.jpg) Cooke at the 2009Four Days of Dunkirk | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Baden Cooke | ||||||||||||||
| Nickname | "Cookie" | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1978-10-12)12 October 1978 (age 47) 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 teams | |||||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||||
Grand Tours
| |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Baden Cooke (born 12 October 1978) is an Australian retired professionalracing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2000 and 2013.[2]
Born inBenalla, Victoria, Cooke began competitive cycling at 11.[3] He completed secondary school at Galen College inWangaratta, Victoria, and was anAustralian 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 teamFrançaise des Jeux in 2002, Cooke competed in theCommonwealth Games that year, finishing third behind fellow AustraliansStuart O'Grady andCadel Evans. He also participated in theTour de France in2002,2003,2004,2005,2008 and2012. In 2003 he won theGreen jersey which is thePoints classification in the Tour de France by two points in a tight finish onStage 20 on the Champs-Élysées with fellow Australian sprinterRobbie McEwen second and O'Grady seventh in the final points classification. In 2004 Cooke came 12th in the points classification.
Cooke represented Australia in theroad race at the2004 Summer Olympics along with McEwen,Michael Rogers, O'Grady andMatt White.
Cooke raced 2006 and 2007 forUnibet.com. He joinedBarloworld for 2008 but in 2009 moved to Dutch cycling team Vacansoleil.[5] Cooke announced on his website that he would 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 the2013 Vuelta a EspañaChris Horner.[8] He subsequently also became agent forMichael Matthews,Gert Steegmans andJanez Brajkovič.[9]
He recently purchased a stake in Factor bikes and Black Inc wheels.
In 2021, Cooke competed onAustralian Survivor: Brains V Brawn.[10]
National Junior Points Race Championships National Madison Championships
OverallHerald Sun Tour OverallParis–Corrèze
Road race,Commonwealth Games
Points classification OverallBay Classic Series| Grand Tour | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | — |
 Tour de France | 127 | 140 | 139 | 142 | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | 117 | — |
 / Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | DNF |
| DSQ | Disqualified |
| DNF | Did not finish |
