Nicole Cooke is currently in a rich vein of form and scored another big win in Spain and extends her previous World Cup lead to 74 points over previous leader Oenone Wood. Wood was dropped on the final climb, managing only to come in 11th at the head of the chasing group, she now slips to third overall in the World Cup.

The first 90km saw a stream of attacks which were all foiled thanks to the efforts of Cooke’s Univega-Raleigh-Lifeforce team – the team also pulled back a late break just before five tough finishing circuits, Noemi Cantele of the Bigla Team managed to take a minute out of the field. She held that for 3 laps until Univega-Raleigh-Lifeforce reeled her in to set up the finale for a strong, but an ever dwindling, leading group.

This win follows up Nicole Cooke’s recent win in La Flèche Wallonne and the with victory number two for this year’s World cup series.

The next Women’s World Cup race is in Canada – La Coupe du Monde Cycliste Feminine de Montreal on the 27th of May – Check out the World Cup Website

Speaking to her own Website Nicole said:

“This was so different to a race like the Commonwealth Games where I was isolated on my own against 6 Australians and 6 Canadians. Here my team were fantastic. As we came into the last lap with just 8km to go, my Raleigh-Univega-Lifeforce team-mate Priska (Dopmann) attacked the leading group. I was able to sit in that group whilst other teams had to chase her. And when they caught her, with under 2km to go, they had all worked very hard. Come the sprint finish, my other team-mate in that elite lead group Joanne (Kiesanowski) was able to help me and I am delighted to be able to win for them as much as me.”

“It is the 5th event they have put on here in Spain. They do a fantastic job and there is a great atmosphere. Women’s cycling is really starting to develop and the UCI are putting a lot of effort into promoting the women’s side of the sport. I am at a great team, but T mobile, SAFI Pasta Zara, Nurnberger and many others are getting stronger and more organised too.”

“Winning this World Cup will be harder than ever before. I am not taking anything for granted, there is a long way to go. We are half way through and in each of the last two seasons there have been crashes. I’ve already had the crash with the parked van in round too, and I know was very lucky to come away from that without serious injury.”

” I am happy just to be leading. All we as a team can do is prepare properly and then do our best in each event, but I’m very happy with the professionalism of the management at Raleigh-Univega-Lifeforce and I’m sure we can have more success this season”

Women’s Cycling World Cup – 5th Gran Premio Castilla y Leon – Results

1. 1 COOKE, Nicole – GBR UNIVEGA PRO CYC.T. 03:22:42
2. 22 ARNDT, Judith – GER T-MOBILE PRO same time
3. 32 LJUNGSKOG, Susanne – SWE BUITTENPOORT-FLEXP. same time
4. 131 SENFF, Theresa – GER AA-DRINK CYCLING T. same time
5. 125 ZILIUTE, Diana – LTU SAFI PASTA ZARA same time
6. 31 GUNNEWIJK, Loes – NED BUITTENPOORT-FLEXP. same time
7. 75 PUCINSKAITE, Edita – LTU NOBILI RUBINETTERIE @ 4secs
8. 74 GOLLAN, Olivia – AUS NOBILI RUBINETTERIE @ 5secs
9. 151 PITEL, Edwige – FRA BIANCHI AKIVERTI KOO @ 11secs
10. 6 KIESANOWSKY, Joanne – NZL UNIVEGA PRO CYC.T. @ 15secs

Women’s World Cup overall Standings (after 6 of 12 rounds)

1. Nicole Cooke (Gbr) – 219 pts
2. Judith Arndt (Ger) – 145
3. Onone Wood (Aus) – 140
4. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) – 120
5. Zoulfia Zabirova (Rus) – 105