Extreme heat and results in fifth stage warm up Brazil Ride

Scorching sun and real feel heat index near 50 oC punish riders. In the chase for the title, Hans Becking and Jiri Novak win and decrease the advantage of the leader duo, Daniel Geismayr and Hermann Pernsteneir. Among women, Raiza Goulão and Viviane Favery win once again.

Rio de Contas, Bahia, Brasil - Chapada Diamantina’s unrelenting sun has been one more obstacle in Brasil Ride. In certain points of the trails, the temperature can feel like up to 50 oC. It was a suffering stage for the riders once again this Thursday (22nd). From the start, at 8 a.m., until the time the last riders crossed the finish line late this afternoon, there was not a single cloud in the skies of Bahia to shed some refreshment on the athletes. Better for those who know the course. Not coincidently, the three winning duos knew what they would face. The 2014 winning duo, Czech Jiri Novak and Dutchman Hans Becking crossed the finish line in first place, followed by the Brazilian duo Hugo Prado Neto/Lukas Kauffmann (Swiss settled in Belo Horizonte), and Henrique Avancini/Wolfgang Olsen.

Becking/Novak won with 4h24min21 and spiced up the dispute for the title. That happened because the leaders of the GC, Austrians Daniel Geismayr and Hermann Pernsteneir crossed the line in fourth place, after 4h37min15, seeing the gap go down from 27 to 14 minutes. And to keep the chase until the end, the leader knows that he needs to ‘survive’ the climate. "Every year feels hotter. In the flats sometimes you felt a warm wind, like 40 degrees. So it’s really hard to push on the flat section. Now in Holland it’s almost freezing and raining. So, we’re also not used to this. We try not to push too much our tempo, so that we an survive the whole week. Today we did nothing different, actually".

The Brazilians had an thrilling finish. Hugo Prado Neto/Lukas Kauffmann and Henrique Avancini/Wolfgang Olsen dueled closely in the last climb. Skills prevailed in the finish line in Rio de Contas. Prado opened an advantage from the last kilometer and let Kauffmann sprint to the finish line, finishing second with mere one second gap from the winners - 4h36min30 and 4h36min38. After the great result, Lukas showed he was worn out. "I suffered a lot yesterday, did not sleep well, woke up with my face swollen and a stuffy nose. I suffered so much in the beginning of the race, but slowly recovered. The pace was not so strong, but I held on. In the end, our tactics worked. But this heat is too much. It could rain a little. It feels like hell in here".

Leaders of Brazil Ride and fourth place in the stage, Austrians Daniel Geismayr and Hermann Pernsteneir suffered double dose, with heat and problems with the bikes. "I believe this was the hottest day of the race. I drank maybe two liters in ten minutes, unbelievable", said Daniel. And completes: "It was too hot, and we had three flat tires. We needed to fix the tires three times, and that complicated things even more". And regarding the fight for the title, he was clear: "Ten minutes are not too much if we think. It was a bad day for us. No fun. Only racing and chasing to get some time back after the problems".

Heat and strategy to stay on the lead - Ladies’ leaders, Raiza Goulão and Viviane Favery once again managed to increase the gap. Finishing the race in 5h57min36, the Brazilian duo finished 18min22 ahead of the Italians Annabella Stropparo and Elena Gaddoni. "This Thursday my GPS showed 45 degrees at a certain point", highlighted Raiza Goulão. Despite completing the stage in 6h15h58, this was not a good day for the Italians Annabella and Elena. With a suspected fractured right arm, Elena might be out of the dispute, which would prevent the duo for fighting for the title.

Back to Mucugê - The sixth stage of Brasil Ride will be held next Friday (23rd), starting at 7 a.m. Brasília time (6 a.m. local time), in Rio de Contas. The second-to-last stage of the competition takes the riders back to Mucugê, where the adventure in Chapa Diamantina started last Sunday (18th).

5th stage - Open
1-Hans Becking/Jiri Novak - Superior-Brentjens - 4h24min21
2-Hugo Prado Neto/Lukas Kaufmann - Oce Cannondale - 4h36min37
3-Henrique Avancini/Wolfgang Olsen - Cannondale/Ava Project - 4h36:38

5th stage - Ladies
1-Raiza Goulão (BRA)/ Vivi Favery - Specialized Women - 5h57min36
2-Annabella Stropparo (ITA)/Elena Gaddoni (ITA) - Scapin Soudal - 6h15min59
3-Isabela Lacerda (BRA)/Nina Baum (EUA) - LM Shimano - 6h27min12

Brasil Ride 2015 Stages

6th stage: October 23 - 6h
143,4 km between Rio de Contas and Mucugê

7th stage: October 24 - 9h
72,1 km in Mucugê

Daily Videos - Brasil Ride is providing daily videos on facebook and in your youtube channel. Watch and share:
Dia 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJB7qMKYRVE&feature=youtu.be
or wetransfer : http://we.tl/lKcQ2knZU3

Dia 2 - https://youtu.be/DDZLjdHUmFk
or wetransfer : http://we.tl/y0pOoMuIlq

Dia 3 - https://youtu.be/-Qa1BrwE9kc
or wetransfer : http://we.tl/sBM9OqJG2K

Dia 4 - https://youtu.be/xhcQe3ZCOiA
or wetransfer : http://we.tl/LfVZ7KnAs3

Daily images for televisions around the world:

The sixth edition of the main MTB Ultramarathon promises to overcome borders. Daily, video production teams from Brasil Ride will have their images available on a tune with an Uplink. Every day, between 9h e 9h45 (Brasilia time - UTC - 3:00), starting on Sunday (18th) to October 25th, around 20 minutes of the best images from the last day and more interviews will be available in the address:
Satellite: NSS806
Transponder : 312.5E
Downlink: 3869-R
Sylbom Rate : 7200
Fec: 3/4
Modulation : DVB-S2 / 8PSK

Cross Country World Champion in 1995 and gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, the Dutchman Bart Brentjens will also act as commentator of the competition. He is the official commentator on Red Bull TV on all stages of UCI MTB World Cup. At the trails, Bart goes in search of the third championship of the master category alongside Abraão Azevedo, one of the biggest names in Brazilian cycling.

Note: The image credits are to Célula - Gabriel Tarso, Ricardo Quintela and Tony Tiger - and Marcelo Machado, Cassio Zerbinato, and Gabriel Coimbra.

About the event - Brasil Ride’s sixth edition is going to happen between October 17th to 24th. The event gathered 500 athletes from 23 countries and 18 Brazilian States plus our Federal District. The race is now S1, after being rated S2 in 2014, and will award the Elite Category’s champions 120 points in the rankings of the UCI (International Cycling Union). These points are really precious for the Brazilians who are fighting for a spot at Rio Olympics 2016. In addition to the prizes offered after every stage of the race, this edition will have the highest prize in money ever offered for cycling in Brazil, with about R$ 70,000.

Attention: During the event, text, photos and videos will be available to all media daily. For media enquiries and image requests, please contact redacao@zdl.com.br or +55.11.98783 7408.

Brasil Ride 2015 its a realization of SUDESB, Bahiatursa, Governo da Bahia and Ministério do Esporte
Sponsorship: Shimano, Trek and Caixa
Co-Sponsorship: Thule, Pearl Izumi and Oakley.
Support: Continental Pneus, Red Bull, GU, Muc-Off and Prefeitura de Rio de Contas
Supervision: UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale), CBC (Confederação Brasileira de Ciclismo) and FBC (Federação Baiana de Ciclismo)
Organization: REC, Roma Comunicação and Prefeitura de Mucugê.

Website: http://www.BRASILRIDE.COM
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BRASILRIDE
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brasil_ride
Instagram: https://instagram.com/brasilride

Gustavo Coelho / Doro Jr. - Mtb 13209
E-mail: gustavo@zdl.com.br / dorojr@zdl.com.br
Phone: +55 11 32855911 / Cell phone: + 55 11 9.9178-4055

Follow ZDL in twitter: twitter.com/ZDLcomunica
and in facebook ZDL Comunicação

Dam in Rio de Contas (Ney Evangelista / Brasil Ride)

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Start of 5th stage (Christian Correa/Brasil Ride)

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Mens podium (Christian Correa/Brasil Ride)

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Jiri Novak and Hans Becking (Fabio Piva / Brasil Ride)

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Austrian duo still is in the lead (Fabio Piva / Brasil Ride)

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Lukas Kaufmann (Christian Correa/Brasil Ride)

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Italian duo and the ladies leaders (Fabio Piva / Brasil Ride)

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Aerial view (Produtora Célula / Brasil Ride)

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