Cooper fourth in Europe

Anton Cooper rated his fourth-place finish at the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup as his best performance since the Tokyo Olympic Games. The 27-year-old North Canterbury rider roared back to the sharp end of the elite field to finish on the top-five podium in the thirdWorld Cup round in the Czech Republic yesterday. Cooper, the Trek Factory rider, produced a superb performance, rode with a select front bunch including Tokyo Olympic champion Tom Pidcock, team-mate Vlad Drascalu and multi world and Olympic champion Nino Schurter who had punctured earlier. Drascalu and Pidcock edged clear on the final climb with the British rider winning his second World Cup, with Cooper managing fourth in the sprint finish with Schurter and South African Alan Hatherley.