CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Olympic Champion 2008 World Champion 2008 Tour de France winner 2006, 2007 Giro d’Italia winner 2004 World Cup Series winner 2003, 2006 World No.1 Ranking 2006 Commonwealth Games Champion 2002 10 x British Road Race Champion side the cycling and rowing, she’s enjoying other social activities like tennis with friends.
“I probably do five or six different sports,” she tells me. “It’s how I’ve always been, when I was younger,” she adds, firmly ruling out competing or taking any of these to a higher level.
And she says far from taking a toll on her body, cycling, even at the intensity she pursued, has been “amazing” for her physical and mental health.
“I’m happy to be active, healthy and doing sport,” she says, and responds eagerly when I ask her about Cardiff Council’s plans to develop the city’s cycle network with the aim of having another 38,000 trips a day made by bike.
“Cycling as a mode of transport is brilliant for health benefits, for the environment, for so many reasons,” she says. “I’m sure it’s a fantastic investment. Cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam have done very well in integrating cycling as a mode of transport, and creating a transport network where cycling is the first choice would be the way to go, but you have to really consider the infrastructure and what is required to change... but over the long term, it would definitely be worth it.”
I ask if she sees any future for herself as a coach, if she could fit this in with her life in business.
“I don’t see that, no,” she says. “I’m very happy to help riders who are setting out on their own journeys. There are different levels to it and I’m regularly in contact with some riders, and that’s fine now and again if they want advice or a chat.
“The main thing was this chance to do something different and continue to enjoy cycling but develop other interests in life and have other career aspirations.”
Now she’s had time away from elite competition, her battles with the cycling and sport establishment are largely behind her – although she keeps in touch with what’s going on, writing articles and commenting in her trademark noholds-barred manner.
Giving evidence to a parliamentary committee investigating doping in sport just last year, she was damning of British Cycling as a “sport run by men, for men,” with only “token” oversight by UK Sport, and says there’s still not enough control over performance- enhancing drugs.
“I’m very happy to bring a dose of reality when it’s needed,” she tells me.
Since the committee’s report, British Cycling has shaken up its leadership, with more emphasis on codes of conduct and anti-doping measures while also looking to increase diversity.
Although Cooke welcomes strides being made in cycling to involve more women and girls at grassroots level, she remains convinced there’s still room for improvement.
“I’d like to see things being done at all levels,” she says.
As a two-times winner of the Tour de France, it rankles with her that the female race no longer exists, with sponsorship, media coverage and pay lagging behind men in the same sport.
The Commonwealth Games have been another opportunity to reflect, and the hurt and anger of being the only woman to represent Wales at Melbourne in 2006 still runs deeply.
While nine women cyclists were selected for Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Cooke went as a “team of one” in 2006, while seeing a full complement of men sent along. Without team support to boost her chances of winning another gold, the defending champion came away with bronze.
“That was an absolute horror show,” she recalls.
I ask her if there’s anything she’d do differently if she had her time again.
There’s a pause before she describes how her frustrations with the setup in the UK led her to embark on a “journey into the unknown with massive ambitions to win a gold medal at the Olympics and at a time when there wasn’t a pedigree in road racing in Britain”.
As a junior in Holland, she explains how she developed her tactical sense and was beating Dutch boys by her third year, before turning professional in Italy where she “made mistakes but learnt a lot” from riding alongside some of the best women cyclists in the world.
“I think that was prob- ably as good as I could have done because there was a lot of planning, a lot thought that went into that journey... that move was extremely ambitious and very well done,” she reflects. “In terms of the governance of the sport... well, I did what I could. I campaigned for events for youth girls, and we’ve now got British championships for girls that didn’t exist.”
She recalls how she lobbied UK Sport and Sport Wales for better governance of cycling, saying a lack of accountability had had an impact on her career.
“I did what I could, and it’s sad, but I look back and I think, ‘Well, I did my best’.”
When I press her on whether she would have done the same again, despite any negative impact, she’s quick to respond.
“Absolutely, yes... but when you say it had a negative impact, what’s the alternative? Have no career – so I had to address those issues.”
Other memories are sweeter, and she says she watches as much as pos- sible of the big occasions like the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
“They are amazing events, and watching them, even as a retired athlete, brings back so many good memories and it does relight that spark of, ‘Aah yes, this is exactly why I was motivated and why I wanted to race’ and it’s still inspiring.”