Nicole Cooke
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Nicole Denise Cooke,
MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...
(born 13 April 1983) is a
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
former professional
road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...
and
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,
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and
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road race champion. At Beijing in 2008 she became the first British woman to win a Gold Olympic medal in any cycling discipline. Cooke announced her retirement from the sport on 14 January 2013 at the age of 29.


Early life

Cooke was born in
Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
, and grew up in
Wick, Vale of Glamorgan Wick ( cy, Y Wig) is a small village and community in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, situated approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the coast. The closest towns are Llantwit Major, Cowbridge and Bridgend. The community includes Broughton ...
. She attended
Brynteg Comprehensive School Brynteg School ( cy, Ysgol Brynteg) is one of the largest secondary schools in Wales. It is located on Ewenny Road in Bridgend, Wales. The school is one of seven comprehensive schools in the County Borough of Bridgend and mainly receives pupils ...
in
Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...
, where she gained the Rankin Prize, awarded each year for the highest academic achievement by a girl at GCE A Levels. She began cycling at 11, starting at Cardiff Ajax Cycling Club of which she is a life member. At 16 she won her first senior national title, becoming the youngest rider to take the senior women's title at the 1999
British National Road Race Championships The British National Road Race Championships cover different categories of British road bicycle racing events, normally held annually. History Between 1943 and 1958, two separate bodies – the British League of Racing Cyclists The British ...
. At 17 she became the youngest rider to win the senior women's title at the 2001 British National Cyclocross Championships. Later that year Cooke won her second senior women's title at the 2001
British National Road Race Championships The British National Road Race Championships cover different categories of British road bicycle racing events, normally held annually. History Between 1943 and 1958, two separate bodies – the British League of Racing Cyclists The British ...
. . She won four UCI World Championship Junior titles, the road race in 2000 (Plouay, France), and the unique treble of mountain bike (Colorado, USA), time trial and road race (both Lisbon, Portugal) in 2001. As a result of this achievement she was awarded the 2001 Bidlake Memorial Prize for outstanding performance or contribution to British cycling.


International cycling career 2002–2007

Cooke turned professional for the Spanish-Ukrainian Deia-Pragma-Colnago team at the start of the 2002 season, basing herself in Forli, Italy where she shared a house with Australian rider and future founder
Rochelle Gilmore Rochelle Gilmore (born 14 December 1981) is an Australian former racing cyclist, owner and manager of the professional cycling team . Career Born in Sutherland, New South Wales, Gilmore competed in track cycling in her teens, before specialisi ...
and learned
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
. In her first professional season in 2002, Cooke won races in Italy, France and the Netherlands, and won the road race in the
2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...
, the first ever win in the road discipline for Wales, either male or female. Cooke said her strength left her in her first Tour de France, aged 19, and a meeting in the team campervan suggested "medicines" to help her. She refused them. The Deia-Pragma-Colnago team did not pay wages to Cooke and some colleagues. The team took Cooke's racing bicycle ahead of the world road championships in October and then returned it in time for the World Championships following a telephone call from
Ernesto Colnago Ernesto Colnago (born 9 February 1932) is an Italian entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally ...
. Nicole was runner-up in the
BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year is a televised sporting competition, broadcast on BBC Two every year; and the most prestigious annual sport award in Wales. It was first awarded in 1954, and is currently organised by BBC Cymru W ...
competition. Cooke signed for the Acca Due O Team for 2003 and a new UCI regulation limiting team sizes split the Acca Due O squad in two for 2003 so Cooke rode for the new Ausra Gruodis-Safi Team with many of the younger riders. She rode for the merged and renamed Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan Team in 2004 and 2005. In 2003 Cooke won
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine La Flèche Wallonne Féminine is a professional women's bicycle road race held each year in Wallonia, Belgium, in April. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour, cycling's season-long competition of top-tier races, in which it is the third-olde ...
, the
Amstel Gold Race The Amstel Gold Race is an annual one-day classic road cycling race held in the province of Limburg, Netherlands. It traditionally marks the turning point of the spring classics, with the climbers and stage racers replacing the cobbled classics r ...
, the
GP de Plouay Gp or GP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * Gameplanet (New Zealand), a New Zealand video game community * GamePolitics.com, a blog about the politics of computer and video games * ''GamePro'', a monthly video game magazine * ...
and the GP San Francisco. She was the 2003
UCI Women's Road World Cup The UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup was a season-long road bicycle competition for women organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale between 1998–2015. This competition consisted of a series (which has varied from 6 to 12 events) of rac ...
champion, youngest to win the competition and the first Briton. She came third in the world road championship. Cooke was voted
BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year is a televised sporting competition, broadcast on BBC Two every year; and the most prestigious annual sport award in Wales. It was first awarded in 1954, and is currently organised by BBC Cymru W ...
. She hit a stationary police motorbike in June at the Tour du Grand Montréal required stitches in her left knee. Three weeks later she crashed again at the Giro de Trentino and had to miss 4 weeks of racing in July and August. A winter and spring of rehabilitation failed to cure the recurring knee problem and she had surgery in May. At the end of June in her first race in eight months, she won her fifth British title. The following month Cooke won the
Giro d'Italia Femminile The is an annual elite women's road bicycle racing stage race. It was rebranded from 2013-2020 as the Giro Rosa, having been branded the Giro Donne until 2012 and again in 2021. It has been considered the most prestigious stage race in women's roa ...
, the youngest winner and the first British cyclist, male or female, to win a Grand Tour. At the
2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
she placed fifth in the women's road race and 19th in the road time trial. In 2005, she again won La Flèche Wallonne Féminine. She also won the GP Wallonie,
Trofeo Alfredo Binda Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio is a women's professional road bicycle racing event held annually in the ''comune'' (municipality) of Cittiglio and nearby comunes located within the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy. Sinc ...
and the Trofeo Citta di Rosignano. She came second in the
UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...
. At the end of 2005 she joined
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...
-based team Univega Pro-Cycling for two seasons, moving to
Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...
in 2006 where she still lives. In October 2005 the Welsh Cycling Union (WCU) selection commission decided to send a full team of six male riders to the 2006 Commonwealth Games, centered on supporting the aspirations of the National Coach Julian Winn, but also decided that Cooke would be sent as a one-person team to defend her title. In April 2016 Cooke would cite this as an example of the sexist attitudes of the sport she encountered throughout her career in an article - Welcome to the world of elite cycling where sexism is by design. In December 2005, when preparing for the
2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...
, she broke a collarbone during the Manchester leg of the UCI Track World Cup; despite this, and the lack of any team support, she came third in the road race at the Games in March 2006. In her autobiography Cooke wrote "By their decision the WCU had gifted Australia, Canada, England and New Zealand my head on a plate". None of the six Welsh men completed the men's race. On 1 August 2006 Cooke took over as number 1 on the UCI's women's world road race rankings. On 3 September 2006 she secured the
UCI Women's Road World Cup The UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup was a season-long road bicycle competition for women organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale between 1998–2015. This competition consisted of a series (which has varied from 6 to 12 events) of rac ...
for a second time after winning three world cup races in the season –
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine La Flèche Wallonne Féminine is a professional women's bicycle road race held each year in Wallonia, Belgium, in April. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour, cycling's season-long competition of top-tier races, in which it is the third-olde ...
, the Ladies Golden Hour and the Castilla y Leon World Cup Race. She also won the 2006
Grande Boucle Grande means "large" or "great" in many of the Romance languages. It may also refer to: Places * Grande, Germany, a municipality in Germany *Grande Communications, a telecommunications firm based in Texas *Grande-Rivière (disambiguation) *Arroi ...
, the women's
Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
, by over 6 minutes. Other important wins included four stages and the overall title at Thüringen-Rundfahrt stage race and the Magali Pache Time Trial. She came third in the UCI World Road Race Championships. In 2007, Cooke took the
Geelong World Cup The Australia World Cup was a women's professional road bicycle racing event held annually in Australia from 1998 to 2008 as part of the UCI Women's Road World Cup. The location of the race varied: in 1998, it was held in Sydney; from 1999 to ...
and the
Ronde van Vlaanderen The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...
, the first two races on the
2007 UCI Women's Road World Cup The 2007 UCI Women's Road World Cup was the tenth edition of the UCI Women's Road World Cup. Eight of the twelve races from the 2006 World Cup were retained and one new race was added to give a total of nine races. The races that were left off the ...
. These early season wins led to her setting a new record in the UCI's women's world road race rankings for the gap between the first and second ranked cyclists. She also won the
Trofeo Alfredo Binda Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio is a women's professional road bicycle racing event held annually in the ''comune'' (municipality) of Cittiglio and nearby comunes located within the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy. Sinc ...
for a second time, the Tour of Geelong, stage 2 of the GP Costa Etrusca and defended her
Grande Boucle Grande means "large" or "great" in many of the Romance languages. It may also refer to: Places * Grande, Germany, a municipality in Germany *Grande Communications, a telecommunications firm based in Texas *Grande-Rivière (disambiguation) *Arroi ...
title. A knee injury sustained prior to the last race of the 2007 World Cup, the Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt, prevented Cooke from fully defending her title with close challenger
Marianne Vos Marianne Vos (; born 13 May 1987) is a Dutch multi-discipline cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . After winning a junior European and World Championship in road racing, she continued her success in senior cycling by becomin ...
winning the final race and taking the title. Cooke had led the series since the first race. The injury forced her to miss the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart. Cooke later admitted in an interview in 2008 that she had considered quitting the sport due to the injury.


2008: Olympic and World success

Cooke joined
Team Halfords Bikehut Team Halfords Bikehut was a 2008 UCI elite women's cycling team based in the United Kingdom. The team was formed in January 2008 with Dave Brailsford, performance director of British Cycling, the general manager. It had been a pro/national team ...
for 2008. Her first victory of 2008 was the Tour de l'Aude, in which she rode with a Great Britain national team, taking the first stage and finishing fourth overall. On 28 June, Cooke won her ninth national road race champion title, and her eighth consecutive win. Cooke represented
Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The United Kingdom was represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), and the team of selected athletes was offic ...
in Beijing in the Women's Road Race where she won the gold on 10 August 2008, the 200th gold for Great Britain in the
Modern Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
. The road cycling disciplines had been in the Olympic program since inception of the modern Olympics in 1896. The Individual Road Race has featured in every games with the Team Time Trial, Individual time Trial and Team Road Race appearing in certain Olympic programs. By 2008 Britain had a record of achieving six Silver and four Bronze Medals in all road disciplines and just three Bronze and two Silvers (
Freddie Grubb Frederick Henry Grubb (27 May 1887 – 6 March 1949) was a British road racing cyclist who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He won silver medals in the individual road race and the team road race. In 1914, after he retired from racing, he ...
– 1912 &
Frank Southall William Frank Southall (2 July 1904 – 1 March 1964) was an English racing cyclist who won silver medals for Great Britain in the individual road bicycle racing, road race (run as an individual time trial) at the 1928 Summer Olympics and a ...
– 1928) in the Individual Road Race. Thus, in 2008, Cooke not only recorded the first British Olympic Gold Medal in any cycling discipline for a female and also the first ever Gold Medal won in any road discipline by a British rider, irrespective of sex. On the previous day none of the four British men entered in the Individual Road Race finished the race. This was also the first ever Olympic Gold Medal won by a Welsh woman in an individual Olympic event. She became the first cyclist, male or female, of any nation, to become the road race
World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
and Olympic gold medalist in the same year. An eventful race in
Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...
, Italy lasted 3 hours 42 minutes and 11 seconds, culminating in a sprint beating Marianne Vos in to 2nd place and Judith Arndt in 3rd. She credited her teammates for their work, pulling back the 12-rider break with 1 lap to go, putting Cooke back in contention. Cooke's book, ''Cycle for life'' was published in October 2008 by Kyle Cathie (). The book combines her passion and enthusiasm for cycling, together with her knowledge, proficiency and experience. It is aimed at cyclists at all levels, with expert advice on everything from getting started to turning competitive, covering commuting, racing and riding with friends.


Later career: 2009-2012

Cooke was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours. She was awarded the
Transworld Sport ''Trans World Sport'' (TWS), originally stylised ''Transworld Sport'' (still used in some television listings and electronic programme guides) is a sports-orientated television programme produced by IMG Media in London, England. It is shown wo ...
"Female Athlete of the Year" title in recognition of her achievements in 2008. She was also awarded the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year award. In June 2009 Cooke captured the
Giro del Trentino The Tour of the Alps is an annual professional cycling stage race in Italy and Austria. First held in 1962, it was named Giro del Trentino ( en, Tour of Trentino) until 2016, and run over four stages in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region o ...
title and won her tenth
British National Road Race Championships The British National Road Race Championships cover different categories of British road bicycle racing events, normally held annually. History Between 1943 and 1958, two separate bodies – the British League of Racing Cyclists The British ...
title. After Cooke's Vision1 Cycling Team finished 7th in the 2009 UCI Team Rankings, Cooke closed the team after being unable to attract a major sponsor as the
financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
hit. Cooke signed for Equipe Nuernberg Versicherung for 2010. The team management had put the team together without signing a main sponsor and in December the team collapsed, leaving the riders without a team or salary. Cooke raced and trained with the British cycling team in the 2010 season. She won a stage at the Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira. At the
2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...
Cooke placed fifth in the Women's Road Race, and at the
2010 UCI Road World Championships The 2010 UCI Road World Championships took place in Geelong and Melbourne, Australia, over 5 days from 29 September to 3 October 2010. It was the 83rd UCI Road World Championships and the first time that Australia had held the event. Coinciden ...
Cooke finished fourth in the road race. In November 2010 Cooke joined the Italian-based Mcipollini-Giordana team for 2011. That year she won Stage 5 of the Giro D'Italia and took fourth place in the World Championships Road Race. In October Cooke won the GP Noosa, Australia. Joining the Faren-Honda team for 2012, Cooke scored won Stage 6 of the Energiewacht Tour in the Netherlands. At the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, she competed in the road race, finishing 31st. Teammate
Lizzie Armitstead Elizabeth Mary Deignan (née Armitstead; born 18 December 1988) is an English professional world champion track and road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She was the 2015 World road race champion. Deignan is ...
took the silver medal. At the
2012 UCI Road World Championships The 2012 UCI Road World Championships took place in the southern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, also known as South Limburg, between September 15 and 23. The event consisted of a road race and a time trial for men, women and men under 23 ...
Cooke finished 60th, five minutes behind winner
Marianne Vos Marianne Vos (; born 13 May 1987) is a Dutch multi-discipline cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . After winning a junior European and World Championship in road racing, she continued her success in senior cycling by becomin ...
. Cooke announced her retirement from the sport on 14 January 2013 at the age of 29. In a speech to journalists confirming her retirement, Cooke ”exposed every aspect of corruption in professional cycling, from doping to gross gender inequality. It took 20 minutes to deliver and was met by journalists by stunned silence then applause" This caused Forbes to title their article "The Anti-Lance Armstrong".


After cycling

In March 2014, Cooke was reported to be studying for an
MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
at
Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...
. Her autobiography, ''The Breakaway'', was published in the summer of 2014 to significant critical acclaim. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
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 and shortlisted for the Cross Sports Book Award. Since retirement Cooke has repeatedly 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 Culture, Media and Sport inquiry into Combatting Doping in Sport and stated that her information about doping in cycling, given as evidence to UKAD was subsequently not investigated by UKAD. She also spoke out about the endemic sexism she encountered in sport. The Times described her evidence "GB gold medallist hits out at doping and sexism". The Independent stated "Former Olympic and world champion cyclist 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 appeared in
Christmas University Challenge ''Christmas University Challenge'' is a British quiz programme which has aired on BBC Two since 2011. It is a spin-off from University Challenge that airs daily over the Christmas period, and features teams of noteworthy alumni from British u ...
representing
Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...
in a program that first aired on 1 January 2018. Other team members were Professor
Laura McAllister Professor Laura McAllister (born 10 December 1964) is a Welsh academic, former international footballer and senior sports administrator. As a Wales women's national football team player, McAllister won 24 caps and served as team captain. She i ...
, Dr Rhys Jones and
Laura Trevelyan Laura Kate Trevelyan (born 21 August 1968) is a British-American journalist who worked for the BBC for 30 years. She served as an '' On the Record'' reporter, United Nations correspondent (2006–2009), Road race, National Road Championships ;2000 : 1st World Junior Road Race Championships : 2nd
National Cyclo-cross Championships National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
: 3rd World Junior Cross Country MTB Championships ;2001 :1st World Junior Road Race Championships :1st World Junior Time Trial Championships, :1st World Junior Cross Country MTB Championships :1st Road race, National Road Championships :1st National Mountainbike Championships :1st
National Cyclo-cross Championships National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
:1st Young rider classification,
Grand Prix de Quebec Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commun ...
::1st Mountains Classification ;2002 :1st
Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
Road Race Championships :1st Road race, National Road Championships :1st
Trofeo Citta di Rosignano Trofeo (Italian and Spanish for trophy) may refer to: * Trofeo Maserati, a one-make racing series * Maserati Coupé#Trofeo, Maserati Trofeo, a type of car raced in the series mentioned above * Oldsmobile Toronado#Fourth generation (1986–1992), Ol ...
:1st
Memorial Pasquale de Carlo A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, Tragedy (event), tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objec ...
:1st Mountains classification Trofeo Banca Popolare ::1st Stage 2 :1st
Ronde van Westerbeek Ronde may refer to: * Rønde, a town in Denmark * '' Majin Tensei: Ronde'', a Japanese Sega Saturn game * Ronde script (calligraphy) * Ronde Barber, American sports broadcaster and former football player * Rondé, a Dutch indie pop band See also ...
:1st Young rider classification
Giro della Toscana The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will ...
:1st Young rider classification
Giro del Trentino The Tour of the Alps is an annual professional cycling stage race in Italy and Austria. First held in 1962, it was named Giro del Trentino ( en, Tour of Trentino) until 2016, and run over four stages in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region o ...
:3rd Overall
Tour Midi Pyrenees Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...
::1st Mountains classification ::1st Stage 2 :3rd Veulta Castilla-y-Leon ;2003 :1st Road race, National Road Championships :1st Overall
UCI Women's Road World Cup The UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup was a season-long road bicycle competition for women organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale between 1998–2015. This competition consisted of a series (which has varied from 6 to 12 events) of rac ...
::1st Amstel Gold ::1st
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine La Flèche Wallonne Féminine is a professional women's bicycle road race held each year in Wallonia, Belgium, in April. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour, cycling's season-long competition of top-tier races, in which it is the third-olde ...
::1st
GP de Plouay Gp or GP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * Gameplanet (New Zealand), a New Zealand video game community * GamePolitics.com, a blog about the politics of computer and video games * ''GamePro'', a monthly video game magazine * ...
:1st GP San Francisco :1st Stage 5
Holland Ladies Tour The Holland Ladies Tourhttp://www.hollandladiestour.nl/ Official site is a women's elite professional road bicycle racing stage race held annually in September since 1998 in the Netherlands. It's a tour with 6 or 7 stages. For sponsorship reasons ...
:1st Mountains classification Vuelta Castilla y Leon :1st Young rider classification Trofeo Banco Populare Alto Adige :1st Young rider classification
Giro della Toscana The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will ...
::1st Stage 3a :3rd World Road Race Championships ;2004 :1st
Giro d'Italia Femminile The is an annual elite women's road bicycle racing stage race. It was rebranded from 2013-2020 as the Giro Rosa, having been branded the Giro Donne until 2012 and again in 2021. It has been considered the most prestigious stage race in women's roa ...
::1st Stage 8 :1st Road race, National Road Championships :1st GP San Francisco :1st Points classification
Giro della Toscana The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will ...
::1st Young rider classification ;2005 :1st Road race, National Road Championships :1st
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine La Flèche Wallonne Féminine is a professional women's bicycle road race held each year in Wallonia, Belgium, in April. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour, cycling's season-long competition of top-tier races, in which it is the third-olde ...
:1st
GP Wallonie The Grand Prix de Wallonie is an annual road bicycle race held annually in Wallonia, Belgium. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It has a profile similar to the Ardennes classics The Ardennes classics a ...
:1st
Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio is a women's professional road bicycle racing event held annually in the ''comune'' (municipality) of Cittiglio and nearby comunes located within the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy. Sin ...
:1st
Trofeo Citta di Rosignano Trofeo (Italian and Spanish for trophy) may refer to: * Trofeo Maserati, a one-make racing series * Maserati Coupé#Trofeo, Maserati Trofeo, a type of car raced in the series mentioned above * Oldsmobile Toronado#Fourth generation (1986–1992), Ol ...
:1st Stage 5
Holland Ladies Tour The Holland Ladies Tourhttp://www.hollandladiestour.nl/ Official site is a women's elite professional road bicycle racing stage race held annually in September since 1998 in the Netherlands. It's a tour with 6 or 7 stages. For sponsorship reasons ...
:1st Stage 1a
Giro Della Toscana The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will ...
:2nd World Road Race Championships ;2006 :1st Overall
Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale Various professional women's cycle stage races across France have been held as an equivalent to the Tour de France for women, with the first of these races staged as a one off in 1955. From 1984, a women's Tour de France was staged consistently, ...
::1st Stages 1 & 2 :1st Overall
Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
::1st Stages 2, 4a, 4b & 5 :1st Road race, National Road Championships :1st Overall,
UCI Women's Road World Cup The UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup was a season-long road bicycle competition for women organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale between 1998–2015. This competition consisted of a series (which has varied from 6 to 12 events) of rac ...
::1st
GP Castilla y León Gp or GP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * Gameplanet (New Zealand), a New Zealand video game community * GamePolitics.com, a blog about the politics of computer and video games * ''GamePro'', a monthly video game magazine * ...
::1st
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine La Flèche Wallonne Féminine is a professional women's bicycle road race held each year in Wallonia, Belgium, in April. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour, cycling's season-long competition of top-tier races, in which it is the third-olde ...
::1st
The Ladies Golden Hour ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...
::2nd
Open de Suède Vårgårda Open de Suède Vårgårda is an elite professional women's road bicycle event held annually in the Vårgårda Municipality of Sweden. Created in 2006, the Open de Suède Vårgårda was part of the UCI Women's Road World Cup until 2015 and sanc ...
::2nd
Coupe du Monde Cycliste Féminine de Montréal The Coupe du Monde Cycliste Féminine de Montréal ( en, Women's Cycling World Cup of Montreal, or simply Montreal World Cup) was an elite women's professional road bicycle racing event held annually between 1998 and 2009 in Montréal, Quebec, Cana ...
::3rd
GP de Plouay Gp or GP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * Gameplanet (New Zealand), a New Zealand video game community * GamePolitics.com, a blog about the politics of computer and video games * ''GamePro'', a monthly video game magazine * ...
:1st
Magali Pache TT Magaly or Magali is a given name. Magali may refer to: *Magali Amadei (born 1974), French fashion model *Magali Babin (born 1967), Canadian musician and composer *Magali Febles (born 1964), Dominican beauty pageant director *Magali Harvey (born 199 ...
:1st Mountains classification
Tour of New Zealand The Women's Tour of New Zealand is a stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race co ...
:1st Points classification
Giro della Toscana The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will ...
:3rd
Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
Road Race Championships :3rd World Road Race Championships ;2007 :1st UCI World Rankings :1st Road race, National Road Championships :1st Overall
Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale Various professional women's cycle stage races across France have been held as an equivalent to the Tour de France for women, with the first of these races staged as a one off in 1955. From 1984, a women's Tour de France was staged consistently, ...
:1st
Tour Geelong Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...
:1st
Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio is a women's professional road bicycle racing event held annually in the ''comune'' (municipality) of Cittiglio and nearby comunes located within the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy. Sin ...
:1st
GP Costa Etrusca Gp or GP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * Gameplanet (New Zealand), a New Zealand video game community * GamePolitics.com, a blog about the politics of computer and video games * ''GamePro'', a monthly video game magazine * ...
:2nd Overall,
UCI Women's Road World Cup The UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup was a season-long road bicycle competition for women organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale between 1998–2015. This competition consisted of a series (which has varied from 6 to 12 events) of rac ...
::1st
Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders ( nl, Ronde van Vlaanderen), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road cycling race held in Belgium every spring. The most important cycling race in Flanders, it is part of the UCI World Tour and organi ...
::1st
Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
::2nd
GP de Plouay Gp or GP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * Gameplanet (New Zealand), a New Zealand video game community * GamePolitics.com, a blog about the politics of computer and video games * ''GamePro'', a monthly video game magazine * ...
::2nd
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine La Flèche Wallonne Féminine is a professional women's bicycle road race held each year in Wallonia, Belgium, in April. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour, cycling's season-long competition of top-tier races, in which it is the third-olde ...
:4th
Magali Pache TT Magaly or Magali is a given name. Magali may refer to: *Magali Amadei (born 1974), French fashion model *Magali Babin (born 1967), Canadian musician and composer *Magali Febles (born 1964), Dominican beauty pageant director *Magali Harvey (born 199 ...
;
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
: 1st Road race,
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
: 1st
UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...
: 1st Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Stage 1
Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin The Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin was the longest running UCI event on the women's elite cycle racing calendar. It had been held annually in the Aude Aude (; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occi ...
;2009 : 1st Overall
Giro del Trentino Alto Adige-Südtirol Giro del Trentino Alto Adige-Südtirol was a women's cycle race Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike rac ...
::1st Stage 2 : 1st Road race, National Road Championships :
Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira The Emakumeen Euskal Bira was a women's cycling race held in the Basque Country, Spain. It was held annually from 1988 to 2019, starting out as a two-stage race and building up to five stages in 2007. One of these stages was always a double stag ...
::1st Stages 2 & 3b ;2010 : 1st Stage 3
Emakumeen Bira The Emakumeen Euskal Bira was a women's cycling race held in the Basque Country, Spain. It was held annually from 1988 to 2019, starting out as a two-stage race and building up to five stages in 2007. One of these stages was always a double stag ...
: 2nd
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine La Flèche Wallonne Féminine is a professional women's bicycle road race held each year in Wallonia, Belgium, in April. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour, cycling's season-long competition of top-tier races, in which it is the third-olde ...
: 3rd Road race, National Road Championships ;2011 : 1st Stage 5
Giro d'Italia Femminile The is an annual elite women's road bicycle racing stage race. It was rebranded from 2013-2020 as the Giro Rosa, having been branded the Giro Donne until 2012 and again in 2021. It has been considered the most prestigious stage race in women's roa ...
: 2nd Road race, National Road Championships ;2012 : 1st Stage 5 Energiewacht Tour


References


External links

*
An interview with Nicole Cooke

An Video interview with Nicole Cooke
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Nicole 1983 births Living people Welsh female cyclists Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Wales Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Wales Cyclists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain UCI Road World Champions (women) British cycling road race champions Members of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Swansea People educated at Ysgol Brynteg Welsh Olympic medallists Olympic medalists in cycling Cyclists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Lugano Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling The Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year winners