Olympic champion Cooke takes world crown
Cooke made history with her win at the world championships
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Sunday, 28, Sep 2008 11:13
Britain's Olympic road race champion Nicole Cooke has added the world title to her trophy cabinet after she was victorious in a thrilling race in Italy yesterday.
Cooke beat Olympic points race champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands in a sprint finish to claim her first world title.
The Welshwoman earned Britain's first gold medal of the Beijing Games and became the first woman to ever win the Olympic and world titles in the same year with her victory in Italy.
Cooke had the support of four other British riders during the race and Emma Pooley was influential in helping the chasing pack catch an initial breakaway of 12 riders.
With one lap of the course to go five riders – Cooke, Vos, Germany's Judith Arndt and Trixi Worrack and Sweden's Emma Johansson – fought each other for the medals.
Each rider tried their luck at breaking the resistance of the other contenders, with attacks being launched almost constantly.
Vos looked to have gained a decisive lead at one stage, using her track sprint speed to get away, however she could not sustain the attack.
Inside the final kilometre Johansson went off the front of the pack only to be hauled in by Cooke and Vos with a few hundred metres to go.
Again Vos' natural sprint speed looked like it would win the day but Cooke followed the Dutch rider's wheel and found the strength to overtake her opponent on the line.
The win gave Cooke her first rainbow jersey after winning two bronze and a silver at previous world championships.