The Coffee Ride #45, with Reece Homfray

JOE Cooper has thrown down the gauntlet to his only challenger in Tim Roe to try to steal the National Road Series crown from his grasp this weekend.

Avanti Racing Team's Joe Cooper is leading the National Road Series with one round remaining. Picture: Neil Walker

AUSSIE CYCLING FRESHLY BREWED EVERY WEDNESDAY MORNING, EXCLUSIVE TO ADVERTISER.COM.AU

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, SAYS COOPER

JOE Cooper has thrown down the gauntlet to his only challenger in Tim Roe to try to steal the National Road Series crown from his grasp this weekend.

Cooper, 28, who moved to Melbourne from Wellington, New Zealand, earlier this year is just one race away from claiming the overall title when the peloton lines up in the 228km Grafton to Inverell on Saturday.

Roe, who rides for Budget Forklifts, trails Cooper of Avanti Racing Team, by three points and needs to finish top four while denying Cooper a spot on the podium in order to snatch the title.

The one-day race includes an 18km climb to the Gibralta Range Summit but then gradually descends for much of the final 140km, meaning Roe will have his work cut out if he’s to make an attack stick.

“My one and only goal for Grafton to Inverell is to sit on his (Roe) wheel and if he wants a chance at winning the NRS he’s got to make all the plays,” Cooper said.

“I’ve got the advantage so he’s got to conjure something up to get it.

“We’ve got the number one team there supporting me as well for that one goal. If he goes up the road we’ve got seven guys plus me to bring him back.

“I’ve never done it (Grafton to Inverell) before and don’t know too much about it. That’s my homework for (this) week. I think the last few editions a breakaway has won so it will probably be more of the same.”

Tim Roe of Budget Forklifts during the National Road Series. Picture: Supplied

If Cooper is able to hold on it would be a remarkable series victory after he crashed at the Tour of Towoomba in May and broke his hip.

“It would mean the world to me,” he said of following in teammate Jack Haig’s footsteps by winning the title this year.

Cooper’s best results this year included winning the Tour of Perth and Battle of the Border but he is yet to secure a ride at a higher level for 2015.

“With the crash mid-season it hampered managing to find another team for next year but I’m more than happy to stay with Avanti and have another red-hot crack at trying to jump up to that pro tour level in 2015,” Cooper said.

Roe conceded it would be better if he went into the final round with the lead but it didn’t change his focus, which was to try to win Grafton to Inverell.

“Ideally it would be better to be in front but I’m not too worried. I go in trying to win the race because that would be the best way to win the NRS,” Roe said.

“I’ve done the race before but it was about five or six years ago and I don’t remember it exactly.”

Regardless of what happens this weekend, Roe said he was pleased with his season.

“I’m very happy. I wanted to be consistent especially coming back after a few years of injury,” he said. “I’ve been to every tour and been up there. I don’t think I’ve finished outside the top 10 this year.

“I would have liked to have won the NRS and it is still possible with one round to go.”

Current NRS top 10:

1. Joe Cooper 68 points

2. Tim Roe 65

3. Brenton Jones 56

4. Jesse Kerrison 49

5. Patrick Bevin 41

6. Raphael Freinstein 41

7. Jack Haig 34

8. Ben Dyball 33

9. Mitch Lovelock-Fay 26

10. Mark O’Brien 24

’TIS THE SEASON TO PARK THE BIKE

Simon Clarke, Michael Klim and Simon Gerrans at Caulfield. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis

VICTORIANS Simon Gerrans and Simon Clarke are suiting up rather than putting their feet up this off-season by stepping out in style for Caulfield Cup day on the weekend.

The pair were guests in the Crown marquee alongside swimming superstars Michael Klim and James Magnussen and snowboarder Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin on Saturday.

The fun kept coming for Gerrans on Sunday when he was expected to be trackside for the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island.

CYCLING SA RIDERS HIT BY CAR

ADELAIDE cycling officials are relieved no one was more seriously injured after five young riders were hit by a car while training last Thursday morning.

A group of five including four from Cycling SA’s junior development program and one from the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) were brought down on Sudholz Rd after a collision with a car about 6.45am.

The alleged driver of the car attended the Holden Hill Police Station where he was breath-tested and allegedly returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.083.

A 41-year-old man from Ingle Farm was reported for driving with a prescribed concentration of alcohol, driving in a manner dangerous and leaving the scene of a collision. His licence was disqualified for six months and his car was impounded for 28 days ahead of being summonsed to appear in court at a later date.

The cyclists were aged between 15 and 22 and one suffered a fractured arm and fractured wrist and another a hairline fracture to their elbow.

SASI director Wes Battams and Cycling SA executive officer Chris Paul were both concerned by the incident but thankful none of the riders was more seriously hurt.

“Any accident is worrisome and the potential for much more serious injuries is great so we have to be appreciative of the fact that the injuries are not catastrophic,” Battams said.

“We run our training programs in accordance with best practice and follow all the guidelines and it’s extremely disappointing this has occurred. Thankfully there were not more serious injuries,” Paul said.

AUSSIE TRACK RIDERS LINK UP WITH OGE IN LONDON

Scott Sunderland at the London Olympics on 2012.

AUSTRALIAN track sprinter-turned-enduro Scott Sunderland will ride for Orica-GreenEDGE in the opening round of the Revolution Series in London this weekend.

Sunderland will team with Jens Mouris in the elite field where they will go head-to-head with a red-hot field which includes Ben Swift and Ian Stannard racing for Team Sky, Ed Clancy, Alex Dowsett and Adam Blythe.

Other young Australian track riders including Jack Bobridge, Glenn O’Shea, Scott Law and Alex Edmondson are also expected to ride with Orica-GreenEDGE during the series which includes six rounds in London, Manchester and Glasgow until March.

The Revolution Series is a UCI-sanctioned event, meaning riders can earn points for qualification towards world cups and world championships on the track.

Teams in the elite championship earn points each round which count towards an overall league table by racing a flying lap, elimination race, points race, madison, time trial and scratch race.

Orica-GreenEDGE director Matt White said it promised exciting racing.

“It provides us an opportunity to link up with the Australian national squad on the track. we have a solid team but we are up against the best British riders so will see plenty of exciting racing,” White said.

The elite women’s field is just as impressive with Laura Trott, Marianne Vos and Katie Archibald all confirmed starters for round one.

BE A HERO AND RIDE THREE PEAKS

Anna Meares has her head shaved by leukaemia survivor Jessica Simone. Picture: Dylan Coker

IF YOU’VE ever thought about riding the Three Peaks Challenge in Victoria but just needed a reason to do it well here it is.

The Little Heroes Foundation, which raises funds for seriously ill children and their families in South Australia, has included the ride on its 2015 events calendar.

The ‘Peaks Challenge’ will be held on Sunday, March 8, 2015, and is 235km including 4000m of climbing with 13 hours to get to the finish line in the Victorian Alps.

Starting from picturesque Falls Creek, the ride is a loop taking in Tawonga Gap, Mt Hotham and Omeo.

To be eligible for the trip, cyclists must raise a minimum of $1000 for the Little Heroes Foundation — which is the same organisation Anna Meares helped raise more than $200,000 for by shaving her head in August.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK ...

“I am basically ‘Joe Average’ … I mean I have kids, I live in Germany, I pay my taxes here, I cut my own lawn, I fix things around the house myself and there is no nanny.”

- Jens Voigt tells Eurosport reporter Aaron Lee that beneath his superstar status is just an ordinary guy who mows his own lawns.

“They didn’t really think that I should have still been walking let alone that fact I had been racing my bike for three weeks with it.”

- Australian Chloe McConville on being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary embolisms.

“I don’t think I’d have been doing the Tour if I was anywhere else but on this team. That’s the thing about GreenEdge. You give and you take but everything rotates and everyone has their chance.”

- Simon Yates tells Cyclingnews.com of riding the Tour de France with Orica-GreenEDGE this year.

“There’s also the track side of things. (Dave) Brailsford showed support for my desires to try for the Olympics. To have a team like Sky, with a lot of track experience, it made for an easy decision.”

- Italian sprinter Elia Viviani tells La Gazzetta dello Sport why he’s joining Team Sky in 2015.

TWEET, TWEET

The only way to get fat is the problem that I always have to empty the plates of my kids and wife....#hardtoresist

— Andre Greipel (@AndreGreipel) October 15, 2014

— German sprinter Andre Greipel on the challenges of an off-season for a cyclist.

Originally published as The Coffee Ride #45, with Reece Homfray