Nicole Cooke

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Nicole Cooke wins 19th International Women's Bicycle Race of Thuringia in Zeulenroda-Triebes.

Nicole Cooke (born April 13, 1983 in Wick, Vale of Glamorgan) is a Welsh racing cyclist.

Cooke began cycling at an early age. At the age of sixteen she won her first senior national title. In 2001 she was awarded the Bidlake Memorial Prize, given for outstanding performance or contribution to the betterment of cycling. She also won four junior world titles including 2001 held in Portugal.

She competed in the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and won the women's cycling road race in a surprising sprint finish. She was the runner-up for BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.

In 2003 Cooke won the women's La Flèche Wallonne cycle road race in Belgium. She placed third in the Women's World Championship of Road Cycling. She was the 2003 UCI World Cup Winner, the youngest ever to win the award and the first Briton. She suffered a crash in October, and would later have to undergo surgery to fix her knee.

The following year she won the Giro d'Italia Femminile, becoming the youngest person ever to win the race. At the 2004 Summer Olympics she placed a disappointing 5th in the Women's Road Race and 19th in the Women's Road Time trial.

In 2005, she again took first place in La Flèche Wallonne and that year she came in second in the World Championship of Road Cycling. In December 2005, during her preparations for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, she suffered a broken collar-bone whilst competing on the velodrome during the Manchester leg of the World Cup; despite this, she achieved a bronze medal in the road race at the Games. In September 2006, she repeated her 2003 3rd place finish in the World Road race Championships.

Cooke turned professional for the cycling team Ausra Gruodis-Safi and learned to speak fluent Italian whilst living and racing in Italy. At the end of 2005 she signed for the Swiss-based team Univega.

On August 1, 2006, she was unveiled as the UCI's world number one women's road cyclist and on September 3 2006 secured the Women's World Cup, with a race in hand. She was the winner of the 2006 Grande Boucle - the women's version of the Tour de France. During 2006 she also won the British Road Race Championship, La Flèche Wallonne, the Magali Pache Time Trial, the Castilla y Leon World Cup Race and the Thüringen-Rundfahrt stage race.

She is listed as 1.67 m in height with a mass of 57 kg.

Preceded by: Anna Millward	World Cup Overall Points Champion 2003	Succeeded by: Oenone Wood
Preceded by: Oenone Wood	World Cup Overall Points Champion 2006	Succeeded by: '