Nicole Cooke has timed her climb to the pinnacle of women’s cycling just as expertly as she judged the run-ins for her unprecedented double in the Olympic and world championship road races this year.Long-feted among cycling aficionados for her wins in the women’s Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and a host of one-day classics, her stellar 2008 has catapulted her into wider view just as British cycling has hit boom time.
“I’ve achieved something that will live in the history of the sport forever,” she told Reuters after becoming the first cyclist to claim the world and Olympic road race titles in the same year.
“I can’t go any higher and I feel so happy because I know what it took to get there,” she said at the London Cycle 08 show.
Cooke, still only 25, had two bronzes and a silver from previous world championships as well as a fifth in the 2004 Olympic Games.
“I was distraught after Athens but I later realised that I hadn’t handled the expectation well,” she said.
“The winners in 2004 and (Sydney) 2000 had both geared their entire seasons around the Games whereas I tried to race all season, so I decided to take that lesson to Beijing.”
BALANCED APPROACH
Her new team, Halfords-Bikehut, supported her singular approach but when a knee injury suffered in July 2007 dragged on through to November, she began to get worried.
“The Olympic dream seemed to be getting further and further away and I wondered how I could possibly catch up,” she said.
However, her eventual physical recovery coincided with a change in mentality as Cooke said her life became more balanced.
“Having gone through that helped me remember that cycling is part of who I am but not everything,” she said.
“So by the time the Olympics came round I might not have been as prepared as I wanted to be but I was as prepared as I could be and I was happy with that.”
She was right to be, as a superb combination of bike handling, road race tactics and pure power sent her swooping through from fourth on the final bend to take the rain-sodden 126-km race and start Britain’s Beijing Olympic gold rush.
Her scream as she crossed the line has become one of the enduring images of the Games.
“It was every emotion coming out,” she said. “My whole cycling career flashed before my eyes; all the hard times, the injuries, having had the dream for so long and all the people who had done so much for me.”
COMPLETING DREAM
Cooke then sat back as her British team mates destroyed the opposition on the track before setting off to Italy for another crack at the elusive world title.
“Psychologically, it was a nice place to be,” she said. “I had nothing to prove, I had done it in Beijing so I looked at it as chance to just go and enjoy it.”
By the time the race approached its flat 4-km finale, a group of five were cranking up the speed relentlessly, with all bar the Briton trying to jump off the front.
“I’ve been in races where I’ve made too much running but you don’t get a medal for how many breaks you make, just for crossing the line first,” she said.
“So even though everyone in that group was a world or Olympic medallist, I tried to keep calm and on top of the situation.”
In the end, Cooke shot past Dutch 2006 world champion Marianne Vos almost on the line to complete her dream year.
“I never thought I would ever even see an Olympic medal but to be top of that podium and get the gold was amazing and then to get the rainbow jersey is very special.
“It’s one of the icons of the sport, it’s so recognisable, you can’t hide in a race and I’m looking forward to wearing it next season.”
For many, the idea of starting all over again in a few months might be a struggle but Cooke, who has been riding for fun since she could walk, has no concerns about her motivation.
“I just love cycling,” she said. “Right now I’m motivated to give something back and help the next generation but while I’ve still got that competitive desire I’ll always want to be racing.
“The 2012 Olympics is the focus for the next four years but the feeling that I’ve got nothing to prove is very reassuring.”