Nicole Cooke yesterday gave the perfect riposte to those who doubted her appetite for the fight by winning the World Road Race title in Varese, Italy for the first time. In a masterful display, Cooke and her British team mates coped with whatever the race threw at them, having someone in the decisive breaks and chasing down every move to leave Nicole with the task of nailing the sprint for the line. This she duly did out-gunning her Dutch rival Marianne Vos to win by a bike length. In what turned out to be a thrilling compeitive race the British team of Cooke, Emma Pooley, Elizabeth Armistead, Sharon Laws, and Jessica Allen never lost their nerve and rode an intelligent race. Afterwards Cooke was quick to praise the efforts of her team mates in putting her in a position to win. "When I started the race I was very relaxed because I’d already achieved my goal for the year which was to win the Olympics. "But I was set up perfectly by my team-mates. What more can you ask for?" Surprisingly though before the race many pundits mistook here relaxed demeanour for a lack of hunger and were predicting that Cooke might not be up for the fight because of her Olympic Gold in Beijing. This proved to be a fundamental mis-reading of what drives Nicole Cooke, she is the supreme competitor – Cooke only races to win. Ironically in the past when up against more tactically astute opponents this had sometimes been her undoing. In the last couple of seasons though Cooke has begun to marry her massive talent, and will to win, with a greater tactical maturity. It also seems to have dawned on her that bicycle racing is a team sport – success is not just about being the best rider, having a good team around you being prepared to put it on the line. Team GB are certainly prepared to do that. One other factor that may well have spurred Cooke on, at some level at least, is the realisation that the 23-year old Vos looks like she has a talent to match her own. Yesterday’s race suggests that these two will be battling it out for the big prizes for the next few years. Although she dominated the Worlds as a junior, Cooke has never taken the senior title, her best results being two bronzes and a silver. A group of 12 riders inluding the American Kristin Armstrong and Team GB’s Eliszabeth Armistead, lead the field for most of the 86-mile (138.4 kilometre) race, at one time getting as far as 2 minutes up on the main field. Emma Pooley (GB), attacking off the front of the main field eventually brought the chasing pack up to the escape – just as the race entered it’s final lap. This set things up for five riders to contest the medal placings – Cooke, Vos, Arndt, German Trixi Worrack and Sweden’s Emma Johansson. The two Germans, Arndt and Worrack, then launched a series of attacks to try and break their rivals – Johansson then appeared to get the drop on the others by going for a long-range finish with 2km to go. Vos though chased her down but at the same time also pulled Cooke up and Nicole then put the power down to hit the front where it counted most crossing the line a bike length in front of her Dutch rival. "I tried to get back on her wheel," added 25-year-old Cooke. "After a long race 100 metres can seem more like 200. Dutch rider Vos said: "I felt good in the last lap. I couldn’t do any better, I couldn’t go faster. "Last year I started my sprint too late and this year I thought I had gotten it just right. "When I looked back and saw Nicole coming on strong I knew I couldn’t win. I’m still second, it’s still a spot on the podium." GB cycling supermo David Brailsford said: "Nicole has shown that she is the best around at the moment. "It is brilliant for Nicole and the rest of the team. We really are a team to be reckoned with now." The Road World Championships finish today with the Men’s Road Race. You can watch it live online on the BBC website.
Or watch the BBC’s live coverage on digital TV between 0930 and 1630 by pressing the red button, or catch the highlights between 1800 and 1900 on BBC2. Women’s road race result 1.Nicole Cooke (GB) 3hrs 42mins 11secs?2. 2.Marianne Vos (Ned) at same time? 3.Judith Arndt (Ger) at same time? 4.Emma Johansson (Swe) +5 secs? 5.Trixi Worrack (Ger) +11secs 6.?Diana Ziliute (Lit) +1:47"? 7.Marta Vilajosana (Spa) at same time? 8.Joanne Kiesanowski (NZ) at same time? 9.Alex Wrubleski (Can) at same time? 10.Yulia Martissova (Rus) at same time Selected others: 28.Sharon Laws (GB) 3hrs 43mins 58secs ? 35. Emma Pooley (GB) +1:56 ? 41. Elizabeth Armitstead (GB) +5.24 ?61. Jessica Allen (GB) +6.11
Cooke wins first senior World title
Add as a preferred source on Google
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £2.49. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
No Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
No - it's just that that bright yellow demands all the attention, so the rest of your kit gets overlooked.
Except that, er, they did consider exceptions, in that they specifically provided in the legislation for local authorities to apply exceptions. You could argue over how long they had to implement them, but to say they weren't considered is just not true. And the fact that a few roads have now changed back isn't 'backtracking' - it's authorities using the legislation as designed.
@Rendel Harris I'm confused. Who the hell was he shouting at?? You were "invisible" after all. After years of riding I've concluded that all of my bikes have a cloaking device fitted to them. It's the only explanation for the litany of close passes, left hooks, near misses and collisions that I've been on the end of. Even when wearing bright clothing & running lights in broad daylight, I once found myself airborne over the bonnet of a Kia Sportage whose driver piled onto the roundabout I was already negotiating. The drivers response, having stood by whilst passers by helped my broken form out of the road, was the ubiquitous "I didn't see you". Never fear though, there is a safety mechanism that kicks in occasionally (but only if another rider jumps a red light). At that point I can be seen from space by Daily Mail readers - I know this because I've more than once been subjected to a tirade of abuse about red light jumping cyclists from drivers.......whilst I have been waiting at a red light.
I feel that this is the way platforms are heading now but this would only appeal to me if i could take a session outside rather than being chained to the turbo for all of them.
@Boopop I think every cyclist has stories of being lit up like a Christmas tree, and all the works, yet still having a SMIDSY moment
@Rendel Harris I would’ve replied to the driver, “Who said that? Is there anybody there?” 🙂
So they're kind of bossy and won't let others get a word in?
@DrG82 I think it was well implemented overall, though that is because I agree with the basic point: the speed limit where vehicles interact with pedestrians etc should be 20mph* by default: 30mph can be considered as an exception (e.g a major road with significant mitigating infrastructure, controlled crossings and so on). Some Welsh local authorities have been keener to create exceptions than others for sure. Here in Bristol, we have had widespread 20mph limits for around 15 years. The only downside I saw is that I got used to driving at 20 and would find myself doing so where the limit was 30 in other locations, to the annoyance of drivers behind (though perhaps the relief of pedestrians in front) *There was once a substantial UK report that found the default speed limit should be around 10mph to ensure that pedestrians are not killed by drivers. That seems a long way off.
@slc I wouldn't say that the Welsh government got everything right. They applied the speed limit changes uniformly, without considering exceptions, and have since back tracked in many places. This has been a massive waste of money.
Yelled at by a driver just last month, "It's farkin' dark you farkin' twat why are you riding around wiv a black coat on? You're farkin' invisible!" To be fair, I was wearing a black jacket - a Proviz commuter jacket which is covered in their unparalleled reflective details which, as I know because Mrs H wears the same model, can be seen from hundreds of metres away. He also overlooked the fact that I was wearing a fluorescent yellow helmet, fluorescent yellow gloves, had a rear red light on the helmet, two rear red lights (one strobing one solid) and three white lights on the front (one strobing two solid). Apparently all he could see, or supposedly couldn't see, was the black jacket. They used to be an old joke about "invisible" stealth planes being rubbish because the Russians would be saying, "There aren't any planes about but there's a little guy in a sitting position at 50,000 feet..." - must have been confusing for my chap to see all those lights, reflectives and bright gear apparently going down the street of their own volition.