The second edition of Criterio Fixed (criterio.cc) took place in Rio de Janeiro`s City of Arts (Cidade das Artes) on Saturday 27th of June, at this monumental post-modern project from the French architect Christian de Portzamparc, where the best riders from Brazil faced each other on a 1.3k circuit.
LOCAL SCENE
Brazil is far away from other cities in the world when we talk about fixed gear bikes. There are only a few exclusive races provided by the federation for pro cyclists. So, the second edition of the Criterio Fixed is an important mark to consolidate the fixed gear bike status. Alex does most of everything himself, which is a big effort according the actual scene.
In this edition some riders had a few sponsors, which is already a big change from last year’s race. Wolfpack Hustle and Red Hook Crit sponsorship are pretty common at the moment. Near the start line we had lots of space to warm-up by rollers, a bike coffee shop, craft beer and a small audience crowd.
RIDERS
In Category 1 all of the attention was drawn to Diego, The Kid, last year’s edition winner. Everyone had been following his healing process since his crash four months earlier. His Strava data while training for this Crit is impressive. He brought a friend and good rider to partner up and ride with him as a team. Other big presence was Aline Cavalcante, our Jo Celso!, racing with Psicodrome´s team along with Beatriz Folly, last year winner.
RACES
There were no Qualifying or Pre-Finals… the number of riders wasn`t enough for that (yet).
CAT 3: Frederico Galeno was visibly stronger than his opponents, winning with a big time gap of 1:30 minutes. Some said that he was able to race Cat 2. Another highlight was Gabriela Ribeiro who conquered 13th place and was the only girl in Cat 3.
CAT 2: was crowded with 27 riders in the same training level. Competition was fierce in every lap and overall it was a super close race, but nobody would hit the winner. In the final sprint Guilherme Garmatte took first place followed by four other riders had the same finish time!
Womens CAT: was the most competitive with just 7 girls giving everything they had! Months of training for this race, these girls were prepared. They appeared to be very strategic, always yelling and communicating with their teammates. Pretty nice to watch such dedicated riders. As expected, Aline Cavalcante took first place, Beatriz Folly second and Marie Gautherot third.
CAT 1: was brutal! Since the beginning the riders hammered until they broke weaker riders. The first five riders made a breakway and nobody could bridge to them. In the second half of the race they started to test each other with little attacks, but all responded. At the finish line Diego, The Kid won in great shape, expressing no sign of being tired. He is doing a good job! In 2nd place was Jim Guzinski and in 3rd Eduardo Model.
The crowd was so excited that they wanted more. It was a great moment for the fixed movement in Brazil. We hope that more and more races will come!
