Vokrouhlik and Horak hotfoot it to the win

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The 2011 Brasil Ride’s first bunch sprint decided the stage six winner on Friday, with that honor going to Czech riders Tomas Vokrouhlik and Martin Horak (BMC), who jumped Luis Pinto and Alejandro Lopez (Team Spano-Luso) on a sharp left hand turn from dirt to pavement with 50 meters to go, then held their small gap to the line.

There was no change in the men’s open GC standings, as Kristian Hynek and Robert Novatny (Future Cycling-Sweep) were a close third, losing only two seconds during the 128km ride with 1,716 meters of climbing. They now have a 5:27 lead over Lopez and Pinto going into the final day of this seven-day stage cross-country stage race in the Brazilian state of Bahia.

“They bump me a little going into the last turn, and that’s how the gap open. After that there was nothing you can do,” said Pinto. “I don’t like it and I wouldn’t do it. But that’s racing and I forgive.”

This is the second time in two years that Horak has won this stage. He had a different partner a year ago, and also won in a sprint. That experience helped.

“There was no way anyone would get away once we made it past the big climb,” said Horak, alluding to a long stretch of mostly flat dirt and paved road that concluded Friday’s stage. “We knew first to the dirt would be the winner.”

The top of the women’s standing remained unchanged, as Adriana Nascimento and Sabrina Gobbo (Ladies Brasil Soul-RC Bikes) took their sixth stage win.

The outcome was also a duplicate in the mixed category, with German Ivonne Kraft and Brazilian partner Mateus Ferraz (Brasil Soul-RC Bikes) notching their fourth stage win. If the pair were racing the open men’s category, they’d be 11th. Stick them in the masters men’s field, and they’d be third.

The second running of the Brasil Ride concludes Friday, with an amended – and blissfully shorter – stage. Organizers shelved the original plan – a 107km, mostly flat fireroad grind starting and ending in Mucuge.

They said the change was necessitated by on-going fire concerns in this time of drought. But have to wonder if they just decided riders a break. Whatever the case, the new plan is a 49km route with “zero” climbing, some road sections, and some singletrack, including the techy prologue route. Your author, for one, is certainly not complaining…

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