Follow britishcycling.org.uk on

Road to 2012: Talking to Nicole Cooke

Story posted November 18 | by Larry Hickmott | Follow Nicole at www.nicolecooke.com

The London 2012 Olympics have been the focus of the country for a few years now and with just over 18 months to go, the Games are looming large in the sights of the athletes looking to compete in them. One of those athletes is defending Road Race champion, Nicole Cooke, who is currently working hard to be ready to defend that title she won in Beijing.

The past season in 2010 has been a difficult one for the Olympic champion. The pro team she had signed up to disappeared and Nicole had to then spend the season riding with the Great Britain Cycling Team’s Women’s Road Academy (under 23) riders. That academy has now had a change of emphasis with some riders to going to ProTeams  like Lucy Martin (Cervelo) and others such as Hannah Mayho and Katie Colcough, returning to the GB Track Programme.

For the Olympic champion Nicole Cooke, a new team beckons; Mario Cipollini - Giordana. On her website, NicoleCooke.com, Nicole talks about this new beginning for her in a team created by Federico Zechetto and managed by Walter Ricci. 

The mainly Italian team has a strong line up and alongside Nicole will be fellow former World Champions Tatiana Guderzo and Marta Bastianelli (both of Italy) and current Italian Champion, Monica Bacaille. Also in the team are Rosella Callovi (a former Junior World Champion), Marta Tagliaferro, Rossella Gobbo, Samantha Galassi and Elisa Frisoni, all from Italy. Jennifer Hohl of Switzerland and Yulia Blindiuk of Russia are also part of the squad.

"I'm thrilled to be part of this team which has big ambitions over the coming years” says Nicole. “The mixture of riders helps us to be competitive in all styles of races through out the season and I'm looking forward to riding together with all the girls."

Nicole explained that once the season had finished, she was speaking to a few teams and seemed to hit it off straight away with the Mario Cipollini – Giordana outfit. “Their ambitions match my ambitions so it we hit it off fairly quickly and it was quite straight forward from then on.”

Looking back at 2010, Nicole says that it was great to finish the season off on a high with her performance in the Worlds (4th). “I was really pleased with my build up to the Worlds and to then do a great ride on the day was pleasing. It is good to be able to set your challenges and targets, work towards them and then, in the case of the Worlds, almost pull it off. Despite what happened this year, it has given me confidence that for the next two years, with a clean start, I’ll be able to have some great seasons ahead of me.”

Nicole Cooke is never one to shy away from a challenge and here she attacks the break with three Cervelo Test Team riders all after the victory in the British Road Race Championship.

Nicole over the years has shown herself to be such a versatile rider; winning one day events as well as stage races. In 2011, the Welsh rider explained that with the London Olympics now on the horizon, the planning for 2012 will continue to go on in the background. “In terms of the races I do next season, I expect to be focusing on the one day races leaving riders like Tatiana Guderzo to lean more towards the stage races such as the Women’s Tour of Italy.”

“The team will play to its strengths in 2011 and be competitive across the range of events in the season’s calendar” Nicole added.

Cooke explained that races she will find favour with will include the Spring Classics (early season World Cups) where she has enjoyed such success over the years before having a short break and then starting the build-up to the second half of the season and the Road Worlds in Denmark.

Since the Commonwealth Games in India where Nicole was 5th for Wales, the former Commonwealth Games champion has had a good break and is now back in training. “I’ll be continuing to build up towards Christmas and then after that, continue with the pre-season training and get together with the team. I’m going to be based in the UK until around Christmas before going back to Lugano or Italy.”

Nicole, who has had her share, like most professionals, of injuries and obstacles, says that looking ahead, she’s fighting fit and really enjoying being back into the training routine again. It wasn’t that long ago that Nicole was truly the stand out female road rider from Britain and in World Championships, it wasn’t uncommon for her to be isolated at the front of the race. This year in Geelong however, Nicole was one of many GB riders (Emma Pooley, Lizzie Armitstead, Sharon Laws, Catherine Williamson) attacking at the front of the race in the finale showing just how much female riders from Britain have progressed in the sport.

“It is really great to have that strength in the country and if we can keep our high ranking, it will mean we’ll have more riders in the major championships like the Worlds and Olympic Games. Having a strong team behind you is a great help in road racing on any type of course. It will be important for us to have a strong team that is able to ride together and our strength in-depth is starting to really show in the big races.”

Nicole, with the help of her team, has an idea of what the course in 2012 will be like for the Road championship and says that hopefully, she will be able to ride parts of the course to get a feel for it sooner rather than later; a course she expects to be flatter rather than hilly.

With the road season next year ahead of her, Nicole says “it is quite nice to have a new team and other things to focus on right now because I think if it was all about the Olympics for the next two years, it would be quite a lot to handle. It’s good to be able to break it up into the seasons and know my targets for 2011 and then be able to build on them for 2012.”

“The Olympics is a very unique race and I learnt so much from my experience in Athens which was invaluable in Beijing” Nicole says. The road race however isn’t the only event that Nicole has her eyes on.

Like BMX World Champion Shanaze Reade who is looking to do both Track and BMX (see BBC article) in London 2012, Nicole too is dipping a toe into the Track to see what opportunities may be open to her. The event on the track she is having a go at is the Team Pursuit and Nicole is said to be one of as many as ten riders who have expressed an interest in this Olympic event.

“Because the opportunity is there, I’d dearly love to try it out and see what is possible” she told British Cycling. “There is quite a lot to learn and track skills required for it so I’ve started to do a bit of track work recently. I know for me, there are quite a few technical things to pick up so at the moment, it’s a possibility and I’m enjoying the work we have done so far to see how it develops.”

Nicole realises that it is far too early to be saying whether she will be doing both Track and Road at the London 2012 Olympics saying “At the moment, we’re taking it one step at a time and the door is open to everyone to try out for the Team Pursuit and I’m one of those doing that.”

That work will continue during the season leading up to Christmas where Nicole will continue to be a guest of honour at events as well as enjoying her training and riding the bike. Having the satisfaction of knowing that she has a team for 2011 sorted and a race programme to set her up for 2012, Nicole is certainly brimming with confidence and British Cycling wishes her well in her training and racing.