Mountain biking: Kiwi crushes rivals at junior World Cup

Anton Cooper. Photo / Geoff Sloan

New Zealander Anton Cooper has won his first World Cup cross country mountainbike race of the year, beating the reigning junior World Champion by more than four minutes in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, overnight.

Cooper, from Woodend near Christchurch, racing for his new Trek World Racing Team, powered away at the start and gave his rivals, including world champion Frenchman Victor Koretzky, no chance at the front of the race.

The 17-year-old showed he has carried on his form of last year when he won the last two World Cup rounds of 2011. He has now won every World Cup race he has entered.

Cooper said: "The race went really well for me as I had such fresh legs so it was fun to race today. Honestly, I could have gone for another lap I enjoyed it so much. I'm really happy to be on a team that has great support and has made me feel so welcome, as well as having amazing equipment sponsors. It's been my dream. There are some other big races coming up this year so I'm really looking forward to them.''

Team owner Martin Whiteley said: "Watching Anton race is very special, and we couldn't be prouder of what he did today, that is a big milestone for the program. Anton has slotted into the team brilliantly and we're all excited about what the future holds for him.''

Cooper's lap times, considering the course was still wet from the overnight rain, which closed some of the technical sections of the course, were fast enough to draw comparison to the elite men's field from the day before.

The elite men's downhill race was also run overnight at Cascades MTB Park in Pietermaritzburg. Renowned on the World Cup circuit as a tough course due to a sustained flat section through the middle stages of the descent, the four New Zealand athletes competing didn't fire as well as they had hoped. Justin Leov (Trek World Racing, Dunedin) was the best performer in 17th, with Brook MacDonald (MS Mondraker, Napier) in 19th.

MacDonald had a heavy fall in qualifying on Friday after over jumping one of the massive features towards the bottom of the course, and while the effects of that crash could have been a lot worse, for the 2009 Junior World Champion this is a solid start in his quest to repeat his regular podium appearances of 2011. George Brannigan (Devinci Global, Hawke's Bay) and Sam Blenkinsop (Lappierre International, Wanganui) raced to 40th and 58th respectively, Blenkinsop in his first race back after recovering from a broken leg earlier this year.

Results Pietermarizburg World Cup XCO Junior Men:
Anton Cooper (NZL) 1:09:48 1; Victor Korestzky (France) 1:14:17 2; Nicolas Sessler (Brazil) 1:15:42 3.

Results Pietermarizburg World Cup DHI Elite Men:
Greg Minaar (RSA) 3:57.98 1; Aaron Gwinn (USA) +0.632 2; Michael Hannah (AUS) +0.994 3; (also) Justin Leov (NZL) +8.579 17; Brook MacDonald (NZL) +9.036 19; George Brannigan (NZL) +14.515 40; Sam Blenkinsop (NZL) +18.106 58.