"I took my chances and it paid off so we earned a team victory," explains Avanti IsoWhey rider Cooper, of former teammate Bevin, of Taupo.
Sure, there's a pang of selfish trait in the psyche there somewhere but even then it's the team colours that prevail.
"I'm not one to shy away when the opportunity arises," says the Wellingtonian who turned 30 on December 27, and is here for the Big Save Elite Road National Championship starting in Napier today with the time trial.
"Paddy couldn't do it so we needed someone else to do it," he says of what became the biggest goal for an Avanti team that is relatively young (2000) and plies its trade mostly in Australia, New Zealand and pockets of Asia.
It goes without saying there's utter contempt for any "wheel-sucking" types who prefer "leeching" rather than toiling.
But the biggest sense of satisfaction comes in stealing the thunder from the high-twitch fibre boys from the more lucrative and glamorous European and American teams.
While a fulltime rider, Cooper is basically an amateur benefiting from a communal existence as opposed to a pro-tour circuit campaigner such as Sam Bewley.
"I do everything they do apart from picking up their pay cheques," says Cooper with a laugh.
To the outsider it smacks of disparity but he harbours no grudges, reconciling that with with the law of the jungle.
"I love riding a bike anyway and it would be great [to collect lucrative cheques] but there are no sour grapes there," he says, feeling he's done most things in his career correctly but doors didn't open, for whatever reason, at the top of the food chain.
Needless to say, nothing will please him more than to, again, wipe the smirk of the faces of the likes of world tour riders Greg Henderson (Lotto Soudal), and Olympic medallist Bewley (Orica-GreenEdge ), Bevin (now Cannondale Pro Cycling), Jesse Sergeant (AG2R Mondiale) and George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo), to name a few.
"About 50 per cent of the time we put them in their place.
"It's a good feeling to, you know, go to the next level and not feeling like a fish out of water."
Cooper emphasises, in the Avanti group of five this week - only he and Fraser Gough, of Hawke's Bay are returning from last year - it's imperative they don't harbour "hard feelings".
"We're a tight-knit unit so we can't afford to walk away feeling disappointed [about not winning individually] when we're combining to reach a goal because that's the reason why some teams fall apart."
The other Avanti teammates, predominantly under 23, are Liam Aitcheson, Cameron Karwowski and Kiwi team pursuit world champion Regan Gough, of Waipukurau.
"Interestingly we don't have the numbers but we won't just roll over," he says when asked what realistically is Avanti's chances of retaining his road race crown.
"Everyone has a chance of winning so it's all on come Sunday."
The U23 and elite men's 180km road race begins at 9am, taking in 80.5km of rural loop through Puketapu including 7km "neutralised" to Tamatea plus 7.5 loops of Napier Hill inner-city circuit.
"I've raced there a few times. The roads are great, the temperature is great so it's a pretty nice place," says the man who has 10 nationals to his credit, including winning a national U23 title in Palmerston, Otago.
Practising in the capital should put him in good stead, especially his rides up Hospital Hill which he hopes will replicate Napier Hill.
"This year is new, exciting and very open."
So where does today's time trial, starting at 10am from Church Road Winery in Taradale, fit into the scheme of things for the big boys?
"It's a New Zealand title so at every time trial [4-5 in a year] you get to put on the silver fern.
"It's pretty big but with road races you get to put on the silver fern just about every day," he says as a dozen males line up in today's time trial to tame the 40km stretch that entails a long loop and a short 17km one.
Cooper, who won the time trial in Christchurch in 2013, says the time trial is devoid of tactics because they are riding against themselves and the clock although a cyclist can "check against one or two others on the course".
"The biggest difference is who can hurt Henderson the most," he says of the 39-year-old three-time Olympian from Otago.
He can't recall the last time anyone won the double (elite men's time trial/road race) in a year but reckons it'll be nice to achieve that.
With Henderson nine years older than him, Cooper believes he has another two solid years of racing left in him.
He hasn't thought of life after cycling but he'll "take it as it comes".
"It's quite daunting as everyone goes through that process in life but, I guess, I'll be joining the rat race," says Cooper, who is simply content to make the most of it for now.