Hynek and Novatny win their second Brasil Ride overall

Throughout the week here at the 2011 Brasil Ride, the elite men agreed on two things: Portugal's Luis Pinto was the strongest rider here and German Lukas Kaufmann had the top technical skills. But the reality of two-rider racing is that it doesn't matter how good one rider is, unless his teammate can match. That's why Pinto was forced to settle for second overall, while Kaufmann earned the stage 7 win.

Pinto's Spanish teammate Alejandro Lopez (Team Spano-Luso) couldn't match the daily accelerations of Kristian Hynek and Robert Novatny (Future Cycling-Sweep), allowing the Czech duo to repeat as overall champs. But Kaufmann's partner, Christopher Maletz, was up to the task when the trails got tough, yielding the Team Easton Rocket's pair a final day stage win on a blazing fast 49km circuit that started and finished in Mucuge.

"We were together with [Hynek and Novatny] on the second paved section," said Kaufmann, of a circuit that started on the main road out of town, and then alternated between trail and road all the way back to the finish line. "Then we went to the front into the singletrack and that was it."

Admittedly, the Czechs had nothing to gain by chasing the pair. Their objective was to protect a five-plus-minute GC lead, which they achieved without incident.

"There was no reason to do anything," said Hynek. "Our only goal was the GC."

Mission accomplished for the second year in a row, and this time without the final day drama that saw Novatny crashed out of the race by a video moto within in sight of the finish line.

"We had to come back just to experience what we missed last year," Hynek said. "It's not right to win a race but not cross the finish line."

The final overall saw Hynek and Novatny post a seven-day time of 23:02:43. Pinto and Lopez carded a 23:08:01. Third went to another Czech duo, BMC riders Tomas Vokrouhlik and Martin Horak. All told, only 41 men's open teams finished the race, a testament to the Brasil Ride's difficulty.

The top of the women's standing remained unchanged, as Adriana Nascimento and Sabrina Gobbo (Ladies Brasil Soul-RC Bikes) took their seventh stage win, giving them a clean sweep for the week. Total saddle time for the week, 34:15:36

The outcome was also a duplicate in the mixed category, with German Ivonne Kraft and Brazilian partner Mateus Ferraz (Brasil Soul-RC Bikes) notching another stage win. Total time for the week: 28:06:44. If the pair had raced the open men's category, they would have finished 12th.

All told only 67 of the 113 teams on the original start list finished all seven stages, a testament to the massive difficulty of this race.

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