Cooper claims bronze

New Zealand mountain bike champion Anton Cooper powered to a podium finish in the third round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Austria. Cooper, the Trek Factory professional, was in the leading trio that edged clear after the first full lap of the demanding 3.6km course at the foot of the Asitz mountain in Leogang yesterday. Cooper remained in touch less than 50m behind the leaders until the final lap when Swiss rider Mathias Flueckiger went clear to win. He finished 14sec ahead of Czech Republic’s Ondrej Cink with Cooper 45sec back in third.