Welsh ace Nicole Cooke dominated the British women’s scene in the early 2000s, claiming ten national road race titles in eleven years between 1999 and 2009 – the first arriving when she was just 16.

She also blazed a trail on the international scene too, winning the UCI Women’s Road World Cup in 2003 and 2006, topping the Giro d’Italia Feminile podium in 2004 and winning a host of major one-day races.

The Giro d’Italia Feminile title made her the first British rider, male or female, to win a Grand Tour.

A woman for all seasons, her palmares also contains three La Fleche Wallonne Feminine titles, the 2003 Amstel Gold Race and the 2007 Tour of Flanders for Women.

Cooke also won gold in Beijing in the 2008 Olympic road race, before winning the world road race months later.

She had already won Commonwealth Games gold for Wales in Manchester in 2002, still aged just 19 at the time.

Cooke’s success, at a time when women’s cycling got little media coverage and very little sponsorship arguably laid a path from which the likes of Lizzie Armitstead are already profiting.

The Welsh wonder retired in 2013, aged just 29 but with a palmares packed full of notable triumphs.

Finest moment: In treacherous conditions in Beijing, Cooke joined a four-rider break inside the last six kilometres of the Olympic road race and outsprinted Emma Johansson to take victory – later following it with a world title to become the first rider, male or female, to hold the world and Olympic title at the same time.