Nicole Cooke

Nicole Cooke

Cooke on the podium after winning the 2007 Geelong World Cup
Personal information
Full name	Nicole Denise Cooke
Nickname	The Wick Wonder, Cookie
Born	(1983-04-13) 13 April 1983 (age 33) Swansea, Wales
Height	1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight	58 kg (128 lb; 9 st)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Amateur team(s)
Cardiff Ajax CC
Professional team(s)
2002	Deia-Pragma-Colnago
2003	Ausra Gruodis-Safi
2004–2005	Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan
2006	Univega Raleigh Lifeforce
2007	Raleigh Lifeforce Creation HB Pro Cycling Team
2008	Team Halfords Bikehut
2009	Vision 1 Racing
2011	Mario Cipollini – Giordana Team
2012	Faren Honda Team
Major wins
UCI Women's Road World Cup Overall (2003, 2006) La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (2003, 2005, 2006) Amstel Gold Race (2003) GP Castilla y Leon (2006) Geelong World Cup (2007) Tour of Flanders for Women (2007) GP de Plouay (2003) Stage Races Grande Boucle Feminine (2006, 2007) Giro d'Italia Femminile (2004) Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen (2006) Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale (2006, 2007) Giro del Trentino Alto Adige – Südtirol (2009) Single-Day Races Olympic Games Road Race Champion (2008) World Road Race Champion (2008) Commonwealth Games Road Race Champion (2002) National Road Race Champion (1999, 2001–2009) National Cyclo-cross Champion (2001) GP de Wallonie (2005) T Mobile International (2004) Souvenir Magali Pache (2006)
Medal record Women’s Cycling Representing  Great Britain Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Road race UCI Road World Championships 2003 Hamilton Road race 2005 Madrid Road race 2006 Salzburg Road race 2008 Varese Road race Representing  Wales Commonwealth Games 2002 Manchester Road race 2006 Melbourne Road race

UCI Women's Road World Cup

Stage Races

Single-Day Races

Nicole Denise Cooke, MBE (born 13 April 1983) is a Welsh former professional road bicycle racer and Commonwealth, Olympic and World road race champion. Cooke announced her retirement from the sport on 14 January 2013 at the age of 29.

Cooke was born in Swansea, and grew up in Wick, Vale of Glamorgan. She attended Brynteg Comprehensive School in Bridgend, in the year below Gavin Henson. 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. 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. . 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.

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 Wiggle High5 founder Rochelle Gilmore and learned Italian.