Neymar, Messi and Tevez suddenly no longer have an eye for football and coaches. They push their noses through the wire mesh fence of the "cage" at the top of the Vila Opéraria. People with huge helmets and heavy mountain bikes climb on top of the police, who are sitting in containers and are supposed to keep an eye on the people here. At the beep of the start signal, the race begins with a few firm pedal strokes on top of the police containers, then the bikers drop onto the landing ramp and sprint round the next corner towards the finish line.
It's impressive and new: the organisers of the Circuito MTB de Favelas have planned a spectacular mountain bike course that starts on the roof of the UPP police unit and winds its way through the maze of alleyways like an anaconda - a downhill race through these favelas, as the poor districts in Rio de Janeiro are called. Everyone in the Vila Opéraria is watching - including the three-year-olds on the small, fenced-in football pitch wearing the jerseys of football stars Neymar, Messi and Tevez.
At every corner, at every staircase, people stand and sit with their mouths open - their necks twisting with the unknown flying objects that sail through their neighbourhood. Downhill racing is unheard of in this neighbourhood in Rio's suburb of Duque de Caxias. It's a first. And everyone is excited.
"I collected all the children when I heard that the bike race was here," says a mum at the edge of the course.
Shrill, excited whistles and the warning calls of the marshals - "Baikieeeee!" - echo through the narrow urban canyons. Passers-by jump into the doorways with their shopping bags, pressing their backs against the walls. The way they usually only do when the sound of automatic weapons can be heard. Because speeding cyclists are by no means the greatest danger lurking in the labyrinths of the mostly illegal neighbourhoods of this city of six million people.
The Vila Opéraria, from the highest point of which you can see the statue of Christ in the distant haze over Rio, is considered a rather quiet, harmless favela. And that is also the reason why Circuito boss Thiago Gomes came here at very short notice with his entourage for the final stage of his race series. He is organising three cross-country races and four downhill stages with the Circuito MTB de Favelas. The 35-year-old comes from Rio's middle class - he says he doesn't just want to organise races in unusual places. He has a mission. The favelas symbolise Brazilian society - and its problems.
"We bring a show to the favelas, because nothing else happens there," says Thiago.
Like the Vila Opéraria, Rio's neighbourhoods of Providência, Vidigal, Turano, Complexo do Alemão and Borel are some of the poorest corners of Rio and at the same time the most exciting adventure playgrounds for bikers. Urban downhill world champion Filip Polc even likes to come here from as far away as Europe.
"The favela races are super cool!" enthuses the Slovakian. The wildly built settlements with winding alleyways, long, steep stairs and narrow passages are a ready-made bike park where all you have to do is stretch the track tape. "But you won't survive there without good riding technique and body control," says Polc.
Race director Gomes is also aware of other risks. Rio's hills are a haven for outlaws. An ideal retreat for drug dealers and their violent entourage. Thiago recounts how he suddenly had to throw himself to the ground during preparation at the Complexo do Alemão last year. Bullets whistled over him for an hour. The experience three years earlier was even more violent. When Gomes arrived at the start early in the morning, he found two dead bodies there. Some kind of arms or drug deal had probably gone wrong in the dark of night. Thiago and his racing series only entered the threatening neighbourhoods after they were officially considered "pacificado", or pacified.
In 2009, the police and military used armoured personnel carriers, military helicopters and heavy weapons in an attempt to end the rule of the drug gangs. There was a war in the centre of Rio. Afterwards, UPP police units occupied the favelas. It is part of an image campaign for the UPP to be mounted on the roof by the Circuito.
In 2015, the Circuito also wanted to celebrate its finale at the Complexo de Alemão. Leandro Pereira, a tall guy in his early 30s, would have loved to race through his neighbourhood in front of his own people. But now a bike race in the Complexo? He shakes his head in disappointment: "Impossible, far too dangerous." Since last September, there has been regular shooting again, he says. The sound of automatic weapons can often be heard - even in the nearby middle-class neighbourhoods of Rio.
It's annoying that the best downhill routes lead through the territories of drug and arms dealers. At least protectors are enough on the final day of the Circuito, you can get by without a bulletproof vest - at least the riders hope so. After all, nothing is safe in Rio - especially not when you're on expensive bikes, which often cost more than a small car in Brazil due to high import taxes.
"My friends said to me: How can you go to a favela with such expensive bikes?" says Thiago. His answer: "The bike is your life insurance. Cyclists are aliens here." The bikers are admired, they bring life to the neighbourhood. The garotas, the girls on the estate, scream for each of the colourful bikers - for 13-year-old Lucas, Alexon, who has an amputated leg, or Walace Miranda, Brazil's two-time downhill champion. "The people there are the best crowd you can imagine, they push you down even faster," says Polc, who was the star guest at the opening race this year. The Circuito not only brings a good atmosphere, but also work. Thiago's agency needs up to 120 helpers per race - most of them come from the respective "comunidade", as the favelas are known in politically correct terms. Daily rate: 45 reais, around 11 euros.
The hosts are drunk with joy when the armoured shot drivers use their lanes as a stage - they land one after the other with a plop in the biggest steep section before putting their cars into the steep bend and racing past the Bar do Nil. Nil, the bar owner, says he's doing the business of the year. Two men in their Havaianas step excitedly from one foot to the other opposite. "I never thought I'd ever see anything like this," says one of them. Then there is a rumble and a clatter. The biker with start number 106 had probably approached the makeshift banked bend a little too bluntly after landing and was catapulted headfirst into the board wall. There is an outcry, spectators and marshals run to the broken pilot. Shortly afterwards, they drag away his Specialized fully, which has a completely deformed front wheel. The rider limps after him. It remains the only heavy crash of the day. "I had races where the ambulance was working non-stop," says the race director.
"The community here likes it. It's an opportunity to show their good side, that they are nice and social," says Fabio Henning de Azevedo, who has been racing downhill for two decades. Of course, the 45-year-old also knows: "It's a contradiction to go into the favela with such expensive bikes. The people here have nothing." Just as the last biker has disappeared around the next corner, José Felix Lima comes shuffling through the alley. He is 71 years old and has lived in the little house at number ten for 62 years. He is pleased to see the guests, then lowers his voice. He now talks about the drug dealers and the police. There used to be lavish parties that the gang bosses paid for, but also far too many real war toys. "Now the children no longer carry weapons," he says with satisfaction. He became a father again late in life. His four-year-old offspring Luis Miguel pulled the full-face helmet of a downhill rider over his head at the finish line, climbed onto the saddle of his bike and was thrilled. "The children will now all want to copy this and get modern bikes," says his dad. How do they do it without money? In many corners of Rio, people solve money problems with knives or guns. "They're creative," says José Felix. Down at the finish line, where the many bikes are leaning against each other, you can see what he means: one of the categories with the most participants is called "Rigida", unsprung.
Then the people disappear from the alleyways. The doors close again. Down at the finish line, Thiago Gomes pulls thick bundles of Brazilian real notes out of his trouser pocket. The winners of the individual classes receive between 850 and 1950 reais, 300 to 600 euros - a lot of money. Many a waiter on the
Copacabana earns that a month. But it's not about the money. Claudio Santos, President of the Rio de Janeiro Cycling Federation, says that the value for cycling that the race series has created in the favelas is "inestimable" and emphasises: "It has brought mountain biking to the furthest corners of the city - to places where people are particularly disadvantaged."
But Thiago Gomes, the creator of the series, could soon run out of money. The series of seven races costs 160000 US dollars. The most important sponsors are the state of Rio de Janeiro and the state electricity company Light.
In August 2016, the Olympic Games will come to Rio, the great festival of sport. A great opportunity for the sport of mountain biking? Not at all. Quite possible, says
Thiago that he would have to cancel the series next year. Brazil is paralysed by a major economic crisis, as well as the immense costs incurred by the state and the city as host of the Olympic Games. "If we had to stop the races in the favelas, it would be a huge setback. We created this event on behalf of the government. But they don't thank us," says association president Santos. They have got the kids in the favelas interested in bikes instead of guns. If things go badly, the tables will turn again.
Below the hill of Vila Opéraria lies a huge, dusty burial ground, many small wooden crosses, hardly any gravestones. It is a reminder that downhill racing is a comparatively harmless pastime for young people here. The life expectancy for members of one of the drug gangs, which are said to be flourishing again, is rather low: 25 years.
Info about the Circuito MTB de Favelas
The race series Circuito MTB de Favelas has been taking place in various favelas in Rio de Janeiro since 2010. The organiser selects the neighbourhoods that are already "pacified" and occupied by the police. Initially, the Circuito only consisted of cross-country races. Info on the web: facebook.com/circuitomtbdefavelas
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Andreas Kublik
Editor
