In a field of 144 women packed with Olympic, world and European champions, and with the best professional teams all out to win, the incredible Nicole Cooke did it again. The British prodigy won the sixth edition of the women’s Flèche Wallonne, held over the same 97.5km that formed the final loop of the pro men’s race, only three days after doing the same at the Amstel Gold race, and only 10 days after her 20th birthday.

Cooke won the race by attacking on the closing one-kilometer climb up the formidable Mur de Huy, which averages 13 percent and has a couple of 19-perecent switchbacks. And chasing her all the way were two other representatives of the Commonwealth: 36-year-old Sue Palmer-Komar of Canada and 22-year-old Oenone Wood of Australia.

“I’m pretty happy,” admitted the lanky Palmer, who has always ridden strongly in this World Cup race. “It’s really good because [the] Montreal [World Cup on May 31] is going to be a big focus for me, so this is a good sign. And also for the world’s in Hamilton, which is my hometown. So I’m excited.”

At one point in the last 300 meters of the brutal finishing climb, Palmer came within two bike lengths of Cooke -– who then got a second wind to punch her pedals that little bit harder to win by four seconds, with Wood nine seconds back.

The three-time winner of the Flèche, Fabiana Luperini of Italy, came home in eighth, one place behind the top American, Amber Neben of T-Mobile, and 23 seconds behind Cooke –- who has now replaced Luperini as women’s cycling’s climbing sensation.

After her solo win at Amstel Gold, Cooke wasn’t sure how she would fare on a much tougher course. “I knew that there was the pressure on me to win,” she said, “but when [the group] all came together at the bottom of the Mur de Huy and I realized I had a chance, I thought, I’m not going to throw this chance away, I’m going to give it my best; and I was really surprised it just happened. I know I worked really hard today, my legs are just wrecked.”

The new World Cup leader

Photo: Graham Watson

She may be wrecked, but Cooke’s latest victory has put her in the leader’s jersey of the UCI women’s World Cup. Even so, she says she’ll take a break at her home in Wales after a hectic spring, and before building toward her mid-season goal: the Giro d’Italia Femminile. As for the Montreal World Cup, that wasn’t on her original schedule. Now, it probably is.