Cooper stuns favourites to win national road title

Wellington rider Joe Cooper has upset the favourites to win the New Zealand men’s road cycling championship in Napier.

The 31 year old, super-strong up the demanding Napier Hill, made his move on the final of eight ascents and held on over the 9km flat lap to claim his second national road race title yesterday.

While Cooper’s win was ultimately achieved in relative comfort, local Hawke’s Bay rider Regan Gough had to recover from a late puncture to out-sprint Auckland’s James Fouche on the line for the under-23 honours.

A group of five riders pushed clear on the initial 81km circuit into the Hawke’s Bay hinterland, including the 2016 rider of the year, Dion Smith. They pushed out to a 3:35 advantage until they returned for eight laps of the inner city circuit that included the arduous ascent of Napier Hill.

The big players included time trial winner Jack Bauer, defending champion Jason Christie, Tour of Southland winner Aaron Gate, Gough, under-23 world mountain bike champion Sam Gaze and new World Tour rider Tom Scully.

They caught the leaders on the third lap and from that point attacks from Cooper, Smith and Christie up the climb were neutralised by the lead group on the flat.

Cooper, who won the national road title in Christchurch two years ago, made his move on the final climb, and as the big names looked at each other, he made a decisive and brave move.

He had a 17 second advantage going into the final 9.5km flat lap and was surprisingly able to hold off the powerful chasers into the head wind over the first five kilometres and from there he was able to enjoy the run home to victory.

Cooper finished 14 seconds clear of Christie, who followed his win last year with another impressive performance for the 26 year old, who hopes to secure a spot in a professional team this year. Third place went to Smith.

‘‘Today was about keeping calm and waiting for the right move. I didn’t have any teammates so I was forced to save energy and then unload at a certain point and hope that it stuck,’’ said Cooper.

On Saturday, Rushlee Buchanan became the first woman to win the national elite road championship four times.

Buchanan outkicked fellow Rio Olympic track rider Georgia Williams and triathlete-turned-cyclist Kate McIlroy in an exciting sprint finish along the Napier foreshore.

The United Healthcare rider successfully defended the title she won last year in Napier after wins in 2010 and 2014 to move one championship clear of three-time winners Cath Cheatley and Melissa Holt.