COOKE WINS THE TROFEO ALFREDO BINDA

Nicole Cooke (Raleigh-Lifeforce) continued to dominate women?s racing just a week before the Tour of Flanders World cup race, this time taking the prestigious Trofeo Alfredo Binda in Italy on Sunday with a powerful late attack.

Cooke?s Raleigh-Lifeforce-Creation team mates were in every break and controlled the peloton during the race, forcing the other teams to chase every move. Cooke waited for a late attack by Italy?s Fabiana Luperini and then counter attacked before time trialing to the finish. Italy?s Georgia Bronzini (Safi) won the bunch sprint behind Cooke and Martina Corazza (Team FRW Gauss) was third butt both admitted there was nothing they could do against Cooke and her team.

?This is a great win because this is an important 1.1 category race. I won it alone with a late attack but it was also a team victory because everybody played a role and we had riders in every break,? Cooke told cyclingweekly.c.uk with pride.?

?We were all happy to have done so well and this has given our moral a boost ready for next week?s Tour of Flanders.?

Cooke has target April as one of her peaks of the season because she knows that success in the three World Cup races could be decisive in sealing another overall World Cup success in 2007.