Cooke Heads Welsh Medal Charge

 

The Commonwealth Games Council for Wales (CGCW) has confirmed the cyclists that have been invited to take their seats on the Melbourne bound plane for the 2006 Commonwealth Games showdown (15-26 March 2006). They are:

Riders:

Nicole Cooke, Julian Winn, Geraint Thomas, Dale Appleby, Yanto Barker, Rob Partridge, Ross Sander, Steven Roach, Matt Brammeier

Staff:

Team Manager: Phil Jones
Coach: Julian Winn

Nicole Cooke (pictured) will be hoping to save the best to last in Melbourne. On the day of the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, she will hope to retain the road race crown she won in Manchester at just 19 years old. Her opponents will however have to be at their best to beat the girl who will be armed with four years more experience - including a trip to the Athens Olympic Games in 2004.

Much is expected of ever-rising cycling star Geraint Thomas who has impressed on the junior and senior circuits alike. The 19-year old Cardiff cyclist already has a World Junior title to his name as well as a silver medal in a senior World Cup race. A freak training accident in Sydney in early 2005 threatened his burgeoning sporting career when the teenage talent needed surgery to remove his spleen after a metal bar struck his team-mate's bike, causing Thomas to crash into his handlebars. Six weeks later and he was back in the saddle and is now gunning for a podium finish in Melbourne.

Games veteran Julian Winn will be on hand on the track and behind the scenes to help steer Wales to cycling glory down under. The Abergavenny star was appointed National Coach in June 2005 and - having raced at Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and Manchester in 2002 - he is hoping that it will be a case of third time lucky in Melbourne. Team Manager Phil Jones is confident that he has a winning team on his hands:

"We have selected the strongest possible team for the Games - one that will pose a real threat to the rest of the field when they take to the tracks and roads of Melbourne. These athletes have already proven their potential on the world stage and are more than capable of proving their potential with podium positions next year."

Team Wales Chef de Mission, Anne Ellis OBE said:
"I am delighted to welcome these cyclists into Team Wales. We hope they will carry on the good form they have shown on the international circuit over the last few years and months. Competing against some of the greatest cycling nations in the world will in no doubt inspire our athletes in what promises to be closely contested competitions."

 

Team Biogs

Nicole Cooke
DOB: 13 April 1983
From: Wick, nr Cowbridge

12 months after Manchester, the Cowbridge rider became the youngest ever winner of the World Cup series and took bronze in the World Road Race Championships in 2003. Although she again wrote her name into the history books by becoming the youngest-ever winner of the female equivalent of the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia, 2004 was not as kind. She required knee surgery which affected her Olympic performance. Finished fifth in Athens, she was hugely disappointed. But, putting Olympic setbacks aside, she remains an immense talent. Indeed, her success has led to praise from the highest of quarters - Olympic hero Chris Boardman has said:

"I cannot think of anybody who comes close to what she is doing now - she really is a phenomenon." Cooke - who now rides for a trade team in Italy (Acca Due O) declared on television at the age of 12, that her ambition was Olympic gold after she picked up the cycling bug on family tandem holidays in France. She has been helped to the top of her sport by ɬite Cymru - the Sports Council for Wales's lottery programme for talented athletes.

Geraint Thomas
DOB: 25/05/86
From: Cardiff

Cardiff's Geraint Thomas is being touted as one of the brightest talents to emerge from British Cycling. The nineteen-year-old's exploits on the road and on the high speed boards of the Velodrome have not only earned him the coveted rainbow jersey reserved for World Champions - it has also won him a firm stamp of approval from Olympic gold medallist Chris Hoy. In a break from training at the Wales National Velodrome, the Scotsman said of his Celtic cousin:

"I remember being in Cardiff in 2001. Even then, it was obvious he had talent. But I see a lot of talented juniors - they don't always come through. But Geraint is not only the best in Britain - he's the best in the world in his age-group. And he's got a good head on his shoulders." And Geraint's got the results to back up his reputation. He has already won a World Junior title on the track as well as silver in a senior World Cup race. A freak training accident in Sydney in early 2005 threatened his burgeoning sporting career when the teenage talent needed surgery to remove his spleen after a metal bar struck his team-mate's bike, causing Thomas to crash into his handlebars.

This has however made him hungrier than ever for medals at the Commonwealth Games. Already, the rider has missed out on racing in the Sydney World Cup and, devastatingly, his senior debut at the World Championships in Los Angeles - the scene of his World Junior track triumph last year. Thomas said, "I was pretty worried when the doctor explained what was wrong but I didn't have too much time to think about it. I was just pleased that I'd only been off the bike for six weeks - it could have been much worse!

"I was really gutted to miss out on the World Cup and LA but I just had to get on with it. I had to look towards the long-term." Geraint has relocated from Cardiff to Manchester where he trains with the GB track team which include Hoy as well as Jason Queally and Craig Mclean: "Geraint travels with us to events so he can pick up tips on how to cope as a full-time athlete and how to deal with the pressures of travelling and juggling your time," adds Hoy. The rider is now supported by UK Sport's World Class Performance Plan, having graduated from the Sports Council for Wales' lottery funded ɬite Cymru programme.

Julian Winn
DOB: 23/09/72
From: Abergavenny

Welsh National coach Julian Winn will be putting the experience of two Commonwealth Games into his Melbourne 2006 crusade both on the road and behind the scenes. The Abergavenny star was appointed National coach in June 2005 and - having raced at Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and Manchester in 2002 - he is hoping that it will be a case of third time lucky:

"I've been so near, yet so far! The road race is a complete lottery - anything can happen. I was in great form in Kuala Lumpur but the race just didn't pan out for me. "In Manchester, I was again in excellent form but I hit my peak just two weeks early. I got it just slightly wrong. "I need to put these experiences together in order that the team around me can build the right training regime for Melbourne."

Wales' most experienced rider will also have his Athens Olympics odyssey and a season with a professional team on the continent at his disposal: "I've been at this level so long so the Games doesn't daunt me." Looking at some of Welsh cycling's new kids on the block, the newly appointed national coach Winn believes Cardiff's Geraint Thomas and Monmouth's Steven Roach are "two of the brightest talents."

"It sounds a bit obvious to say that Geraint has potential. He's an unbelievable talent, he's got a good head on his shoulders and, more than anything, he's got grit. When he's riding on his bike, I see hunger in his eyes. I wouldn't want to pressure on him though as he's only young. "Steven Roach, the mountain biker, is also another rider to look out for. He's got great potential."

Dale Appleby
DOB: 19/12/86
Event: Road Race
Lives: Miskin, Pontyclun

Dale's sporting appetite was whetted when he joined his step-father in triathlon training sessions. Before long he had ditched swimming and running to specialize in cycling. Three years on, it's proven to be a fruitful switch. The 18-year-old has represented Wales in the tour of Britain and finished 6th in the U23 Road Race Championships.

Yanto Barker
DOB: 06/01/80
Event: Road Race
Lives: Dartington, Devon

What started as a fun ride with a friend at age 15 has today become a profession for Yanto Barker. The 25-year-old counts standing on the podium at the 2005 National Championships as his most honourable moment to date. One year on, he will be looking to reach the dizzy heights again when he takes to the road in Melbourne for what will be his second successive games. In this years Tour of Britain stage race, Yanto was one of the highest placed British riders.

Matt Brammeier
DOB: 07/06/85
Lives: Newton - le - Willows, Merseyside

The former National Junior road race Champion has made a smooth transition to the senior circuit. Having pulled on the British vest to compete in the World Championships, he went on to achieve a second place finish at the Sydney World Cup in the Team Pursuit. Hoping to be part of a successful Welsh team, the Merseyside-based rider has his eye firmly fixed on a podium placing for what will be his first Commonwealth Games.

Matt has extensive experience on road and track having been part of the Great Britain Under 23 Academy this year. During his time with the Academy, not only did he win a Silver medal in the Sydney World Cup, but also a mountains jersey in a European stage race.

Robert Partridge
DOB: 11/09/85
Event: Road Race
Lives: Wrexham

We've got Robert Partridge's father to thank for kick starting his son's cycling career. After watching the Tour De France on television he decided to buy his son a road bike. And it was a purchase that paid dividends. Five years into the sport Robert has achieved much. Competing in the Tour of Britain 2004-05 at age 18 and finishing 5th in the U23 Road Race Championships rank as his most honourable moments.

Steven Roach
DOB: 16/06/84
Lives: Rugby, Warwickshire
Born: Abergavenny

Cycling, it seems, runs in the Roach family. Steven's uncle, who is also a cyclist, introduced him to the sport. "I was only 14. I went with him, tried it and enjoyed it, and it's gone on from there." Seven years on and Steven is training full-time in the Forest of Dean with the Red Kite Cycles team, concentrating fully on the season ahead. He is a noteworthy addition to the current wealth of Welsh cycling talent, and aims to emulate the likes of Nicole Cooke - who won gold in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in 2006. Progressing from a casual mountain biker, Steven's skill on the bike has taken him to major championship success.

Following his victory in the National Junior Cyclo Cross Championships, Roach went on to impress at both the U23 and Elite National Cyclo Cross Trophys, becoming the youngest ever to win both events. The Rugby-based cyclist has admitted that the thrill of the win has kept him going in his sport, and hopes are high that Melbourne will deliver his greatest thrill to date - a Commonwealth Games medal.

Ross Sander
DOB: 21/08/87
Lives: Llanharran, Pont-Y-Clun
Event: Track and Road

The youngest member of the Team Wales cycling contingent will be looking to return to the form that saw him scoop the silver World Junior Championship medal as part of Team GB's Junior Pursuit squad in Vienna in August this year. His second place came just a fortnight after he won gold with the British side in the same competition at the European Championships. However, the 18-year-old wasn't able to add the global crown to his list of achievements due to a crash. The British team had been hot favourites to take gold as they beat the Australian quartet in the semis and were nearly a second quicker than their opponents in the final, New Zealand.

Just by reaching the final, Sander and co were assured of second place but, with the side were doing well, a crash terminated their challenge. The Welsh youngster was taken to hospital with a broken wrist but has now fully recovered to take part in the Welsh charge towards Commonwealth glory.

 

2002 Commonwealth Games Medal Winners

Gold
Nicole Cooke Road Race

Silver
Huw Pritchard Scratch Race