June

Nicole has won her tenth British Road Race title, her 9th succesive victory in the championship.

A key aggressor throughout the 80 mile race in South Wales Nicole's attacks helped create a breakaway group of four riders.

Nicole, Emma Pooley, and Lizzie Armitstead joined early leader Catherine Williamson after 30 miles, with Williamsson unable to hang onto the other three in the latter stages.

The leading trio took turns attacking each other on the finishing circuit, but it all came down to a super fast downhill sprint in the town centre where Nicole made it 10 wins in 11 years of racing the British Championship. Armitstead took second place but the silver medal was given to Pooley and the bronze to Williamson because Armistead was instead awarded the Under 23 Championship victory.

“It was a beautiful course today and a really good finish. Emma made a hard attack on the first lap and it was good to see what form she had in her legs at that point. I was really happy with the game plan I chose today.”

“All of us had had a go at trying to attack in the finale and then it was coming down to a sprint, and I have had some quite good sprint finishes in the last few weeks so I was feeling confident going into it. I just knew, if I went at the right time and didn’t make any mistakes, it would be a really good finish.”

“Vision 1 has had a really good few weeks. We have got a really good spirit in Vision 1 and things are building up and we have the momentum going now which is really incredible for such a small team in its first year.”

Nicole aims for a tenth British Road Race title this weekend in Abergavenny, South Wales.

She won her first British Champions jersey in 1999 aged just 16, and last year won her 8th succesive national road race!

"It's a special jersey and there is a lot of prestige which goes with being the British champion. To win it again this year will be just as special as winning it the first time."

After her recent good form she'll again start as favourite but the growing strength in depth in British women's cycling means it will be tougher than ever.

The race also returns to Nicole's home country of Wales for the first time in 5 years, with the womens race on Saturday 27th, and the male championships the following day.

"I'm training for this like it is the first time. It's a new race, new rivals and a different course so I'll do my best."

For details of the event click bcf website.

Nicole has won the 2 day Giro de Trentino in Northern Italy, taking a 1st and 2nd place on the two stages.

On Thursday 18th a sprint finish saw her led out well by her Vision One team mates, but she was just pipped on the line by Former World Champion Regina Schleicher.

Friday's stage was much tougher with several hills inlcuding a stiff 14% climb to the finish. Nicole and Vision One Racing team mate Vicky Whitelaw made it into a break of five, with Vicky putting in a huge effort before Nicole took control in the final 400m. She finished 8 seconds clear to take the stage, overall victory and the points jersey.

watch Nicole's video diary from the Giro del Trentino

Nicole began June in Spain with two victories as an indication that her form is really building towards her main objectives in the second half of the season.

On Tuesday 9th she won a sprint finish to take fifth place behind a break of four in the Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria (1.2) race.

Her fast finishing form was also in evidence in the Basque Country over the weekend winning two of the five stages at Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira.

2nd on Thursday's opening 80km stage, she then won a bunch gallop for the line in stage 2, beating Diana Ziliute to move top of the General Classification.

Nicole and her Vision One Racing Team head off to Spain for two races at the beginning of June.

Nicole is supporting a new campaign to promote Welsh city Newport.

It's the home of the Wales International Velodrome, and the City has hosted National Road Championships.

"It's great that Newport supports sport so well and I hope that world class facilities like the velodrome and others around the city continue to be used by everyone in the community, from schools and clubs to sporting champions!"

May

Nicole took 5th place in the first major stage race of the year. 9 days and ten stages long The Tour de L'Aude in Southern France is one of the biggest events on the calendar.

Nicole came close to victory in two individual stages. She was narrowly beaten both times in a sprint by Marianne Vos, having made the decisive breaks on stages 4 and 8.

Vision One Racing ranked 6th out of 18 on final classification and the team went home with the best sprinters prize, the competition led from stage one onwards by Vicki Whitelaw.

Stage by stage details as brought to you each day on nicolecooke.com feature below.

Deja vu on Day 9 of the Tour de L'Aude, with stage 8 repeating stage 4's narrow victory for Marianne Vos in a sprint finale versus Nicole.

The pair were part a four up breakaway also containg Grace Verbeke and Svetlana Boubnenkova who came in third and fourth. The chasing apck were over two minutes down.

The second place moves Nicole up to fifth overall, whilst her Vision One Racing team mate Vicki Whitelaw stays in the Red Jersey of the sprints competition leader.

Nicole remains 6th overall with two stages remaining of the Tour de L'Aude.

Nicole picked up a sprint bonus along the route of Stage 7 as she helped Vision One Racing team mate Vicki Whitelaw stay in the Red Jersey of the sprints competition leader. Nicole was 6th on the stage which again saw a group of 3 several minutes ahead, including the day's victor Marianne Vos and Claudia Hausler who extended her overall lead.

Stage 6 of the Tour de L'Aude saw Nicole come in with a small chase group 6 minutes down on Stage winner Trixi Worrack, Kristin Armstrong and new race leader Claudia Hausler.

The gaps to the remainder of the field were much larger on a hilly day which saw Vision One Racing's Vicki Whitelaw retain the lead in the sprint competition, and Nicole 6th on GC.

Nicole crossed the line 9th at the end of Stage 5 of the Tour de l'Aude, along with most of the other GC favourites.

However American breakaways Kristin Armstrong and Amber Neben held on to a forty second advantage, and Armstrong's 10 second winning bonus took her to fourth overall 4 seconds ahead of Nicole, with the top 3 unchanged. Vision One Racing's Vicki Whitelaw retained the lead in the sprints competition.

Nicole finshed second in a sprint finish with Marianne Vos for stage four of the Tour de L'Aude.

She was one of 11 top quality riders who made the significant break of a hilly day starting and finishing in Castelnaudary. This group was whittled down to four before the final dash for the line.
With a gap of over two minutes back to the next group the quartet moved into the top four of the General Classification now led by Regina Bruins followed by Claudia Husler (8"), Vos (20") and Nicole (1'19").

Vision One Racing's Vicki Whitelaw leads the sprints competition, whilst Vision One are 6th in the team classification.

Nicole finished in the same time as winner Ina Tuetenberg as stage 3 of The Tour de L'Aude in France ended in a bunch sprint.

Nicole lies 36th on GC at 1 minute 38 seconds to overall leader Amber Neben.

Stage 2 of The Tour de L'Aude was a Team time Trial, with Vision One Racing posting the 11th quickest time.

Stage 1 of The Tour de L'Aude saw Vision One rider Vicki Whitelaw make a long solo breakaway, but she was caught before a sprint finish won by Ina Teutenberg with Nicole 14th.

Nicole covered the 3.9 km prologue at The Tour de L'Aude in 5 minutes 8 seconds, placing 25th in the short individual time trial.

Nicole is riding the ten day Tour de L'Aude. In 2008 Nicole won the opening stage of this event in the South of France, before going on to take 4th place overall.

Earlier in May Nicole finished 10th in the Berner-Rundfahrt (Tour de Berne) World Cup race in Switzerland.

On a day of constant attacks it was Kristin Armstrong and Marianne Vos who made the crucial escape close to the end with Olympic Time Trial Champion Armstrong beating Vos for victory.

April

Nicole's April World Cup outings saw her post top 6 finishes in two of the most revered one day Classic races.

On the 22nd of the month she took 6th place on the infamously steep Mur de Huy at Flèche Wallonne.

The winner of the race in 2003, 2005 and 2006, on this occasion Nicole was 21 seconds back on 2009 victor Marianne Vos.

At the start of the month Nicole finished 4th in the 2009 Ronde Van Vlaanderen after being one of the aggressors of the Flemish Classic.

After a quiet start a number of attacks were launched once the race hit the climbs and cobbles, with Nicole forcing a breakaway. The group however was caught before the end and it turned out to be a day for the sprinters, Germany's Ina Teutenberg crossing the line ahead of Kirsten Wild, Emma Johannsen and Nicole, in a time of 3 hours 30 minutes 12 seconds for the 131.6km.

"I have mixed feelings. I'm a bike racer and I wanted to win, but the group I was in were caught too far from the finish. I knew it would be a sprint from there on in, and I hoped I would be more competitive."

"Still I'm happy with that considering that my season is based on September. That's a solid result and I'm really happy with my own ride and how we rode as a team."

Vicki Whitelaw was 16th, the first of the second group 6 seconds back on the leading 15, with Christel Ferrier-Bruneau 27th.

Nicole has donated her World Champion's jersey to a special auction in aid of the victims of the L'Aquila earthquake which hit central Italy recently.

The auction is organised in conjunction with the Granfondo Liotto, an event she rode as a guest in Valdagno.

"Seeing the devastation and destruction following the L'Aquila earthquake I really wanted to do something to help the victims," said the World Champion.

"Even a small gesture in some way to try and help the people hit by this natural disaster. It seemed like a great opportunity, especially at Easter time together with fellow cyclists, which is why we decided to hold a special auction with the cyclists of the Granfondo Liotto.

"This is our way of using our passion for cycling to help others and I am really proud of what we are doing together to help the victims of the earthquake in L'Aquila."

April begins with 'The Queen of the Classics', the Tour of Flanders.

De Ronde Van Vlaanderen as it's called in native Flemish is round two of the 2009 World Cup series, and is a race Nicole was delighted to win in 2007.

"It was a special victory for me because it's such a well respected race over a tough parcours which has seen so many great moments over many years watched by passionate and knowledgeable fans."

The 131.6 km race starts at 10.55 (CET) on Sunday morning April 5th passing over famous cobbles and climbs such as the Molenberg, Kapelmuur and Bosberg, with an estimated finish time in Meerbeke around 2.30 (CET).

March

Nicole endured a disappointing start to the 2009 World Cup series in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda.

She was one of large number of riders who ended the race early in atrocious weather conditions. The Italian race wasn't entirely one to forget for Nicole. " I was very disappointed, but it's an experience to learn from and from a team point of view we were pleased with Vicki Whitelaw finishing well placed in the main group along with Christel Ferrier-Bruneau. Now it's just important to focus on Flanders next weekend."

Whitelaw was 21st of 53 finishers, two of whom had a four minute advantage over the peloton, Marrianne Vos outsprinting Emma Johannson for victory.

The 2009 racing season began with the Costa Etrusca series in Tuscany, Italy.

Three one day races on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the event was special for Nicole racing for the first time in the Rainbow Jersey of World Champion, but also in the colours of the team she founded over the winter www.vision1racing.com.

On the opening day over 114 km Nicole finished 12th with victory going to Emma Pooley. Day two saw Nicole finish 5th a handful of seconds behind Sarah Duster who won the 113 km race, and over a hilly 109 km on the final day Linda Villumsen won with Nicole 9th.

Nicole has become an ambassador for Action Medical Research.

AMR is a British Charity with a particular emphasis on saving and improving the lives of babies and children. It's fund raising efforts have been closely linked with cycling for many years, including it's annual London to Paris ride. More details at action.org.uk

In 2009 Nicole is writing a column for womensfitness.co.uk. Her first article apeared in the March edition.

February

Nicole won the prestigious Sportswoman of the Year for 2008 title at the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards in London.

In front of an audience of more than 250 people – which included host Jill Douglas, the guest of honour Samantha Cameron, the wife of the Conservative Party Leader David Cameron, Dame Kelly Holmes, and Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, she was recognised for her outstanding season winning both World and Olympic titles.

Nicole attended the event with her mother Denise, and said:

"I am very grateful and proud of it. It has been going for 21 years, which is incredible. There are a lot of fantastic past champions and I am proud to receive it from The Sunday Times as, in 2001, seven years ago, when I was a junior, the newspaper wrote an article about me. So they do show interest in the whole of women's sport not just at the highest level but the people on their way up. I am very grateful for all the support the writers have given me over the years."

In 2009 Nicole will be a regular columnist for Women's Fitness Magazine.

Her first column is in the February issue of the magazine. Find out more about the magazine online at womensfitness.co.uk.

Nicole will also be supporting World Book Day in 2009. The main aim of the initiative is to encourage children to explore the
pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.

Nicole is busy preparing for the season with her new team
Vision 1 Racing but is passionate about World Book Day.

"I'm really pleased to be involved in supporting such an important campaign especially in 2009 having experienced what is involved in writing and publishing a book! I hope that people can make
the most of reading in all its forms, for leisure and relaxation,
for learning new skills or finding out about people, places and the world we live in."

January

Nicole has been made an MBE in the New Year honours list.

Becoming a 'Member of the British Empire' is one of a number of prestigious titles granted by the UK Government and Monarchy of the UK to recognise outstanding achievement or service to the country in public or community service, politics, entertainment or sport.

Nicole's award follows her success in winning both World and Olympic titles in 2008, and she is one of a number of cyclists recognised for their efforts in Beijing, including the triple track Gold Medallist who'll now been known as Sir Chris Hoy.

2008 news

For 2008 news including reports and pictures from Nicole's World and Olympic Road race wins please click here.