Unstoppable Rybarik wins stage 4 of Crocodile Trophy

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Elite men

Czech rider Ivan Rybarik won the fourth stage of the 2012 Crocodile Trophy at Irvinebank on Tuesday. With a solid performance in the day's stage, the Belgian rider Michiel Van Aelbroeck was second at Irvinebank, and fellow Czech rider Ondrej Fojtik crossed the line in third.

The overall race standings stayed the same with Czech and Austrian riders dominating the top five positions: Rybarik leads ahead of Fojtik in second and the Austrian Wolfgang Krenn is third. Ondrej Slezak is fourth and Dominick Hrinkow claims the fifth overall place.

On day 4, Crocodile Trophy riders lined up for a multi-lap race around Irvinebank. It was a stage with plenty of variety on a 26km course around the old mining town. Rybarik lived up to his promise and defended his leader's jersey.

"I didn't want to take any risks today and kept pushing hard. I still feel very strong and that I have some reserves left for the coming stages," said Rybarik, a retired pro road cyclist and current geography and PE high school teacher. Together with his wife, a doctor, he operates a naturopathy clinic in the Bohemia region of the Czech Republic and when he is not riding his bike, Rybarik is studying to become a nutritionist.

"We have a 16-month-old daughter, Elena, and I am very lucky that my wife is so supportive of my cycling passion, so I could train all last year for the Crocodile Trophy." He said he is in his best physical shape ever and is hoping that his bike will hold up for the remaining demanding stages.

Today's second fastest racer at Irvinebank was the Belgian rider Van Aelbroek. "I came to this race with no particular interest in the general classification, but I wanted to do really well in at least one stage. So today, I tried to attack early on and had Mike Mulkens with me, but Rybarik doesn't hand out any presents - his counterattack came fast and we didn't get away," said Van Aelbroek of his experience out on course. He understands that as the race leader, one would want to have a comfortable advantage and said, "As long as Rybarik rides that strong, all we can do is watch, so I'm actually quite happy with my second placing today."

"It's like Ivan is racing his own race this year," said today's third placed finisher Fojtik, who said that his main goal over the next few days was now to hang on to second place overall. "The technical sections were very challenging today - a lot of steep and rough dry creek crossings and I'm just happy that I'm at the finish in one piece."

Elite women

Women's leader Kate Major of Australia was surprised at the singletrack sections and dry creek crossings today. "After about half the lap, we left the wide offroad section and entered a technical singletrack - one of the creek crossings caught me out and I crashed, but with every lap, I enjoyed it more."

In the overall female rankings, Alice Pirard is second while her fellow Belgian Tinneke Van de Voorde currently is third.

Riders raced through undulating terrain and thick bush on narrow trails, crossing countless dry creek beds with big boulders that challenged their mountain biking skills. After another climb that seemed tame, but "still hurt", as some of the finishers admitted, it was a wild descent into Irvinebank again. Most riders took more than an hour to complete each lap and the midday heat was punishing.

Rubena Rocky Trail Racing CZE fastest team after four stages

With his Rubena Rocky Trail Racing CZE teammates, Ondrej Slezak and Michal Kafka, overall leader Rybarik is also ahead the Crocodile Trophy team classification with the Australian Crocodile Tears team from Canberra coming in second. Third after four stages is the local Cairns team Tenni's/SKM.

The accidental team

After lunch, it was reported that last year's M1 winner, Christof Marien had crashed due to a handlebar issue with his bike and was slowly making his way into the finish. Earlier in the day, he had been riding in a breakaway group with fellow Belgian rider Mulkens. While Marien was looked after by the medical team on stand-by, his bike was fixed by the two mechanics, who also travel with the event. Just as Marien was heading out for his next lap, Eddy Snelders, the Belgian national football trainer, was walking towards the finish with a flat tire. At the same time, more Belgian racers arrived in the event centre: Philippe Maertens, commentator and press officer of the Radioshak Nissan Trek cycling team, Guy Vandijck, two-time winner of the GVA Cyclo Cross Trophy as well Alex Moonen.

They all encouraged Snelders to have his tube changed and to keep riding and with Marien providing the spare parts, soon they were on their way again. They kept riding together for most of the day and are proof of the racing spirit among Crocodile Trophy participants, which is to stick together when it gets tough and to help and motivate each other to finish each stage - hopefully with a smile.

The following video features race footage from stage 4.

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