Mountain Bike BPM62492 v2 Mountain Bike Olympians, Anton Cooper and Sammie Maxwell chalked up their 10th and 5th cross-country national titles respectively in Rotorua today.
Cooper returned to the winner’s podium after spending much of last year out with illness to lead home the elite men’s competition while Maxwell dominated the women’s competition after recovering from illness last week.
The pair of kiwi professionals will now head across the Tasman for the UCI Continental Series in Canberra ahead of the Oceania Championships as the lead-in to the start of the UCI World Series in Brazil.
Cooper, who rides for the Lapierre Racing Unity professional team, edged away from Auckland’s Matthew Wilson on the second lap- and continued to extend his lead, winning in 1:34:09 in dry and warm conditions in the Whakarewarewa Forest. He finished 1m37s clear of Wilson with Taupo’s Coen Nicol nearly 3mins back in third.
“I didn’t know what to expect today, having not raced at this level for quite a while. I knew my form in training had been quite good but translating that to race performance is a different thing,” said Cooper.
“I felt strong all day and Matt (Wilson) was super-strong. I was able to attack him over the top on the second lap and kept on it from there.
“Ten elite national title is pretty special, and five in the age categories so I have a few of these jerseys now and hopefully it is not the last one.”It was more emphatic for Maxwell, the Decathlon Ford professional, […]
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