Write-up

Zoulfia Zabirova gave her team a home-country victory as the Kazach rider took a very late break from the bunch to win just a few lengths ahead of a fast approaching bunch of the fastest sprinters in the World. Zabirova rides for Team Bigla, which is Swiss, so the victory was that much sweeter. The sprint for second went to Oenone Wood (Équipe Nürnberger) ahead of Olga Slyusareva (Russia) and Judith Arndt (T-Mobile). Nicole Cooke (Univega) was fifth ad this was enough to propel her into the World Cup series Leader's jersey. 

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (T-Mobile) had gone into the race with a slim 3 point lead in the World Cup over Cooke, so when she rode in to finish 55th, there was no doubt that there would be a new leader. 

The Tour of Berne (Berner-Rundfarht) was run under completely different conditions to last year. There was no rain and the air was warm - 20'C in fact and sunny. Perhaps the only downside to the day was the gusty, variable direction wind which the riders had to face as they completed 6 laps of 20.8km around the Berne area of Switzerland.

Even the roll-out was fast, led by Karin Thürig (Univega), just a kilometre into the race, the peleton was already well lined-out. The pace did not deter attacks, however and one of the first main attacks was by Buitenpoort-Flexpoint's American rider, Amber Neben. She was away for around 30km, with a time gap which had been 55 seconds at its maximum.  

Next to try her luck was the rider who managed to get off the front in Wednesday's Fleche Wallone, Olga Zabelinskaya (Team Fenixs). Although not away for long, she managed to string out the main chasing bunch. The damage had been done by the previous attacks, however; the race was split into several groups by this point. 

Going into the final 20km, the front of the race was all together again. There was a series of attacks and counterattacks around the circuit, but none were successful. As the race came back into the start - finish town of Lyss, Zabirova moved forward and accelerated off the front. Into the final kilometre and she was still away. As the race came into the final straight, it was not certain that Zabirova would stay away, but she was sure and raised her arms in a victory salute to cross the line. The rapidly approaching bunch sprinted in just 2 seconds behind and it was an aggressive effort from Oenone Wood which beat Olga Slyusareva into third. 

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Post Race Comments

Nicole Cooke : This was my very first race in Switzerland. I thought it was a very nice course, very challenging. There were two races being run at the same time - one for the race and one for the World Cup jersey. We made a definite step in the right direction today with me picking up the leader's jersey, so we're very happy. 

Had she recovered from Wednesday's Fleche Wallone ride? We've had four days since Fleche Wallone, that's enough, I think I recovered well.

What are her prospects for staying in the World Cup leader's jersey? We've only had five rounds so far, there are a lot of strong riders lot of riders still vying for position. I expect there will be some exciting developments through the season.

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