Cooke wins women's road race

Updated September 27, 2008

(AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

VARESE, Italy (AP) Nicole Cooke of Britain became the first cyclist, male or female, to win world and Olympic road race titles in the same year Saturday, beating Marianne Vos of the Netherlands in a sprint finish at the world championships.

Judith Arndt of Germany, the winner in 2004, took bronze.

Cooke completed the 86-mile race in 3 hours, 42.11 seconds, the same time as Vos and more than a minute ahead of the main pack.

"When we started the race I was relaxed because I had already achieved my goal for the season, which was the Olympics," Cooke said. "The Olympics was a dream come true, and today was as well because a part of me always wanted the rainbow jersey."

Cooke perfectly bided her time while the other favorites expended energy trying to break away in the final stages of the race in and around Varese near the Swiss border.

Vos, who won silver last year and gold in 2006, looked poised to win the sprint, but lost pace over the last dozen yards to let Cooke through. Vos had broken away from a group of five riders twice in the last few miles, but both times the other riders caught up.

"Last year I started my sprint too late and this year I thought I had gotten it just right," Vos said. "When I looked back and saw Nicole coming on strong I knew I couldn't win. I'm still second, it's still a spot on the podium."

Cooke, Vos, Arndt, Emma Johansson of Sweden and Germany's Trixi Worrack broke away from the pack on the last of eight laps that included two climbs.

Johansson tried to distance herself from the other four with a mile left, but was quickly caught. Cooke was the last to try to break away. Vos tracked her down and seemed poised to win until Cooke made her final effort to pass the Dutchwoman.

Cooke has won two bronze medals and one silver in the past five world road races.

The men's race is on Sunday.