Second medal near-miss in eight days represents a good end to a quiet year for the Olympic champion
For Nicole Cooke, fifth in Sunday’s Commonwealth Games road race was her second near miss in just over a week, after her fourth place in the World Championships. The two races could not have been more different though, playing to the two sides of the Welshwoman’s talents; where the race in Geelong, Australia was a hilly race of attack and counterattack, the one in Delhi, India was a matter of patiently waiting for the sprint.
Cooke won Commonwealth gold on Manchester in 2002, but the lack of a team in the Melbourne games in 2006 saw her forced to settle for silver behind Australians Natalie Bates and Oenone Wood.
Riding for Wales in Delhi, Cooke found herself competing against most of the Great Britain team that she’d been racing alongside just days before. Virtually the entire rest of the team from Geelong lined up at the start for England; while this meant that Cooke’s young Wales team had little responsibility to control the race on the flat course, it did leave her alone at the finish once more.
“Coming in to the finish I didn’t have many options or the luxury of team mates and a lead out,” said Cooke, “so the main thing was to keep at the front and out of trouble. I was well placed coming in to the finishing straight and then had to make the best call as the Australian and English lead-out trains were coming up. I sprinted well but was not able to match the others.”
After a quiet season though, where her only win was a stage of the Iuretta-Emakumeen Bira race in June, fourth and fifth in the two major international championships of the year can almost be seen as victories for Cooke.
“Overall I’m pleased with my ride today,” she said of her Commonwealth fifth, “and following up the Worlds with another good result is a nice way to finish the season.”
Cooke has yet to announce her plans for 2011, but it seems inconceivable that the 2008 World and Olympic champion could be without a team for a second straight year.