26/06/2004 CAMPIONATI NAZIONALI - Pioggia di titoli in Lituania, Gran Bretagna e Russia. Debutto con vittoria per Nicole Cooke, bis della Ziliute. A segno anche Chuzhynova Fine settimana trionfale e raccolta più che positiva del Team in giro per l'Europa nelle gare che hanno assegnato i titoli nazionali. Il pienone lo ha fatto la ex iridata Diana Ziliute che si è laureata campionessa nazionale sia nella prova in linea che su strada. Eccezionale il rientro della gallese Nicole Cooke che ha fatto su il campionato nazionale britannico su strada. La stessa cosa lo ha fatto in Ukraina Iryna Chuzhynova. En plein sfiorato con la piazza d'onore di Regina Schleicher che ha perso il titolo al fotofinish dalla Rossner. GRAN BRETAGNA 1 Nicole Cooke (Safi-Pastazara) 3.13.33 2 Rachel Heal (Farm Frites/Hartol) 0.59 3 Vicky Pincombe (Team Milton Keynes) 6.43 4 Emma Davies (recycling.co.uk/MG X-Power) 13.30 5 Lorna Webb (recycling.co.uk/MG X-Power) 13.43 6 Emma Silversides (Leisure Lakes) 13.46 7 Wendy Houvenaghel (RAF CA) 13.51 8 Sara Symington (SATS) 9 Michele Ward (Team Fisher) 10 Charlotte Goldsmith (Team Lucanio) Nicole's return to racing looks like being a damp experience. Race day arrived with heavy rain in South Wales. If it continues it may limit the crowds out to watch the British Championship women's road race. It will also throw up an extra difficulty on the long twisty descent of the main circuit. However despite now being based in Italy the weather won't phase Nicole. Nicole Cooke won her fifth National Road race title in style despite the cold and wet in Gwent. She took the title for the fourth year in a row after a stunning return to race action just over a month after knee surgery, as she once again underlined nobody in Britain can touch her, and sent a message to her continental rivals that after a racing absence of 8 months she's back. The race rolled out from the Celtic at midday in heavy rain with 48 starters. However the field soon lost 14 riders after a crash on the first climb up the narrow roads of the Wentwood Forest. The crash was near the front, but Nicole avoided it and took advantage to make the race winning break with the same two riders that rode away from the field last year. Nicole and last years runner up Raechel Heal dropped Vicky Pincombe on the difficult descent, but the former triathlete was able to get back in contact on the flat, a pattern that was to repeat itself. The lead over the bunch quickly grew, and by the end of the first 24 mile lap there was 3 minutes between the leading trio and a chasing group of five. Nicole came up the hill towards the finish line looking very strong, with Heal 10 metres behind and Pincombe again hanging on. The continuing rain made it cold and difficult with some stretches of road covered with water, and by the time the riders came through at the end of the second and last big lap (49 miles) it was Heal who looked the strongest, perhaps testing Nicole as they entered the three finishing circuits of 6 miles each. Again Pincombe was struggling to stay in touch, but they regrouped once more as they crossed the golf course with a lead of 5' 57" over the chasing 5 and the remainder more then 10 minutes back. After the first of the finishing circuits Heal and Nicole again came through leading by 30 metres from Pincombe. The decisive move came on the second of the final three circuits. The road drops down from the Celtic Manor before taking a sharp left up a steep climb. Heal chose the moment to put in an attack, but not only did Nicole match it, she countered by fiding away from the Commonwealth Bronze medallist. By the time she reached the start finish line to take the bell Nicole already a minute gap, and just kept on riding away from her Dutch based rival. She soloed home with a winning margin of almost three minutes and a traditional Cooke celebration with the added twist of a kiss on her left knee just before she crossed the line. Afterwards she was clearly delighted with her return to action, and far from exhausted. She now flies out to Italy tomorrow (Sunday 27th) ahead of next Friday's start to the Giro Donne where the weather should be just a little better! "Naturally I'm really pleased. It's been a really frustrating 6 months or so. It was really good to racing again, and great to be winning again." "This means more to me than my other British titles because of the circumstances." "I knew I was going well in training, but that's different to showing it a race" "I was a little bit unsure before, because you never know what's going to happen, but it all went really well" "Despite the conditions I always felt it was felt happy with the way I was going and there were absolutely no problems with the knee." "I was near the crash when it happened, just ahead of it. I couldn't beleive some of the riders were whizzing ahead in the neutral zone, and when people ride like that you have to be careful." "I just made sure I was near the front, which wasn't difficult as it was pretty slow to start." "Once we got away it was always then just a case of when I made my move. Whenever Raechel put in a little dig I could see that she took a while to recover, but when I stepped up the tempo I had no problems." "I was a bit surprised she attacked me really, she gave me the chance to go." "I've now got 7 weeks to take it on to another level or two for the Olympics, and I'm really excited about riding the Giro." LITUANIA in allestimento GERMANIA 1 Petra Rossner (RG Equipe Nürnberger) 2 Regina Schleicher (Safi Pasta Zara Manhattan / RG Team Deutsche Weinstrasse-Rülzheim) 3 Angela Brodtka (Team Red Bull - Stadtwerke Frankfurt/Oder) 4 Madeleine Sandig (Team Euregio Egrensis) 5 Theresa Senff (Team Euregio Egrensis) 6 Hanka Kupfernagel (Team Red Bull - Stadtwerke Frankfurt/Oder) 7 Liane Bahler (RG Equipe Nürnberger) 8 Anke Wichmann (Zugvogel Berlin-Toyota Motor) 9 Birgit Hollmann (Zugvogel Berlin-Toyota Motor) 10 Trixi Worrack (RG Equipe Nürnberger) Nicole taglia il traguardo baciando il ginocchio sinistro che gli ha creato problemi e compromesso metà stagione