Anton Cooper Wins World Cup 5 by More Than 6 Minutes
The four lap race included the best of the North American juniors, and a smattering of Europeans, but Antons real goal for the race was to follow a pace that would have placed him top 15 in the Elite Men. The team laid out a race plan for where he needed to be, lap by lap, and gave him the information throughout the race. He was aiming for a race winning time of 1hr 10mins and finished with 1hr 09mins 55secs, right on target, and winning by 6mins 20secs.
It wasnt all smooth sailing as Anton encountered an issue with his front derailleur caused by sand on the course that had him stuck in the big ring on some climbs. It wasnt worth a stop in the pits as the time he was losing was marginal and he felt fine continuing and managing the issue which he soon resolved.
Anton said: I felt great today. The weather was ideal for me, not too hot, and plenty of cloud for shade. Once I got away I just focused on riding smoothly and keeping to my schedule. I figured with the chain ring that if I changed it when it wasnt under load, in anticipation of the next climb, it worked out fine. Im really happy to have raced this famous course and look forward to next week in the US. Team website: http://xc.trekworldracing.com/
Follow Trek World Racing on Twitter: @trekworldracing
Follow Anton on Twitter: @antoncooper
Full results: http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTYzODg&LangId=1
