Nicole Cooke

[Duncan T]

Yes Yes Yes, 3:32:24! yes!

[Snoop Doug]

Awesome effort to get back on @ bottom of final climb thought she might've blown it for a sec. Pooley did a sterling job earlier on the hilly bits, great ride. Wow - exciting, really exciting

[Duncan T]

This is our first isn't it?

[Duncan T]

gold I mean...

[Michelle]

God that was exciting! Still feel a bit wobbly from all the adrenaline.

Really amazing to watch womens racing on the telly, very different to the blokes, different strengths and weaknesses I guess.

I too thought she had lost it on the final bend - maybe she had a massive slide just before the tunnel. Those roads were treacherous. Such a challenging and difficult course, with some really dangerous sections.

But by all accounts she is extremely aggressive, and the whole year has been tailored to the Olympics!

And now she has is. And so do we...

[size=150]OLYMPIC GOLD[/size]

Right, now I'm off for a bike ride...

[Sylv]

That was a bloody good race to watch! Brilliant finale.

Well done Nicole - how clear ahead could she have been is she hadn't slipped back on the climb for whatever reason. She looked a little bit happy - my eyes were watering.

Emma Pooley did a sterling job too. And what about Jeannie Longo!

[Keith]

At times like these I think we should all take a moment to consider what must be the toughest job in the world - being a writer for Cycling Weekly. I mean, forever having to scratch around for something to write about.....

[Antloony]

Great result, really was edge of the seat stuff.

[huw williams]

[quote="Keith"]At times like these I think we should all take a moment to consider what must be the toughest job in the world - being a writer for Cycling Weekly. I mean, forever having to scratch around for something to write about.....

[Maria David]

I was too hung over to do much this morning, but at least I managed to get in front of the telly for 7am - and my effort was well worth it !

That was a very exciting race - thanks ladies !

Nicole Cooke was wise to take it easy on that last corner, given what had happened to a few people on a similar corner.

Great work from Emma Pooley - if she hadn't done a blinder off the front and hurt the German women, Nicole would most certainly have been up against Judith Arndt in the home straight and that'd have been a tougher proposition.
Emma is an amazing rider and very humble with it.
She guest rode for Addiscombe women's team about 3 years ago at a Women's Team Series race. It was really funny how she described herself as being "a bit rusty" because she was "just a triathlete" and then proceeded to blow the field away.

I'm so pleased that Nicole got gold, and the other Emma - (Johansson that is) got Silver. Her blog is one of my favourites and I'd been following her progress and her frustrations over the past months. It was good to see her make it big as well.

Looks like women's cycling just got even better !!

Maria
http://www.2wheelchick.blogspot.com/

[Toks]

Wow that was fantastic! It brought genuine tears to my eyes. Nicole we love ya!!!

[quote="huw williams"]They asked me "what was she like when I was on the same team as her?" ... She was 14 for *%/*s sake!

[Marky Mark]

[size=200]Fan-Bloody-Tastic[/size]

I had to watch it 3 times, just to make sure. I wasn't crying, I had a fly in my eye OK

[Andrew G]

Forgot to say, a great ride by Miss Cooke . She's been done over by the Germans, Italians, etc in the World's the last couple of years but rode a canny race and didn't let them work her over as they have in the past. I think Pooley did a great job drawing the German fire to tire them out chasing her down and letting Nicole hitch a ride on their backs - Good tactics from the Brits .

[Mike I]

For weeks I've been telling anyone who would listen (and even more who wouldn't) how well we were going to do on the track. After so many disappointments in Worlds and in Athens, I thought the Germans and Australians were just too strong to hope for anything special on the road, so I didn't mention Nicole Cooke. Oh well, what do I know?

What I really liked was Nicole's reaction to winning. After all she's achieved at the very highest level over the years, it was crystal clear that this was about as good as it gets. Really stirring stuff and, with any luck, a confidence-booster to the other cyclists out there - and of course for the time-trial on Wednesday.