Good start for Cooke

On just the second day of the New Year, Team Barloworld could count its first victory for 2008, thank to Baden Cooke, who won stage 1 of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic in Williamstown, Australia.

His team said it was an unusual success for the Aussie, since he spent most of the final thirty minutes ahead of the peloton.

"It's fantastic. I didn't plan to spend half an hour out there just suffering like that, but as it turned out the race was splitting apart and everyone was being quite aggressive so I though the best form of defence would be to attack," said the Australian National Criterium Champion, who was showing excellent form despite not doing any extra training. Cooke's win came on his new Bianchi team bike, which he received just two days prior to his win.

After the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic, Cooke will race the Australian National Championships on January 13.

For complete coverage of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic, click here.