BikeNZ PureBlack Racing heralded their arrival on the Asian racing scene with a top 10 finish is the opening stage of the Tour of Langkawi yesterday.
Joseph Cooper of Wellington powered through the 20km time trial to finish sixth place in a time of 26 min 5 sec. Cooper finished just 30 sec behind stage winner, Tour de France rider David Zabriskie from Garmin Barracuda.
"Joe's ride was a world class performance," BikeNZ PureBlack Racing director John Harris said. "It is awesome to be placed so highly in a classy field like this. The team rode excellently, as a team their performance couldn't get any better and as individuals they were amazing."
Auckland's Roman van Uden was the next best of the New Zealand national team, clocking a time of 26 min 46 sec to place 19th.
"If they can continue to race like this throughout the tour they can pull off some excellent results," Harris said.
