On a warm day over the bergs, muurs and cobbles of Flanders Nicole added another 'monument' to her impressive CV, making it 5 wins for the season with barely a month gone - and two out of two in the World Cup.

It was another lesson in race control from Raleigh-Lifeforce Creation, they already had the peloton splintered in the early stages by setting a high pace.

With a little under 4k to go Raleigh's Karin Thürig attacked, and when she was joined by Nicole it looked as though the pair may well stay away until the finish.

However they were caught on the Bosberg by four other riders, Zoulfia Zabirova, Marianne Vos, Trixi Worrack, and Suzanne Ljungskog.

This high quality half dozen then plaed out the finale, but with 2 riders ion the break Raleigh-Lifeforce had the upper hand.

An attack in the closing stages by Thürig left the other four chasing hard, with Nicole not required to contribute to the effort of hauling back her team mate. Then as Karin was caught Nicole was in a perefect position to monitor the other riders and followed Zoulfia Zabirova's wheel, waiting until 150m from the line to pass her and take the victory.

It means Nicole has a maximum 150 points after the first two rounds of the 2007 World Cup Series, as she continues her impressive defence of the title she won in 2006.