Brasil Ride: Fini wins XCO, Avancini and Fumic very close to the title

Porto Seguro (BA) - Next to last stage in Brasil Ride, which will be held in Arraial d’Ajuda next Friday (26), with four laps on an XCO circuit with 8.1 Km, crowned the specialists in the discipline. The winner of the stage was Danish Sebastian Fini, from CST American Eagle Racing Team, in 1h25min26sec. Following them, Henrique Avancini, Cannondale Factory Racing in 1h26min06sec, and Hans Becking from DMT Racing Team in 1h27min11sec.

"For me, winning the Olympic cross country is amazing. On Thursday (25) I felt really bad after the fifth stage and, in the evening, I said to myself that I would win the XCO. Being here having won is unbelievable. I beat world-class riders such as Henrique Avancini and Hans Becking. Avancini, for example, has won MTB World Cup stages, he is the marathon world champion and I'm not even close to that. Winning my third race here in Brasil Ride is something spectacular", celebrated Fini.

With the combined time of the duo, Avancini and German Manuel Fumic now have 3min54sec ahead of the second duo, Portuguese Tiago Ferreira and Becking, with little more than 44 Km to the end of the ultramarathon on Saturday morning (27) . "I'm quite happy with the result. I could not fight for the individual win, which could be too much pride, and I would risk making a mistake. Fini attacked early on and I was a little behind with Hans and Manuel. At the end of the first lap I got close to Russian Alexey Medvedev and passed him. I set a good pace and the main goal was to get a good lead time ahead of Hans", said Avancini.

"I have opened a larger gap ahead of Hans, Manuel, and Tiago. It was a giant step for our overall victory. We had another win as a team, with the combination of the times. It's very close. I do not want to rush, we must compete with extreme concentration in the final stage and protect ourselves, but the idea is to get to the finish line and hold on to the yellow shirt. I'm excited, because I feel good. With the least luck we will take this trophy”, said Avancini. "Winning Brasil Ride would have a special taste, because it would be my first title with Fumic", he finished.

Women’s elite - With Sandra Santaynes' win and team mate Anna Ramirez (Olympia / Esteve Team) as runner-up, the Spanish duo can almost guarantee the win. Only one very difficult day next Saturday (27) would prevent them to win the competition in 2018. While Sandra crossed the finish line in 1h30min41sec, by completing three laps, Anna was second, in 1h31min04sec, with Cannondale Brasil Women's Viviane Favery, third on the podium in 1h32min17sec. 

"We thought of a thousand strategies for doing it. We ended up deciding to ride together, because in case one of us had problems, we could help each other. I was able to give support to Anna on the downhill and on the climbs as well. We went like this until the end and we kept the minutes ahead”, said Sandra. "She helped me down the slopes because she's really good at choosing the lines. The idea was to spare the bikes, which was more important at the moment," said Anna.

Top 3 Stage 6:

Men's:  (4 laps): 
1-Sebastian Fini (DIN): 1h25min26seg
2-Henrique Avancini (BRA): 1h26min06seg
3-Hans Becking (NED): 1h27min11seg

Women's (3 laps): 
1-Sandra Santaynes (ESP): 1h30min41seg
2-Anna Ramirez (ESP): 1h31min04seg
3-Viviane Favery (BRA): 1h32min17seg

Top 5 after Stage 6:

Men's: 
1-Henrique Avancini (BRA) / Manuel Fumic (GER) - 19h28min27seg
2-Tiago Ferreira (POR) / Hans Becking (NED) - 19h32min21seg
3-Alexey Medvedev (RUS) / Francesco Failli (ITA) - 19h42minseg
4-Hugo Prado Neto (BRA) / Roel Paulissen (BEL) - 19h50min44seg
5-Sebastian Fini (DIN) / Martins Blums (LAT) - 19h55min25seg

Top 3 after Stage 6:

Women's:
1-Sandra Santanyes (ESP) / Anna Ramirez (ESP) - 24h34min38seg
2-Viviane Favery (BRA) / Marcella Toldi (BRA) - 25h01min33seg
3-Paula Gallan (BRA) / Franciele Almeida (BRA) - 25h28min20seg

2018 Brasil Ride Stages:
Etapa 7 - Arraial d'Ajuda - 43,8 km and 497 m de altimetry

Live Schedule - The ninth edition of Brasil Ride will follow the schedule of the last two editions, with live streaming for eight days, in the official fan page: www.facebook.com/BRASILRIDE. Check the days and times (GMT-3):

Saturday - 10/27 - Start at 8:40 a.m.; Finish at 12:00 p.m.; and Prize ceremony at 8:45 p.m.  

The event - Considered the Giro d'Italia of the world MTB, the ultramarathon scheduled for 21-27 October in Bahia offers a challenge for the 540 participating athletes from all over the world. For seven days, the participants will ride for 600 km and endure almost 11,000 m of accumulated altimetry, between tracks and dirt roads that connect Arraial d'Ajuda, in Porto Seguro, to Brasil Ride Village, built annually in Guaratinga. On the last day of the competition, on Saturday (27), another 1,200 cyclists from all over the country join the stars of the international mountain bike race for the Marathon of the Discoveries. A unique opportunity to ride side by side with the bestmountain bikers in the world.

The ninth edition of Brasil Ride has Specialized, Shimano, Caixa and Unidas as sponsors. Government of Bahia, through the SUDESB (Superintendence of Sports of the State of Bahia) and Bahiatursa (Superintendence of Tourism Promotion of the State of Bahia), also sponsor the ultramarathon, while the Municipalities of Porto Seguro and Guaratinga are among the supporters.

Videos and slideshows: youtube - wetransfer

Stage 1:
Vídeo - https://youtu.be/CcduJ8RGGww
Slideshow - https://youtu.be/8lbrO1xTLMU
Wetransfer - https://we.tl/t-t644YMd1G3

Stage 2: 
Vídeo - https://youtu.be/_oBSy4DLihU
Slideshow - https://youtu.be/zMYfhZZr0F0
Wetransfer -https://we.tl/t-5rewGncXHP

Stage 3:
Video - https://youtu.be/4Lb_0CwSxdU
Wetransfer - https://we.tl/t-1k2RknUEd0
Slideshow - https://youtu.be/yldPy3EzMk4

Stage 4:
Vídeo youtube: https://youtu.be/rK1qIgAtIJQ
Vídeo wetransfer: https://we.tl/t-AbXRi4ro2o
Slideshow youtube: https://youtu.be/UjEbJul_5mQ
Slideshow wetransfer: https://we.tl/t-43UqTsDkXb

Stage 5:
Vídeo youtube: https://youtu.be/WIUyNgmJx2c
Vídeo wetransfer: https://we.tl/t-2yMyRIvZBh
Slideshow youtube: https://youtu.be/IwEQiby08Ms
Slideshow wetransfer: https://we.tl/t-U7Cb0pTaLT

Stage 6:
Vídeo youtube: https://youtu.be/TIiq8aBbnZg
Vídeo wetransfer: https://we.tl/t-aK7wo77XBC
Slideshow youtube: https://youtu.be/7ojIfHwzC3o
Slideshow wetransfer: https://we.tl/t-Fve0TrL0lW

Avancini's Interview:
wetransfer : https://we.tl/t-6nG92gaiGi
youtube: https://youtu.be/I7hBfBezhNE

Results on www.brasilride.com.br

Brasil Ride: More than a race, a stage in your life.

Website: http://www.BRASILRIDE.COM.BR
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 9.8457-9699

Translated by: Rosita Belinky - robelinky@gmail.com

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