CYCLING

Cooper To Spice Up Trust House North Island Team Cycling Series

By NZ Cycle Classic

National road cycling champion Joseph Cooper is looking forward to returning to the Wairarapa this weekend when he lines up in the penultimate round of the Trust House North Island Series.

Cooper, who is a special guest rider for MeoGP Racing Team, has been a member of the UCI Avanti Racing Team for the last two years spending time racing in Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan and Australia. MeoGP Racing Team manager Brent Backhouse said it’s an exciting prospect having Cooper guest-ride for the team in what is being billed as “the toughest race” in the North Island Series with several major hill climbs.

“It’s not every day that you get the National Champ knocking on the door asking if there’s a guest spot on the team,” he says. “Everyone knows that Joe is capable of something special on the bike, and while it’s the end of his season he's clearly flying, winning two back to back stages at the Tour of Southland a few days ago.”

“With the hill top finish on Admiral’s the boys are really looking forward to this race, especially after Dave’s (Rowlands) win at the Carrington Circuit round a couple of weeks ago, and with Joe here they are all super motivated,” Backhouse said.

This Saturday’s race held on the outskirts of Masterton is labelled by event organiser Jorge Sandoval as the “Queen” race of the series. Riders will face major hill climbs and Sandoval is looking forward to seeing Cooper racing in such a good form.


Photo courtesy of NZ Cycle Classic

“Joe is one of the best New Zealand riders, has gained lots of experience racing overseas with the Avanti team over the last couple of years and after winning the King of the mountains competition and two stages in last week’s Tour of Southland, he should be in top condition”

“Saturday’s race will be really hard, there are some massive climbs over the 120km race before riders get to the 12km climb to the finish at the top of Admiral hill.  First on the menu is the short, sharp Millar’s Road hill climb, from there riders turn their attention to the testing 6 kilometres Te Wharau hill and continue racing towards Masterton Limeworks hill.”

After Limeworks, riders travel via Lees Pakaraka Road towards the finish at the top of the gruelling Admiral Hill in Gladstone, a 12km climb to an altitude of almost 500 meters above sea level. 
This week’s race will be crucial for all riders.


Photo courtesy of NZ Cycle Classic

“I won’t be surprised if we get a new leader after this race.  Over the years I seen lots of famous riders go backwards half way up the hill, this time won’t be different and the heat could play a major part in the race,” said Sandoval.

Leader in the elite grade Dave Weaver will fight hard to keep his lead, other riders to watch are the members of the Team Skoda Racing and L&M Group Ricoh teams.

“This Saturday race will be a bit of a change from what we've had so far with the hilltop finish and some big climbs during the second half of the race.  Wheelworks is in a strong position with myself leading overall and Andy in third so we've got a couple of options there. Teamwork will play a big role this race so that should make for some interesting tactical racing.” Weaver said

 
Photo courtesy of NZ Cycle Classic

In the master’s grades, John Randall from Road Reparto team lead Masters One and he will be hard to beat as well as David Meo from Kiwivelo team who is the Masters two grade leader since race one.
Local Masterton Masters One Tararua Builders Team are in third place on the teams classification, they had a massive weekend of training around this Saturday’s circuit hoping to move up or defend their current places.

DETAILS:
The fourth round of the North Island team series will be held on Saturday, November 14th. All races starts from the Gladstone Sports Hall at 10.00am and finish at the top of Admiral Hill around 1.15pm.  Elite men will complete a distance of 120km with both masters’ grades racing over a distance of 90km.