Nicole Cooke

2008: Olympic and World success

Cooke joined Team Halfords Bikehut for 2008. The team was formed by Dave Brailsford with the aim of developing British cyclists with medal-winning potential. Cooke was at the forefront of those ambitions with the forthcoming Olympics a major target. She finished 20th at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, 16th at the Ronde van Vlaanderen, 12th at the Magali Pache time trial, and eighth at La Flèche Wallonne. She also placed third at the Grande Boucle. Cooke stated that she was happy with her form ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games, saying she was intentionally riding a light schedule with the aim of peaking in the summer. Her first victory of the year came at the Tour de l'Aude, in which she rode with the Great Britain national team. She secured the first stage, and finished fourth overall. In June, Cooke won the National Road Race Championship for an eighth consecutive time. the first individual gold medal for a female Welsh Olympian, and the first Olympic gold medal in any cycling discipline by a British female cyclist.

At the 2008 World Championships, Cooke became the first cyclist, male or female, of any nation, to become the road race world champion and Olympic gold medallist in the same year. Cooke was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours. She was awarded the Transworld Sport Female Athlete of the Year, the Pat Besford award for 'Performance of the Year' by the Sports Journalists' Association, and the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year for her achievements in 2008. Cooke was also a nominee for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. In October that year, Cooke's book, Cycle for life was published. It offered advice to anyone taking up the sport.

Later career: 2009–2012 Cooke wearing the British National Road Race Champion's jersey in the 2010 Flèche Wallonne Féminine, a race she won on three occasions, 2003, 2005 & 2006. Following Halfords' decision to end their sponsorship for the women's team, Cooke formed her own team, Vision1 Racing, with the ambition of developing young British riders. In 2009, Cooke captured the Giro del Trentino title, In July, she withdrew from the Thüringen-Rundfahrt with illness. She blamed her ill health on the stress of running her own team, and said she was considering the team's future. She had struggled to find sponsorship, and was self-funding the project. The team's manager Stefan Wyman had departed, and Cooke stated: "It is not possible to manage a team and be a cyclist at the same time". Vision1 Racing finished seventh in the 2009 UCI Team Rankings, but Cooke disbanded the team.

Cooke signed for Equipe Nurnberg Versicherung for 2010, but due to the loss of key sponsorship, she chose to race and train with the British national team instead for the upcoming season. She won stage three at the Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira. At the British National Road Race Championships, she was beaten into third place by Emma Pooley and Lizzie Armitstead. Cooke called the race "unfair", saying that Pooley, Armitstead, and Sharon Laws had teamed up against her. She had won the previous nine editions of the race.

In November 2010, Cooke joined the Mcipollini-Giordana team for 2011. That year, she won stage five of the Giro D'Italia, and took fourth place in the road race at the 2011 World Championships in Copenhagen. She had started the World Championships expecting to support Armitstead, but after the latter was caught behind a late crash, Cooke rode for herself and was beaten in a bunch sprint. Armitstead was upset with Cooke afterwards, saying that Cooke was not a team player.

Riding for the Faren-Honda team in 2012, Cooke won stage five of the Energiewacht Tour in the Netherlands, ending the race in 59th position overall. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she competed in the road race, finishing 31st. During the race, she was dropped by the front-three riders and ended in the chasing pack. Her role was also to support team-leader Armitstead who finished in silver. In the road race at the 2012 World Championships in Limburg, Cooke finished 60th, over five minutes behind the winner.

Cooke announced her retirement from the sport on 14 January 2013 at the age of 29. She said that her dreams had been fulfilled. In 2014, she was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.

Post retirement: Views on doping and sexism in cycling In March 2014, Cooke was reported to be studying for an MBA at Cardiff University. Her autobiography, The Breakaway, was published in the summer of 2014. The Guardian'''s Richard Williams described it as "a compelling and salutary account of the price she paid for the victories from which many others will benefit". It was named The Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year 2014, and long listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize.

Since retirement, Cooke has spoken out campaigning for gender equality in sport and stronger investigatory powers for the anti-doping bodies. In January 2017, Cooke gave written and oral evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee for the Culture, Media and Sport inquiry into Combatting Doping in Sport and stated that her information about doping in cycling, given as evidence to UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) was subsequently not investigated by UKAD. She also spoke out about the endemic sexism she encountered in sport. The Independent'' stated: "Nicole Cooke has issued a damning attack on British Cycling and Team Sky, condemning the governing bodies for their lack of accountability, sexism, and failure to fight the abuse of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) within the sport".

Cooke believes that she was cheated out of race victories by dopers during her career,

Major results Cyclo-cross

1999–2000 2nd National Championships 2000–2001 1st National Championships 2001 1st Cross-country, UCI World Junior Championships

Road Source:

1999 1st Road race, National Championships 2000 1st Road race, UCI World Junior Championships 2001 UCI World Junior Championships 1st Road race 1st Time trial 1st Road race, National Championships Grand Prix de Quebec 1st Young rider classification 1st Mountains Classification 2002

1st Road race, National Championships 1st Trofeo Citta di Rosignano 1st Memorial Pasquale de Carlo 1st Ronde van Westerbeek 1st Young rider classification, Giro della Toscana 1st Young rider classification, Giro del Trentino Trofeo Banca Popolare 1st Mountains classification 1st Stage 2 3rd Overall Tour Midi Pyrenees 1st Mountains classification 1st Stage 2 3rd Veulta Castilla-y-Leon 2003 1st Overall UCI World Cup 1st Road race, National Championships 1st Amstel Gold Race 1st La Flèche Wallonne 1st GP de Plouay 1st GP San Francisco Giro della Toscana 1st Young rider classification 1st Stage 3a 1st Stage 5 Holland Ladies Tour 1st Mountains classification, Vuelta Castilla y Leon 1st Young rider classification, Trofeo Banco Populare Alto Adige

2004 1st Road race, National Championships 1st Giro d'Italia Femminile 1st Stage 8 1st GP San Francisco Giro della Toscana 1st Points classification 1st Young rider classification 2005 1st Road race, National Championships 1st La Flèche Wallonne 1st Grand Prix de Wallonie 1st Trofeo Alfredo Binda 1st Trofeo Citta di Rosignano 1st Stage 5 Holland Ladies Tour 1st Stage 1a Giro della Toscana

2006 1st Overall UCI World Cup 1st Road race, National Championships 1st Overall Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale 1st Stages 1 & 2 1st Overall Thüringen Rundfahrt 1st Stages 2, 4a, 4b & 5 1st La Flèche Wallonne 1st GP Castilla y León 1st The Ladies Golden Hour 1st Magali Pache TT 1st Mountains classification, Tour of New Zealand 1st Points classification, Giro della Toscana 2nd Open de Suède Vårgårda 2nd Coupe du Monde Cycliste Féminine de Montréal 3rd GP de Plouay

2007 1st Road race, National Championships 1st Overall Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale 1st Tour of Flanders 1st Geelong 1st Trofeo Alfredo Binda 1st GP Costa Etrusca 2nd Overall UCI World Cup 2nd GP de Plouay 2nd La Flèche Wallonne 2008

1st Road race, UCI World Championships 1st Road race, National Championships 1st Stage 1 Tour de l'Aude 2009 1st Road race, National Championships 1st Overall Giro del Trentino 1st Stage 2 Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira 1st Stages 2 & 3b 2010 1st Stage 3 Emakumeen Bira 2nd La Flèche Wallonne 3rd Road race, National Championships 2011 1st Stage 5 Giro d'Italia Femminile 2nd Road race, National Championships 2012 1st Stage 5 Energiewacht Tour