Cooke exit is marked by blast at drug cheats

Nicole Cooke has attacked the inequality in cycling, drugs cheats and the world governing body after announcing an end to her stellar 13-year career.

The 29-year-old from Swansea, who was the first cyclist, male or female, to win Olympic and world road race gold in the same year in 2008, announced her retirement in central London yesterday.

Cooke was a trailblazer for women’s cycling in Britain and it is her hope that women’s racing will be embraced. She also hopes the sport will rid itself of doping, a topic she felt compelled to speak about in a week when Lance Armstrong will be interviewed, by Oprah Winfrey, for the first time since being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for drugs offences.

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“I have ridden through some of the darkest days of the sport in terms of corruption by the cheats and liars,” said Cooke.

“When Lance cries on Oprah later this week, spare a thought for all of those genuine people who walked away with no reward, just shattered dreams. Each one of them is worth a thousand Lances.

“Tyler Hamilton (a former team-mate of Armstrong and whistle-blower) will make more money from his book describing how he cheated than Lyne Bessette (one of Cooke’s former team-mates) or I will make in all our years of our honest labour.”

Yorkshire’s Lizzie Armitstead, who had a public spat with Cooke at the 2011 World Championships before putting it behind them in time for London 2012, tweeted: “Congratulations to Nicole Cooke on a fantastic career.”