Horak and Spolc make their mark

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A solo rider and a 52-year-old Czech real estate magnate made the biggest headlines on the penultimate day of the inaugural Claro Brasil Ride mountain bike stage race on Thursday.

The venue for these heroics was what amounted to a transfer stage, as what's left of this inaugural race's field headed from Rio de Contas north back to Mucuge, the town the event started in on Saturday. Total distance: 135km. Climbing: 1716 meters. Percentage spent on dirt road and pavement: nearly 100 percent.

That opened the door for a more tactical affair, with overall GC leaders content to let non-threatening riders roll up the road. That set the stage for a surprising win by the Czech duo of Milan Spolc and Martins Horak (Ked Eleven), who broke away early with the Jamis Brazilian duo of Gilberto Gois and Ricardo Pscheidt.

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"We cooperated fully the entire day until the final uphill of pavement just outside Mucuge," said Spolc, 52, who's among the top masters racers in the ultra-marathon mountain bike world, owning wins in the Crocodile Trophy, Trans Germany and Trans Rockies. "Then we get a small gap and were able to hold them off."

Normally Spolc and Horak would be racing the masters class, which is typically the combined age of the pair, 84 in this case. But the Claro Brasil Ride's rules dictate that both riders must be over 40. So instead of running away with the masters title they sit fourth in the open category.

The top stop remains in the hands of their Czech countrymen Robert Novotny and Kristian Hynek, who were content to sit out the battle for the stage, and simple mark second-placed Christof Bischof and Martin Gujan (Swiss Machine).

With a 17:44 gap and only Friday's relatively flat stage 6 Mucuge circuit remaining, overall victory is all but assured.

The same can be said for the mixed and women's divisions, which for the fifth day in a row saw stage wins for Brian and Jenny Smith and Ivonne Kraft and Celina Carpinteiro respectively. Both teams own all but insurmountable leads in the chase for the overall crowns.

Racing in Bahia, Brazil concludes Friday with a 98.5km Mucuge circuit that is light on climbing and heavy on farm roads. Originally organizers had planned for a shorter more singletrack laden route, but permitting issues within the Chapada Diamantina National Park scuttled that plan.

Race notes

- First across the finish line was actually Brazilian Odair Pereira, but his partner dropped out before the start of the stage due to knee issues, so the result was strictly ceremonial.

- Topeak Ergon's Jeff Kerkove overcame issues with a pedal, and along with partner Sonya Looney ended up second on the stage. Kerkove pedal was actually slipped off the spindle, so instead of unclipping, the pedal was permanently affixed to his shoe and he had to slide it on and off the spindle as necessary.

Results

General classification after stage 5