Fresh off his victory in Canada last week, Trek World Racing’s Junior XC star took another convincing win at Round 6 in Windham, New York, to make it five World Cup wins from five starts. Ever since his unheralded appearance at Nove Mesto na Morave (CZE) last year when he surprised the European MTB world with a standout win, Anton has gone on to win a total of five World Cup races all by very large margins, including the three he’s entered this year.
Yesterday’s race was a little different for the 17 year old as the junior men started two minutes after the Under 23 Men. This gave Anton the opportunity to chase down as many riders as he could instead of riding alone to a pace which he’s done on the four previous occasions. In extremely hot and humid conditions, Anton raced four laps and passed 42 of the 53 Under 23 Men that had started with the 2 minute advantage. Despite losing time passing so many riders and being held up at times on the descents, Anton took the win in 1h 08mins 12secs, more than 3mins ahead of second place. His time would have placed him 14th in elite men at the same point.
Anton said: “That was probably the hottest race I’ve ever done. It was a real challenge timing my passing and getting through the back of the Under 23 field but I enjoyed having people to chase. This isn’t really my favorite type of course with the sustained long climbs, and towards the end of the race my lower back was starting to give me some issues, but I’m just really proud and happy to end my junior World Cup racing career with five victories from five starts.”
Anton heads home to New Zealand on Monday to continue with his final year of high school, returning to Europe in mid-August for training and then racing the Swiss Cup in Muttenz just prior to the World Championships in Saalfelden, Austria, on September 8.
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
