Nicole Cooke Looks Forward After Sensational Year
Posted October 24, 2008
By Larry Hickmott
The big one, the Olympic title and Nicole Cooke is the Golden Girl on the road for Great Britain. Photo: Phil O'Connor for British Cycling.
Still only 25 years old, Welsh cyclist Nicole Cooke has already surpassed the achievements of any female rider that has gone before her – the victory in the Olympic Games Road Race and World Championship Road Race in one year to go with the world championship medals from other years saw to that.
Add to that wins in the women's Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, a host of one-day classics and the Womens World Road Cup, Nicole is certainly a rider who has nothing left to prove in the world of women’s road cycling which she says is very reassuring as she looks ahead to the next season and preparing for the next Olympiad in 2012 in London.
Nicole, who has made the British Road Race championship her own for nine years, has become the complete rider. No longer a young head and impatient but a mature outlook and wise -- Nicole combines her huge heart and undoubted ability on a bike both uphill and in a sprint to make her quite a formidable opponent. Unbeatable on her day.
I have seen her win World Championship Road Race medals in Madrid (Silver) and Salzburg (Bronze) but watching the victory in Varese showed that the girl from Wick was now truly masterful in her approach.
For sure, my favourite picture of all time! After finding a spot in amongst the hundred or so photographers to capture the finish of this years Women's World RR Championship, Nicole then treated me to a spectacular image by winning the race!
After several World Championship wins as a junior (Road, Time Trial and MTB), Nicole burst onto the scene in a really big way at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, winning Gold for Wales and showing the World what to expect on the roads of Europe and beyond. Despite a knee injury in 2003 that was to plague her for years to come, a World Championship road race bronze medal followed in 2003 (Canada) and the pressure was growing on the young lady’s shoulders for the Athens Olympics.
Like this year in Beijing, Nicole went into the Athens Olympics as one of the favourites but Athens 2004 did not go to plan and Nicole was fifth. Nothing to be ashamed of at 21 years of age but that didn’t stop the youngster being deeply wounded by the result. On her website after that race in 2004, Nicole said
"Firstly I'm devastated. Deeply disappointed. I came to get Gold, but that's road racing, and I'm not sure I could have done much else”. There were lessons to be learned however. Both the Olympic winners in both 2004 and 2000 based their seasons around that one race whereas she had tried to race all year round. One look at her palmares on NicoleCooke.com (website) is proof of that!.
Despite the knee injury, which from time to time would be the obstacle preventing Nicole from racing and training the way she preferred, Nicole toughed out the disappointments and bounced back in 2005 with a Silver medal at the World Championships and then Bronze in Salzburg in 2006.
That knee injury though was still there in the background and even by the time the Olympics came round in Beijing, Nicole knew that even though she was not as well prepared as she would like to have been being the perfectionist Nicole is, she was still the best she could possibly be and was happy with that. The whole season had been based around this one race and everything was planned carefully for it and when the victory came, it was a truly magic moment with her roller coaster of a career flashing before her.
A Beautiful Home-coming
Wick turns out to support their Golden Girl.
Post Olympics, Nicole returned to Britain for what she says was a really beautiful time at home. “The special time for me after the Olympics was going back to Wales and seeing the reception in Cardiff for all the Olympians. Then the celebration we had in Wick was truly incredible when the whole village came together – I have never seen anything like it. It was such a beautiful day and really beautiful celebration.”
“I think taking that opportunity to meet up with everyone and celebrate the Olympics together was brilliant for me. That period enabled me to do everything I wanted to do after the Olympics and share the gold medal with the people who had helped and supported me.”
Asked whether it was a long enough period of celebration post Olympics, Nicole replied “Yes, it was a really nice balance and I made the right decision of when to return to training. I knew after the Olympics that there was an opportunity to win the World title as my condition was good and the six week period there was between the Olympics and the Worlds was an ideal time to build up for it, as well as share my Olympic success with the people that helped me achieve it.”
Having been with the team when she won the World title in Varese, I saw how Nicole was on such a high from the victory, it was difficult to know whether the magnitude of what she had achieved had sunk in. Asked at the Boardman bike launch last week, Nicole replied “It is surreal to have won both and it wasn’t what I thought would happen.”
“I did dream and hope but never thought it was possible until after Olympics. It is kind of so unprecedented, that it does feel strange. Very special and I am really happy when I look back on the season and what I achieved. Now I can look forward to the next season”.
One of the things those around her were saying to me after the Olympics and the World Championships was that Nicole has matured as a rider and is now able to show the patience she has to in order to be in the possible shape for the finale of a championship race. What did Nicole think of that assessment?
“I think it is not just as a bike rider, but as a person that I have grown this year. In racing, I think I have learnt about my own limits. It’s fine to be ambitious and feel you can win but there is fine line between that and appreciating how hard certain victories will be. You can’t for example waste energy on small things because in road racing you will pay for it.”
“I think the lesson I had after Salzburg was of knowing that I am up there and one of the strongest but that I can’t waste my energy and I have to use it wisely. Realising my limits was one of the most important lessons for me this season.” As she told Reuters, ‘you don't get a medal for how many breaks you make’.
Looking ahead
As 2008 draws to a close, and a new season beckons, any doubts about whether the Olympic and World Champion is motivated to go through it all again in 2009 is quickly dispelled. She loves cycling and admits that while ever she has the motivation and the will to compete, she’ll be racing. Having the rainbow jersey on her back will no doubt help but then Nicole has always been, and for a long time to come will be, a racer at heart.
“My targets next year are to have a full season with the race focus being the World Championships again and to enjoy the racing and enjoy being the World Champion in the rainbow jersey. As well as that, I’d like to get everything in place for the next Olympics -- by that I mean the team and the teammates. That is what I’d like to develop next year.”
Nicole will be riding for a team titled so far Vision1 Racing next season. The team is a collaboration between Nicole and Stefan Wyman, formerly of Swift Racing. In a team press release, Nicole explains "this will be at least a four-year programme with the focus on preparation, performance and development of talented riders, not just on results. Our racing will provide all our riders with the opportunity to learn and progress to the top of women’s road racing in steps, with each rider’s individual needs are catered for within our team.”
“Races we will be targeting include local races, World Cup Races, National and World Championships, Commonwealth and Olympic Games." Discussing the team with Nicole, she added that while the structure of the team has fallen into place, they are still on the hunt for a title sponsor so look out for more news on this in the coming months.
A Marked Woman
One thing Nicole has had to put up with for many years is being marked out of races by her rivals and their teams. Will having the rainbow jersey make that situation worse I asked? “I don’t think I can be marked any more than I was!” came the reply.
“I think in every team meeting before races, among the names of those who had to be watched in the race would be ‘Cooke’ so I am not at all afraid of that aspect. If anything, I am looking forward to the special feeling that wearing the World Champions jersey will give me in my racing, and if it intimidates the others, I’ll gladly take that!!
“At the end of the day, the strongest rider tends to wins and I’ll have to work hard to be that to get results next year.” And working hard is probably more a vice of Nicole’s rather than a problem as few if anybody works and trains as hard as the Wick young lady.
But every athlete has to have some down time and so Nicole will now continue to enjoy taking it easy in October before starting her winter training. “I have had a holiday straight after the Worlds and October is generally the month I enjoy the off season and not having to think about the bike as well as giving me time to promote the things I have been working on for the last year or so. From the start of November, I’ll start my winter training programme -- not a massive training programme but building up to next year and enjoying riding my fancy bike in the rainbow jersey.”
Nicole and her fancy bike which she was presented with last week.
The Book -- Cycle for Life
The final thing I wanted to ask about was her book which Nicole has been busy promoting. “That project started for me in 2007 after contact from the publisher and I was really excited about doing it. I have learnt a lot in my cycling career so far and can remember when I started that there were lots of questions I had so I thought a guide book would be a really great thing to help people get started in cycling.”
“As well talking about the cycling technology, the book was written to inspire people to incorporate cycling into their every day life, whether it be social, commuting, personal challenges or even racing. It is not a race book but one about enjoying cycling.”You can learn more about the book here (Book details).
Our thanks to Nicole and we look forward to hearing more about her team in the coming weeks and months.