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Christchurch teenager stuns champion at UCI World Cup Mountain Bike
Brilliant Christchurch teenager Anton Cooper upset the new European champion to win the junior men's title at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in the Czech Republic today. (August 14)
The 16 year old, who was having his first start in a UCI World Cup, blitzed the field to beat favourite Jans Schuermans (Belgium) by 1min 43sec in 1:05.10 at Nove Mesto Na Morave.
Schuermans,19, who won the European Championship last weekend, led on the first lap with Cooper following before the Belgium fell back and the young kiwi took control. He won comfortably from Schuermans with Spain's Pabli Rodriguez third.
The Christchurch Boys High School student won a warm-up event in Switzerland last week and was using the World Cup to prepare for the upcoming World Championships in France at the end of the month.
It continues a stunning season for the young Cantabrian who won the Oceania and New Zealand under-19 titles, he became the youngest rider to win the famed Karapoti race and set a new record when he won the Motutapu mountain bike race.
“This was the first time I rode a World Cup. It was hard. Jens went very quickly in the first lap, but I could stay with him and eventually win the race,” he said.
Results: Anton Cooper (NZL) 1:05.10, 1; Hens Schuermans (BEL) at 1:43, 2; Pablo Rodriguez (ESP) at 1:57, 3; Didier Bats (BEL) at 3:21, 4; Romain Seigle (FRA) at 3:22, 5.
Anton Cooper's Report, June 2011
After arriving home from Oceania's in Australia, I had a month off to let my body recover from all the hard training and racing I had put it through. Unfortunately, while beginning my build up to the MTB world champs, I crashed and broke my collarbone. I was very worried at first as I had never seriously broken a bone before, and was a bit unsure as to how quickly I would heal. Six weeks have passed since then, and after spending the first few weeks after my crash on the indoor trainer, I have ventured outside on the road and MTB once again. Fortunately, it seems to have healed well and I can feel no pain when riding so training is now back on in full swing. Over the next few weeks, I will be spending plenty of time getting my MTB skills and fitness back up to speed so I am able to handle racing at high intensity over the rough tracks in Europe.
On the 17th of July I am doing the 2nd round of the N-Duro series up in Rotorua and will spend a few days training up there with a fellow competitor competing at the world champs also. I am looking forward to this as it has been such a long time since my last serious MTB race.
I leave for Switzerland on July 31, and am staying with a family we have come to know who live in Neuchatel which is in the French speaking part of Switzerland. I am travelling by myself so am very pleased to have picked up from MapWorld the European mapping to go on my Garmin Edge 705 which will help me not to get lost while out training, and also lead me to the nearest supermarket!
While overseas I will race two World cup rounds in Europe (Czech Republic and Italy) and possibly a smaller local event in Switzerland before the World Champs in Champery, Switzerland in early September. With only 5 weeks until I leave and 10 weeks until the World Championships, I'm beginning to feel the itch to race again. Having all this built-up energy will be good when it comes to racing, but I know I will have to be careful I don't overdo it on a technical section and crash again before my collarbone has fully healed. I am definitely looking forward to escaping from the freezing weather here in New Zealand and heading to summer in the Northern Hemisphere, which will make training a lot more pleasant.
It won't be all fun and games though as a week after I arrive home. I have practice NCEA examinations and then a month after that are the final NCEA exams. So some time will have to be spent studying in amongst training and sightseeing. That's the only downside to having 5 weeks off school!
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