British Cycling

NICOLE COOKE WINS FLECHE WALLONE WORLD CUP EVENT!!

Nicole Cooke wins her second World Cup Road Race in a week!

Five days ago no British cyclist, male or female, had ever won a World Cup Road Race. Now, 20 year old Welsh Girl Nicole Cooke has won two and is ranked number one in the Women's World Cup for 2003 after 5 of 9 rounds. The four times World Junior Champion and Commonwealth Games Gold medallist won again today beating a huge field of 160 other riders including all the top names of the Women's professional scene. She was the winner of Fleche Wallone.

This was her second win in 4 days. This time it was over the harsh hills of the Ardennes, in the French speaking region Wallonia. Again the race was run off alongside a men's race and huge crowds turned out in the sunshine to watch one of the Spring Classics that has featured previous winners such as Lance Armstrong and Eddy Merckx. This is a major race on the International Cycling calendar.

With a win on Sunday, there was going to be no way that Nicole might sneak out from under the noses of the favourites. The Italian winner of the Tour de France and Giro, Fabiana Lupperini had won this event 3 times before and after a disappointing start to the season was keen to make amends on her favourite course. The Australian Sara Carrigan started the day defending a slender lead in the World Cup and would be backed by not only her Professional team Bik -Powerplate but also the Australian Institute of Sport team that featured the rider 2nd to Nicole on Sunday, Olivia Gollan, as they tried to ensure she kept the No 1 spot.

The action started very nearly from the gun as rival teams put the pressure on, each one seeking to use every hill and bend to attempt to drop the weaker riders of rival teams and therefore force the team leaders to start working earlier. "The pace was very quick and the narrow roads meant that I could not drop out of the top 30 at any time. My team were great. Today, I had the whole team riding for me, bringing me bottles, shielding me from the wind and going on the front to chase down rival riders. We all knew that I was in with a chance of another good ride today." Said a tired Nicole after the race.

As they got into the closing 11km there were two big climbs left. The Ben Ahin which is 14% and the 1.4 km Mur de Huy, with a muscle sapping average of 10% with one section at 20%. The finish is on the top of the "Wall" of Huy "As we started the penultimate climb there was a group of about 25 of us left at the front.

"Fabianna had been very active throughout the race and obviously wanted to win today. As we started to climb, she attacked but was pulled back and then I attacked, However, they were not going to let me go today and they chased me down. However, these two attacks thinned down the group to just 15, which meant it was just the big hitters. Then, over the top, Tamanini (Ita) attacked and everybody just watched her go. She was followed by Svetlana Boubnenkova (Rus) and the two joined up 100 m ahead of the group".

Judith Arndt of Team Nurenberg then went on the front to bring them back as she sought to set things up for team-mate Regina Schleicher who was 2nd this morning on the overall World Cup standings. This brought all 15 riders back together just at the foot of the Wall of Huy, the final climb.

"I quickly got to the front of the group and found myself riding alone. Swiss star Brandli rode alongside for a while but she soon blew. I felt ok until I got to the 20% gradient and then I sensed Canadian Palmer-Komar come alongside. I then started to tie up and thought that I might have gone to hard to early. As I came around the hairpin in sight of the finish I saw that either the finish had moved or I had misjudged it as it was all about 100m further away than I thought. So I made one enormous more effort and dropped Palmer-Komar. I knew I was going to win 50m from the line, but this time I did not have the energy to take my hands off the bars, in fact I could barely get myself across the line, as I got over it I had to be caught by the officials as I dropped to the ground."

Susan Palmer-Komar who was 2nd at 4 seconds, had also been 2nd to Nicole in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. The riders were spread out with only 108 finishers the last of whom came in 18 minutes behind Nicole. As she crossed the line, collapsing into the arms of GB massuer John Evans who suddenly found himself engulfed by photographers struggling to get pictures of a Welsh lass who is on top of the world (picture). After being helped to her feet, Nicole stayed at the line to personally shake the hands of every one of her team-mates as they crossed the line. "They were superb today, I could not have wanted for a more dedicated team."

With Australian Sara Carrigan coming in 20th Nicole just edged ahead of her to take the overall lead in the World Cup, with 4 rounds remaining. Words fail to describe how awesome that achievement is because when you have fields of 160 riders plus, to win consistently takes a truly great rider and Nicole is certainly that. One thing is for sure, if ever riders wanted a hero to look up to, you don't need to go any further than young Nicole.

Also riding were the Great Britain womens team, again with out Rachel Heal who was yet again still unable to start due to illness. The plan for the team was for Sara Waller and Charolette Goldsmith to support Frances Newstead early on and then Emma Davies to take on that role to the finish.

Sara Waller though was still not over the illness that she has suffered from recently and was dropped after 15km. Charolette Goldsmith though was doing the ride of her life, taking four or more bottles up to Frances and Emma who were with the main group until just after the 3rd climb from the end, one of the toughest, when Frances Newstead suddenly just blew big time, unable to ride after having given her all. Emma meanwhile carried on finishing the event as did Charolette.

You can find out the very latest from Nicole's superb website, http://www.nicolecooke.com/ where Nicole speaks about her latest triumph.

 1. COOKE Nicole         GBR  2h40'52" 
 2. PALMER-KOMAR Susan   CAN   00'04" 
 3. WOOD Oenone          AUS   00'09" 
 4. PUCINSKAITE Edita    LTU   00'11" 
 5. GOLLAN Olivia        AUS   00'11" 
 6. BR�NDLI Nicole       SUI   00'21" 
 7. NEBEN Amber          USA   00'21" 
 8. LUPERINI Fabiana     ITA   00'23" 
 9. MELCHERS Mirjam      NED   00'24" 
10. WORRACK Trixi        GER   00'24" 

70. DAVIES Emma         GBR    07'16" 
98. GOLDSMITH Charlotte GBR    14'59" 

WORLD CUP OVERALL
 1. COOKE Nicole        GBR AUSRA GRUODIS-SAFI                157 
 2. CARRIGAN Sara       AUS BIK-POWERPLATE                    140 
 3. MELCHERS Mirjam     NED FARM FRITES - HARTOL CYCLING TEAM 124 

28. HEAL Racher         GBR GREAT BRITAIN                     18 

NICOLE'S WEBSITE: www.nicolecooke.com/ 

NICOLE WINS AMSTEL GOLD >>> Go There

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