Cycling is hard; I’m not leaking any trade secrets with that statement, but it feels good to say it anyway. No Cyclist avoids suffering, but of those who venture into our world, there are some who seek to limit it while others choose to embrace it. Then we have a handful of characters who consider playing Whack-a-Mole with the Man with the Hammer to be good sport, particularly when playing the part of Mole.
In the current climate, it’s impossible not to consider the impact doping has on our sport. I, for one, have happily watched professional bike racing and delighted in the spectacle for close to thirty years, aware to varying degrees that doping is part and parcel of that spectacle I enjoy so much. In the last decade, I’ve gone so far as to assume most – if not all – riders are doping; a regrettable situation but one which has done little to temper my enthusiasm for the sport. After all, when all the riders are doing it, then surely what we’re watching is a level playing field of willing participants who understand how the game is played. Cheaters cheating cheaters hardly seems like cheating.
It’s all beautifully romantic so long as all the riders are doping. This is not the case, however; there are those who are racing clean against dopers. These riders are truly being cheated out of a livelihood by a culture which not only turns a blind eye to cheating, but who ostracize those who don’t. These riders who refuse to dope have few voices and last week, the sport lost one of the most forward of these with the retirement of Nicole Cooke.
Nicole has been a force in Women’s Cycling since turning Pro in 2002. A powerful rouleur, she excelled in every terrain and in any race format, but was nigh unbeatable in uphill finishes, taking a total of three La Fléche Wallonne Féminine titles, each of which required such a large laying of The V that it brought her to collapse. I was aware of her as much as anyone can be with the state of the coverage of Women’s Cycling, but she became one of my favorite riders after reading a piece in Rouleur about my favorite hub manufacturer, Royce. In the article, Royce’s Cliff Polton described being at a trade show when a young girl better described as a ball of loosely-contained energy bounded up on his booth and started asking about bottom bracket axles and wondering aloud if he could help her achieve her goal of becoming the wolds most dominant female cyclist.
Given what I understand of her personality, I get the feeling it was more like executing a plan than achieving a goal.
Cooke raced at the top of her sport for thirteen years; she scaled the heights of achievement with wins in every major race on the calendar including the Ronde van Vlaanderen voor Vrouwen, La Fleche, the Giro d’Italia Femminile and Grand Boucle (women’s Tour de France), the Olympic Road Race, and the World Championship Road Race. What’s more, she accomplished it while remaining staunchly anti-doping to the point that she faced sackings for refusing doping products.
Anyone who is a fan of Cycling should read Nicole’s retirement statement – I could never do it justice here. My personal hopes for the Pharmstrong Legacy is that it yields a a blood letting in the UCI and that the energy it spends on covering up its own corruption goes instead into promoting Women’s Cycling.
I’m sad to see Nicole go. Yet, for a rider who thrived in the hardest conditions and who unyieldingly stuck to her principles, I find it very fitting that the final two wins of her career came in Stages V of the Giro Femminile and Energiewacht Tour, respectively. Bravo, Nicole.
Here is the finale of her last Giro stage win:
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thank you for writing and posting this. Being a woman cyclist and a former racer, I am to aware of the great athletes like Nicole who work their asses off with very little acknowledgment to the rest of the world! The hours, pain and love for the sport are equal to our men counterparts yet the compensation and respect is not! In the last 2 years I have watched the women's peleton race here in Belgium (Ronde van Vlaanderen, Waalse Pijl etc) and seen the amazing effortsm strategies and teamwork. She is a true champion!
An awesome cyclist...but...I am in two minds on the exit strategy:
1. If Nicole just wanted to Lance some festering boils before she left (forgive the pun) then fair doos but she starts by saying she will talk about her career and her future. She really just talks about the hard times and it actually comes across as whingeing.
2. If she just wanted to clear the air a bit before she left i.e. "I am not going to write a book like everyone else but I just want to say..." then I can completely understand what she has done.
I just cannot quite understand which way to think. She was/is a fantastic ambassador for the sport. Whilst we can applaud the new entrants and rising stars it is sad to see several key stalwarts leaving the womens sport and I do wonder (having heard the odd murmur or two) whether David Brailsfords "style" is really appreciated by some of the ladies. I think he has a certain way of doing things and at times this is counter productive, there are too many women leaving British Cycling at too young an age....29 is not that old for a pro level road racer....
Sad to see her go, and a great tribute @Frank.
Fantastic article me lad. It is always time to talk about the clean riders who have been at it for years. She is a rock star. I admire her hard line on cheaters, even Hamilton. Her opinion holds a lot more weight than a fan on the side fo the road. Ned Overend has nothing good to say about his fellow American cyclists who got away with six month suspensions and I can't blame him. Cheating is cheating, it's stealing money.
I really admire her for the bad ass cyclists that she has always been, World and Olympic Champion, not too shabby.
@Deakus excuse me, but whining or "whingeing" as you say is not how it comes across! her statement just gives the truth of what she has endured duing her dedicataion as a clean and focused athlete. If you have ever put your heart and soul into something for that length of time and have had to battle the unfairness, you too might want to mention it.
I applaud her for not giving in to the pressures and acomplishing her dreams. 29 is still young but then again she started at age 12 and raced professionaly for 10 years! That is a long time. who knows, she may want to start a family?
A good choice for an article, thanks. Nikki sure lays down the V. There's something very different about watching women race - hard to say what it is. Maybe it is because they make their bikes look so...big. I rather suspect there is a preference to race 700mm wheels even though some might be better sized on 650s. They do make the machines look beautiful though. I feel like such a huge dork on mine - I'm forced onto 700 mm wheels as well, but I make them look like...well..a monkey humping a tennis ball.
And I will never make a comment here about Georgia Bronzini. She could beat the shit out of me without batting an eyebrow.
Cheers Frank, great choice for an article.
I've said before that (amongst other things) the UCI has completely failed women's cycling.
The fact that McQuid won't even talk about the in-equalities speaks volumes. This has been raised by others in the women's peloton, notably Emma Pooley after the Olympics, and it's verging on scandalous that, as Cooke mentioned in her statement, it's likely that Hamilton will earn more from his book than she did in her entire career.
Let us not forget that 2 of the most exciting races last year were, IMO, the women's Olympic RR and Worlds RR.
@farzani
I applaud her and her cycling. I simply think the statement lacked maturity/class. That sounds harsh but the comments on her statement are in no way a comment on her commitment as a cyclist, her success and everything she should rightly be proud of, and we of her. If she wants to start a family, start a career elsewhere, or even sit down after so many years of hard work and dedication...then that is in itself just reward for all the pleasure and inspiration she has given us.
My point was, and maybe I did not make it very well, that she sounds very bitter, she is also not the only one who seems a little brow beaten in the UK womens circuit. Victoria Pendleton has indicated as much, and Emma Pooley has been sounding very low for most of the summer....
I just think for everything that is great at the heart of womens cycling in the UK at the moment, there is a darker side that is not yet showing its face...mark my words...
So long, Nicole and thanks for fighting the good fight by racing clean & being adamant about it.
I'm intrigued by athletes & sports that are pretty much ignored by most people, especially in comparison to the big sports where the stars still have the nerve to complain about how rough they've got it. Yeah right. Try being a female cyclist!
Great piece and timely - I just realized I get to see The Boss Vos in person in two weeks in Louisville. It'll be a watershed moment for me as most of the PRO racing I've watched has been on a little computer monitor. I'm really excited to see such a Champion in the flesh, especially since such riders are almost mythical to me, as I can hardly fathom the V they put out. I'm eager to say the least!
And, I'm hoping the VMH gets a bit more excited about riding her own bicycle a bit more after seeing the talent of Marianne in person; I hope she's a bit inspired since I subject her to far more men's racing than women's.
@Ron
Great article about the V.O.S in this months Cyclist magazine, it is stunning how dominant she was last year and it will be a brave person who does not have her at the top of their VSP picks this year.....