Baden Cooke

Baden Cooke

Cooke at the 2009 Four Days of Dunkirk
Personal information
Full name Baden Cooke
Nickname "Cookie"
Born (1978-10-12) 12 October 1978
Benalla, Victoria, Australia
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 75 kg (165 lb)
Team information
Current team Retired
Discipline Road
Role Rider
Rider type Sprinter
Professional team(s)
2000–2001 Mercury
2002–2005 Française des Jeux
2006–2007 Unibet.com
2008 Barloworld
2009 Vacansoleil
2010–2011 Team Saxo Bank
2012–2013 GreenEDGE[1]
Major wins

Tour de France

Points classification (2003)
1 individual stage
Tour Down Under, 4 Stages
Tour de Suisse, 1 Stage
Dwars door Vlaanderen (2002)
Herald Sun Tour (2002)
Paris–Corrèze (2002)

Baden Cooke (born 12 October 1978) is an Australian retired professional racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2000 and 2013.[2]

Born in Benalla, Victoria, Cooke began competitive cycling at 11.[3] He completed secondary school at Galen College in Wangaratta, Victoria, and was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.[4]

His professional career began with the Mercury team in 2000, though he found racing in Europe to be more challenging than initially expected. Nevertheless, he adapted. He was more successful during that debut season in Australia and America, where he won stages of the Herald Sun Tour and the Sea Otter Classic, respectively.[3] Having moved to the French team Française des Jeux in 2002, Cooke competed in the Commonwealth Games that year, finishing third behind fellow Australians Stuart O'Grady and Cadel Evans. He also participated in the Tour de France in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2012. In 2003 he won the Green jersey which is the Points classification in the Tour de France by two points in a tight finish on Stage 20 on the Champs-Élysées with fellow Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen second and O'Grady seventh in the final points classification. In 2004 Cooke came 12th in the points classification.

Cooke represented Australia in the road race at the 2004 Summer Olympics along with McEwen, Michael Rogers, O'Grady and Matt White.

Cooke raced 2006 and 2007 for Unibet.com. He joined Barloworld for 2008 but in 2009 moved to Dutch cycling team Vacansoleil.[5] Cooke announced on his website that he will ride for Team Saxo Bank in 2010[6] – he continued with that team in 2011, before moving to the new GreenEDGE team for the 2012 season.[1] After the 2013 season, Cooke retired.[2]

After retiring, Cooke announced that he was moving into rider management.[7] In January 2014 he became the agent of former team-mate and winner of the 2013 Vuelta a España Chris Horner.[8] He subsequently also became agent for Michael Matthews, Gert Steegmans and Janez Brajkovič.[9]

He recently purchased a stake in Factor bikes and Black Inc wheels.

Cycling career

1996
1st National Junior Points Race Championships
1st Bendigo Tour
1st Criterium Bike SA Race
2000
1st National Madison Championships
1st Prix de Bles d'Or
Rapport Tour
1st Stage 7
1st Points classification
Herald Sun Tour
1st Stages 2, 5 & 9
1st Criterium competition
2001
Tour de l'Avenir
1st Stages 6 & 10
1st Points classification
1st Stage 4 Sea Otter Classic
2002
1st Overall Herald Sun Tour
1st Stages 2 & 4
1st Overall Paris–Corrèze
1st Stages 1
1st Dwars door Vlaanderen
1st Tro-Bro Léon
1st Stage 1 GP du Midi Libre
1st Stage 8 Circuit des Mines
3rd GP Ouest France-Plouay
3rd 2002 Commonwealth Games Road race
5th Paris–Brussels
9th Road Race World Championships
2003
1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
1st Grand Prix de Fourmies
Tour Down Under
1st Stages 1 & 4
Tour de France
1st Stage 2
1st Points classification
1st Stage 9 Tour de Suisse
1st Stage 3 Tour Méditerranéen
2nd Dwars door Vlaanderen
4th Paris–Tours
7th Paris–Bourges
2004
1st Overall Bay Classic Series
1st Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise
Herald Sun Tour
1st Stages 2, 3 & 5
Tour Méditerranéen
1st Stages 1 & 3
1st Stage 2 Three Days of De Panne
3rd Overall Tour Down Under
1st Stage 6
2005
Herald Sun Tour
1st Stages 4 & 5
1st Stage 1 Tour of Poland
5th Dwars door Vlaanderen
6th Gent–Wevelgem
2006
1st Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise
1st Halle–Ingooigem
1st Stage 1 Course de la Paix
1st Stage 5 Tour de Wallonie
5th Overall Tour of Denmark
6th Paris–Tours
10th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
2007
1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
1st Stage 3 Tour Down Under
1st Stage 2 Étoile de Bessèges
4th Paris–Brussels
6th Omloop Het Volk
8th Gent–Wevelgem
2008
1st Stage 2 Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas y Villalba
1st Stage 1 Geelong Bay Classic Series
1st Stage 3 Herald Sun Tour
2009
1st Stage 4 Herald Sun Tour
2010
1st Stage 4 Bay Classic Series
2011
2nd Paris–Bourges
5th Dwars door Vlaanderen
10th Gent–Wevelgem

References

  1. 1 2 Farrand, Stephen (27 August 2011). "Baden Cooke and Matt Wilson to ride for GreenEdge in 2012". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Baden Cooke announces retirement". Cyclingnews.com (Future plc). 27 November 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
  3. 1 2 Gabriella Ekstrom (2001). "Cyclingnews talks with Baden Cooke". cyclingnews.com.
  4. ↑ AIS Athletes at the Olympics
  5. ↑ "Baden Cooke naar Nederlandse ploeg Vacansoleil". sportweek.nl. 2008.
  6. ↑ "Team Saxo Bank for 2010". www.badencooke.com.au. 2009.
  7. ↑ Woodpower, Zeb (6 December 2013). "Interview with Baden Cooke". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Quénet, Jeff (10 January 2014). "Chris Horner appoints Baden Cooke as his new representative". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  9. ↑ Benson, Daniel (16 October 2014). "Cooke in discussions with two new teams over Horner". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 30 October 2014.

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