Preview

The Rund am die Nürnberger Altstadt is the final race in the 2006 World Cup series. Far from being a procession, teams such as T-Mobile are looking for a win in the race. (See T-Mobile's preview of the event by clicking here) The course used is fast and technical and usually results in a bunch sprint. The riders will be riding 9 laps of the course, which includes a sharp climb, adverse cambers and even crosses tram tracks. The good news for Sunday is that the weather is likely to be dry and warm. 

The 'home team' for this event is Équipe Nürnberger; their sponsor is the local insurance company and the race headquarters are decorated with huge banners displaying the Nürnberger logo and images of the riders. They, too will be looking for a win. In 2006, Oenone Wood, riding then as now, for Équipe Nürnberger took her second World Cup series in a row with second place in the sprint to Giorgia Bronzini (Italy). 

Nicole Cooke (Univega) has the World Cup series 'in the bag'; she took enough points last weekend to make the title hers - out of reach of nearest competitor, T-Mobile's Judith Arndt. On Sunday in Nurnberg, Cooke will be presented with the 2006 trophy. 

WomensCycling.net asked Nicole about her reaction to her overall win last week in Rotterdam. "I'm obviously delighted for myself and for the team. First of all, we have won the World Cup series, but I think we did it in commanding style. We did it with a round to spare; a round with double points - that's fantastic! We also picked up three World Cup races in the season, so we couldn't have done any better and there's still one to go.  ...We can play any strategy we want."  So, will the Nürnberger race be a procession for Nicole and the Univega team? "I'm going to enjoy the race, we'll see."

Nicole Cooke won the Castilla y Leon World Cup race earlier in the year. She was already World Cup series leader then

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Current Rankings - after round 11 (Rotterdam)