Nicole Cooke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cooke in 2007 | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Nicole Cooke |
Date of birth | April 13, 1983 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Height | 1.67 m (5 ft 51⁄2 in) |
Weight | 58 kg (130 lb/9.1 st) |
Team information | |
Current team | Team Halfords Bikehut |
Discipline | Road |
Role | Rider |
Amateur team(s) | |
Cardiff Ajax CC | |
Professional team(s) | |
2005–2006 2007 2008– |
Ausra Gruodis-Safi Univega Raleigh Lifeforce Team Halfords Bikehut |
Infobox last updated on: | |
January 10, 2008 |
Nicole Cooke (born April 13, 1983) is a Welsh road bicycle racer.
Cooke was born in Wick, Vale of Glamorgan, and began cycling at an early age. At the age of sixteen she won her first senior national title, becoming the youngest rider ever to take the senior women's title at the British National Road Race Championships. 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 La Flèche Wallonne Féminine cycle road race in Belgium. She placed third in the Women's World Championship of Road Cycling. She was the 2003 UCI Women's Road World Cup champion, 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. This year, Cooke would be named the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year.
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 Féminine 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 UCI Road World 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 2006 UCI Women's Road 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, La Coupe du Monde Cycliste Féminine de Montréal, the Magali Pache Time Trial, the Castilla y Leon World Cup Race and the Thüringen-Rundfahrt stage race.
In 2007, Cooke continued her winning ways by capturing the Geelong World Cup and the women's Ronde van Vlaanderen, which are the first two stops on the 2007 UCI Women's Road World Cup, in addition to her wins at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and on Stage 2 of the GP Costa Etrusca. She was again the winner of Grande Boucle.
A late season knee injury prevented her from winning the 2007 World Cup competition, after Marianne Vos won the final race of the series (the Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt) and so snatched the overall title from Cooke, who had held the series lead for much of the season. The injury also forced her to miss the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart.[1]
Cooke signed for Team Halfords Bikehut for the 2008 season, riding bikes by Chris Boardman. She won her first victory of 2008 in the Tour de l'Aude, taking the first stage and finishing fourth overall.[2]
[edit] Palmarès
- 1999
- 1st GBR British National Road Race Champs
- (youngest ever winner)
- 2000
- 1at UCI Road Race World Champs, Junior, Plouay
- 2nd British National Cyclo-cross Champs
- 3rd UCI XC MTB World Champs, Junior, Lisbon
- 5th Grand Prix de Quebec
- 2001
- 1st UCI Road Race World Champs, Junior, Lisbon
- 1st UCI Time Trial World Champs, Junior, Lisbon
- 1st UCI XC MTB World Champs, Junior, Colorado
- 1st GBR British National XC MTB Champs
- 1st GBR British National Cyclo-cross Champs (youngest ever winner)
- 1st Best Young Rider, Grand Prix de Quebec
- 1st Mountains Jersey, Grand Prix de Quebec
- 2002
- 1st Road Race, Commonwealth Games, Manchester
- 1st GBR British National Road Race Champs
- 1st 12th Trofeo Citta di Rosignano (ITA)
- 1st 4th Memorial Pasquale di Carlo (ITA)
- 1st Mountains Jersey, Trofeo Banca Populaire (ITA)
- 1st Stage 2, Trofeo Banca Populaire (ITA)
- 1st Ronde van Westerbeek, Holland
- 1st Best Young Rider, Giro della Toscana
- 1st Best Young Rider, Giro del Trentino
- 3rd Veulta Castilla-y-Leon (ESP)
- 3rd Tour Midi Pyrenees (FRA)
- 1st Stage 2, Tour Midi Pyrenees (FRA)
- 1st Mountains Jersey, Tour Midi Pyrenees (FRA)
- 2003
- 1st Overall, UCI Women's Road World Cup
- 1st Amstel Gold
- 1st La Flèche Wallonne Féminine
- 1st GP Plouay
- 1st GP San Francisco
- 1st Stage 5 Holland Ladies Tour
- 1st Mountains Jersey, Vuelta Castilla y Leon
- 1st Best Young Rider, Trofeo Banco Populare Alto Adige
- 1st Best Young Rider, Giro Della Toscana
- 1st Stage 3a, Giro Della Toscana
- 1st GBR British National Road Race Champs
- 3rd UCI Road Race World Champs, Hamilton
- 2004
- 1st Giro d'Italia Femminine (Giro Donne)
- 1st Stage 8
- 1st GP San Francisco/T Mobile International
- 1st GBR British National Road Race Champs
- 1st Best Young Rider, Giro Della Toscana
- 1st Points Jersey, Giro Della Toscana
- 5th Road Race, Summer Olympics
- 19th Time Trial, Summer Olympics
- 2005
- 1st La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (BEL), UCI Women's Road World Cup
- 1st GP Wallonie (BEL)
- 1st Trofeo Alfredo Binda, Cittiglio (ITA)
- 1st 15th Trofeo Citta di Rosignano (ITA)
- 1st GBR British National Road Race Champs
- 1st Stage 5, Holland Ladies Tour
- 1st Stage 1a, Giro Della Toscana
- 2nd UCI Road Race World Champs
- 2006
- 1st UCI world rankings
- 1st Overall, UCI Women's Road World Cup
- 1st Castilla y Leon
- 1st La Flèche Wallonne Féminine
- 1st Treial Amser Tîm yr Awr Aur
- 1st La Coupe du Monde Montréal
- 1st Open de Suède Vargarda
- 1rd GP de Plouay
- 4th Lowland Rotterdam Tour
- 5th Berner-Rundfahrt
- 5th Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt
- 6th Ronde van Vlaanderen
- 8th Geelong
- 1st Grande Boucle Feminine
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st Stage 2
- 1st Thuringen Rundfahrt
- 1st Stage 2
- 1st Stage 4a
- 1st Stage 4b
- 1st Stage 5
- 1st GBR British National Road Race Champs
- 1st Magali Pache TT
- 1st Mountains Jersey, Tour of New Zealand
- 1st Best Young Rider, Giro del Trentino
- 3rd Road Race, Commonwealth Games, Melbourne
- 3rd UCI Road Race World Champs
- 2007
- 1st UCI world rankings
- 1st GBR British National Road Race Champs
- 1st Grande Boucle Feminine
- 1st Tour Geelong
- 1st Tour Alfredo Binda
- 1st GP Costa Etrusca
- 2nd Overall, UCI Women's Road World Cup
- 1st Ronde van Vlannderen
- 1st Geelong
- 2nd GP de Plouay
- 2nd La Flèche Wallonne
- 4th Berner-Rundfahrt
- 5th La Coupe du Monde Montréal
- 7th Ronde van Drenthe
- 12th Open de Suède Vargarda
- 34th Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt
- 4th Magali Pache TT
- 2008
- 4th Tour de l'Aude
- 1st Stage 1
- 10th Stage 4
- 7th Stage 6
- 3rd Stage 9
Awards | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Mark Hughes |
BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2003 |
Succeeded by Tanni Grey-Thompson |
Sporting positions | ||
Preceded by Anna Millward |
UCI Women's Road World Cup Champion 2003 |
Succeeded by Oenone Wood |
Preceded by Oenone Wood |
UCI Women's Road World Cup Champion 2006 |
Succeeded by Marianne Vos |
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Welsh cyclist Nicole Cooke confident of recovery. www.girlstalksports.com.
- ^ 24th Tour de l'Aude - 2.2. Cycling News (25 May 2008).
Persondata | |
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NAME | Cooke, Nicole |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
SHORT DESCRIPTION | Road bicycle racer |
DATE OF BIRTH | 1983-04-13 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Wick, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom |
DATE OF DEATH | |
PLACE OF DEATH |