith, but were reeled in midway through their ride after Looney's crash. Fortunately she suffered just a some mild abrasions on her hip and said she'd be fine for Monday's monster stage 2, a 86-mile trek from Mucuge to Rio de Contas.

"I think with all the people pre-riding, a lot of sand got dragged up onto the rocks and made things really slippery," said Looney, who along with Kerkove and the Smiths, lives in Colorado. "But I liked the course. It was really technical. You don't always get that at these kind of races. We definitely didn't ride everything. The consequences are too great. You could gain 30 seconds or you could crash and be out of the race."

Indeed, the hallmark of the day's track was a mix of high-speed double track and narrow, often ledged singletrack that required deft bike handling - or the common sense to get off and run.

Where sand wasn't present, traction was sound, owing mostly to grippy sandstone that's not unlike what you see on the trails around Moab. But sand on top of rock made traction fleeting at best.

In the seven-team women's competition, former German Olympian Ivonne Kraft and Portugal's Celina Carpinteiro carded a day's best 41:42, 1:32 better than the Italian/Portuguese duo of Lorenza Menapace and Sandra Araujo (Round the Clock).

The Brazilian duo of Janildes Fernandes Silva and Julyana Rodrigues (Jaju) were third at 3:09.

Monday the real action begins at 6:00 am with what's arguably the event's hardest day. According to the race bible, total climbing will exceed 11,000 feet. Ascending is spread equally across a knife-edged profile that's almost never flat. To add to the pain, wake-up alarms will be set for 4:00 am giving riders as much time as possible to avoid being derailed by the 11-hour cut off time.

All told, 104 teams of two are taking on Claro Ride Brazil's 565km with over 33,000 feet of climbing, all of it in the western interior of Bahia, a sprawling state in northeastern Brazil.

Full Results - stage 1

General classification after stage 1