Portrait of a Hardwoman: Nicole Cooke
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:
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…..
Great article Frank, however I can’t believe you cited a ‘level playing field’… it’s pretty well established that with everyone doping, it creates an incredibly unlevel playing field.
I admit this is the 2nd time i have ever watched a women’s cycling race and it was worth it. The opportunity just never seems to present it’s self. Cheers Frank ! They must have the jumbo size book of matches, as the relentless attacks just kept coming and when you think one might just make it ? i love the fight they have. It’s on the radar for the future, as for Nicole ….. well done .
@Russ M
Good point made here….er….can I ask, because I don’t have Sky or any other type of cable TV, I spend way too many hours watching text feeds on progress in cycle races about 2 yds away from a TV or computer that could just as easily enable me to watch it live.
Is there some kind of website, tv channel (non cable…don’t have fibre optic here) where I can watch all those great spring classics, Giro etc?
Things are getting better here, we got the vuelta highlights in UK as well as the tour live but there is still so much more I could sit watching rather than working during the day, and I really need a fix!
@Unica
It is true. Women’s cycling offered up some of the most exciting racing this year (thank you for the women’s VSP btw, it helped me to discover a whole world out there) and still the UCI shorts them on money, time, exposure, and relevancy. Nicole Cooke will be missed. I’d like to see her as a commentator on Sky or Eurosport. Have her up there with Sean Kelly. Now that’s a pirated stream not to miss.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2013/01/18/the-anti-lance-armstrong-bicycling-champion-nicole-cooke-calls-him-a-criminal-who-should-go-to-jail/
FORBES! Forbes magazine did a short piece on “the cyclist you didn’t hear about last week.”
She’s awesome.
Great article on a great rider. Oh that there were more like her in both men’s and women’s cycling. Great to see Vos on that podium too – there’s an interview with her in the latest Peloton where she talks about the importance of looking happy on the podium even if she hasn’t won because the woman on the top step deserves her happiness and doesn’t deserve to have her win spoilt by a sourpuss. That. Is. Class.
Frank: I don’t think I have commented on your great writing. I absolutely loved the playing Whack-A-Mole (never knew what that was) with the Man with the Hammer. From now on that will be my theme thought every time I climb. Nicole was a great rider and the women’s pelaton will miss her and her voice of reason.
@brett
Yeah, let’s talk about how money creates a level playing field [cough] Ev Stevens [cough]
@Unica
It makes me proud that we stuck to our guns and put out a Women’s VSP last year – it emphasized a number of things, among them the fact that the women’s racing is really top-notch as well as that the calendar is left wanting of more events and that the media coverage is abismal.
Did Emma talk about the state of women’s Cycling? That’s great. I remember being impressed by Lizzy Armistead for taking the bull by the horns immediately after taking silver to talk about the poor state its in.
The saddest thing? Its much better than it was!
@Gianni
I was really impressed by Overend’s statements – and he’s right. What a stud.
I propose McQuaid be removed and that Hinault take over as President. LeMond can be VP and heir apparent. Then, in a few years, if Hinault decides he’s worthy, LeMond can take over. What could go wrong?
@wiscot
Ha, I have absolutely no interest in American football at this point & have migrated away from my yahoo email because of the damn headlines & “news” they hit you with when you try to log-in but I did see a story on Bill Belicheck and how he didn’t give any post-game interviews after losing. That.Is.Not.Classy.
That guy is an oddball. Sure, he wins, but everyone outside of New England seems to agree he’s a huge prick job.
eightzero – Not sure where you are going with this. Hmm. I do know how I feel about investment bankers in NYC during that period of time & Dartmouth folks as well…
“I propose McQuaid be removed and that Hinault take over as President. LeMond can be VP and heir apparent. Then, in a few years, if Hinault decides he’s worthy, LeMond can take over. What could go wrong?”
Oh boy, Frank. That is rich, very very rich. I feel as if I’ve read about this happening before. Is there a word that describes something that happened in the saddle that once again plays itself out in life twenty-five years later? Lexicon update coming…
@eightzero
Two words: Deep dish rims.
@farzani
I agree with you 100%. Its impossible to speak your mind about hardship and not have some portion of the audience automatically assume you’re whining or complaining.
Her outstanding results speak for themselves in terms of how she dealt with the matter; to take that in one hand and take her statement in other and conclude she’s whining makes no sense to me.
She’s a badass!
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@Deakus
Just like everything else, the interwebs is the place unless its a major event.
http://www.womenscycling.net/ has many of the goods…
@wiscot
Yes, that is class. I’d like to see Vos be more vocal about doping. Even if she’s doped in the past at Rabo, she should get clean and get vocal. She holds the most powerful position in her sport.
@brett
I wasn’t citing this, what do you think I am? I journalist or a writer? No, I’m a hack who makes shit up.
Seriously, though, what I meant by that statement is that among doped riders all racing at ~50 hematocrit, it removes the human element of their talent physiology; donkeys and race horses then are all racing at a level consistent with one another. Which is a way of saying that its a very unlevel playing field as donkeys and race horses should not be on the same level…
@Deakus Keep an eye on ITV4 they’re bound to exploit cycling’s popularity right now. Eurosport can be handy, though you may have to pay for a cheap subscription. http://www.streamhunter.eu/other-live-streaming-video.html is worth checking out – it has allsorts if you can bear the adverts, looks like they have a stream for the Tour Down Under if you can’t sleep! And I think last year the Giro was streamed through their website, or at least linked to a live stream…
@frank It wasnt a level playing field. The whole problem with using the number 50 was that guys who had a higher natural haematocrit level could only use a certain amount of EPO before they hit the magic 50. So it changed the dynamic of who was good and who wasnt. A fella with a 42 could take a shedload more EPO than a guy with a 48.
So it whilst the playing field might have been level (and anyway, if both teams spend equal times going both ways, who the fuck cares if a field isnt level?) it was a different field.
Hence the story of Vaughters – who had a natural level of something like 48 – being told by Bruyneel that he would never be a GC rider with such a high number. Up until that point Vaughters thought that having a high number was good – but then again he also thought shit clothes and sideburns were cool too.
@Marcus
Absolutely – that’s exactly what I mean by turning donkeys into race horses (obviously not my phrase), or more accurately, removing the natural human element from the equation. In that sense, it’s a level playing field in that everyone is at 50, regardless of how close you are to that naturally. Basically, it’s a level playing field in the same way that Obi-Wan told Luke that him telling Luke that Vader murdered his father was true, from a certain point of view. (I hope someone has e sense to post the Merckxiwan Kenobi photo now…)
Before EPO, your natural levels were what made you an exceptional athlete; after EPO, it was your doctor, weight, and power.
LeMond had an interesting conversation with Armstrong on this, which I think may have been recorded, where LeMond tries to explain that his VO2 max was what made him remarkable. It made no difference to Pharmy, who was thinking in terms of constant blood levels. Different worlds.
What they need to do over at the UCI is say fuck the old stodgy bastards like McQueef and install Cooke in his place. Sounds like she doesn’t have a price at which she’ll sell out. Reading her retirement statement was great. I’ve heard many people give their parting thoughts over the years and mostly they’re overly rosey chickenshit bloviations on how humble they were to work their combined with some patronizing “words of wisdom”. I think it’s often thought of as bad form to give a critical and biting parting shot on your way out. May be if it’s selfish and petty but this is not the case with Cooke. People should listen to her, saying she should stop whigning is ludicrous.
Cooke’s courage stands out and is made sweeter by her impecable palmares.
@frank
Why does that amuse me so? I don’t even know what you are talking about. I just laughed so much Magnus has left the building.
@Gianni
Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy you the faster bike to look for it on. And lots of time off work to ride that really nice fucking bike.
@frank
Thanks for the article–great to hear the female perspective. See also http://inrng.com/2012/10/level-playing-field-doping-myth/ for more discussion on the level playing field myth.
@Marko
This.
I had no idea what has gone on in women’s cycling during her time, it is DISGRACEFUL, that was telling it how it is, and if she was a guy we would be lauding him for his courage and honesty. Some how this is whinging? @Deakus you’ve been chicked!
@Deakus
Disagree absolutely. This has plenty of class. She’s telling it like it is, and it isn’t pretty. There’s little UCI support, teams don’t feel like they owe contracted wages to riders and if you push, you’re labelled as ‘difficult’. Drug users are thieves. How many male cyclists talk this plainly? Or is ‘classy’ to eat shit and grin about it?
I have great respect for Nicole Cooke, and indeed any sportsperson who suffers for their sport, but there are two issues here – one is drugs, where I agree with her entirely, and the other is equality of reward where I don’t, although I do accept that the UCI has a role in at least regulating teams and making sure riders are treated properly.
So those who want should go ahead and flame me, and no doubt those who already think I’m a cunt can chalk up yet further proof…
Sport isnot rewarded financially according to work and effort or even talent. The argument that any of those pro-women would kick my ass up and down the Valkenburg is irrelevant. There are plenty of sports where people put in many, many hours of hard work but can’t make a living. Even high profile sports like swimming – unless you are one of the very top multiple-medal-winning swimmers. I’m sure greco-roman wrestling is much harder than football, golf or tennis but that’s just the way it is.
Most sports are on the level that people do because they love them or are good at them and if they are lucky they get something out of it but mostly it is more intrinsic rewards, glory, satisfaction etc.
Then there are sports that are on the business level, supported by sponsors and commercial interests. At this level it is a simple decision for the person laying out the money – “If I sponsor this team/event/person etc am I getting my brand in front of my target audience ?”
Quite simply women’s sport in general, with some exceptions, does not get to the target audiences the sponsors are looking for. The cycling audience is predominantly male, and sponsors mainly get to them through the male events and teams. Women aren’t even interested in women’s sport by and large so the natural alliance that might come from sponsors looking for a different audience segment doesn’t come into existence.
Nobody can demand to earn a living from a sport. Earning a living means producing something that somebody else will pay for – riders like Nicole Cooke can and did deliver blood, sweat and tears by the bucketload and deserve great admiration and respect for it, but it will be rewarded according to its commercial value.
What was disappointing was that Lizzie Armistead has used Cooke’s statement to go on the attack- against Cooke. If Cooke had said that the sky is blue Armistead would have spoken up pointing out that it is neon pink…
@ChrisO women’s sport, in general, has a Catch 22 problem. People will claim they don’t watch it because it is of lower quality. It therefore doesn’t get coverage. Without coverage, it can’t hope to get advertising. Without advertising it doesn’t get money. This means less for coaching and development as well as wages. This does then mean it is of lower quality.
I know there are many knuckledrgaggers, but to be honest, I reckon most “sportsfans” would, if the loop could be broken, cheerfully watch women’s sports. Women’s tennis gets audiences on a par with men’s- and the prizes, tournament status, sponsorship etc are certainly the biggest for any women’s sport.
@ChrisO
@Al__S
Those two have been at each others throats for some time. In the lead up to the Olympics there was a whole bunch of shit flying around about who would be the front runner on the road race and who would have to tow the line….there has been no love lost between them. I am not sure who the “Aggressor” was but these divisions are just more of the shifting undercurrents that have been rumbling away in the GB womens team for a while, and the pretty much peaked in the lead up to the Olympics…
@ChrisO
Nobody can demand to earn a living from a sport. Earning a living means producing something that somebody else will pay for – riders like Nicole Cooke can and did deliver blood, sweat and tears by the bucketload and deserve great admiration and respect for it, but it will be rewarded according to its commercial value.
You summarised it better than I could!
@Al__S
Most of what you say is absolutely right, but tennis is not a good analogy. A far far higher proportion of women play tennis than women who cycle, I think that is why the balance has been reached in womens tennis, but again this was not the case 10 years ago where the women were paid less and sponsorship was less for them.
You are correct about the catch 22 though. Sponsors will not come forward until they believe Women will watch the sports…and….women will only watch the sport if they get out and ride and love the sport….
Start with the schools…my son (and female classmates) were recently taken to a Velodrome to see how it all works and have a go as a school trip, they loved it and he now wants his birthday treat to be a visit to one again!…Get em young and the enthusiasm and passion will follow and in time so will the sponsors.
@ChrisO
As i read it, she was complaining about the fact that there is no protection for riders who have been employed to do a job. She herself said that she has had to chase teams through courts just to get her wages – and she’s at the top of the heap – imagine what it’s like for domestiques. These are people who have signed contracts to pay and haven’t, not companies trying to decide whether to get in the game or not. The UCI doesn’t stipulate a minimum wage that the teams have to pay (that doesn’t have to much, just a definite amount they have to pay), so the UCI can just shrug its shoulders. Not sure I read she wanted equal pay, but she did want equal (or just some) grassroots opportunities at state or national level to help women get into the sport in the first place, raising the overall level of competition (perhaps to something you’d like to watch).
@Blah
As many have said, the UCI have an awful lot to answer for….
@Deakus
Too true.
@eightzero’s comp after Portrait of a Hardwoman: Evelyn Stevens
@Tobin
Awww…fuuuuck. You’re just baiting the Keepers on this, aren’t you?
@eightzero
What you got against Evie?
@Deakus
No I don’t think they have. I think one has and that one is Armitstead. I haven’t seen Cooke do anything apart from be superb given a load of teen-age nonsense from Armitstead. This latest outburst from Armitstead was typical. I don’t know how Cooke held back from saying, post the 2011 World Champs – “well I got 4th and nobody was working for me.” Instead the press took on a sort of “Armitstead is the female Cav and was guaranteed a gold medal if only the evil queen Cooke had not dropped out of the front group with 1.5km and picked her up from half way down the peloton and then chauffer driven her to the front.” Which had about as much sense about it as saying the moon is made of cheese. It wasn’t possible. Armitstead does not beat any of the medalists that year in any sprint, unlike Cooke and what about the rest of the team. I didn’t see Pooley doing anything to help and yet Armitstead did not bleat on about her.
Cooke’s statement is absolute class. The UCI have plenty of levers they can pull to put that side of the sport into a virtuous circle, they just don’t seem to be capable of anything, just transfixed in survival mode whilst the Lance story evolves.
Thanks for posting the video link. Absolutely superb. Great racing.
@DerHoggz
Spolied little rich girl. Not a fan. Hard worker? Sure. Time in the pain cave? Sure. Talented? Sure. Does she have lots and lots of time on her hands to go for training rides, put in pain cave time, and ride the best bikes money can afford? You betcha, because she made a wad of dough on wall street, and bought her way into the sport. To each their own; I just am not a fan. Others can feel differently, it’s just how I pick my faves.
Me and @frank have had this duscussion elsewhere on the site.
@Deakus
Wow! Awesome statement. Now there’s a wake up call for the world, and not just women’s cycling, or even professional sports in general. There are a few Enlgish majors and Anthropology majors that I grew up with that could have used this advice about 20 years ago.
And before you all get your panties in a bunch, my wife was an English major and worked in journalism so it is possible to earn a living after getting a BA in English, I just have not seen it too often.