Nicola fifth in road race (From Barry And District News)

Nicola fifth in road race

VALE OF GLAMORGAN Olympic cyclist Nicole Cooke finished fifth in the women's road race in Athens - but managed to beat Michael Schumacher.

Data shows the live coverage of Sunday's road race on BBC Two in Wales peaked at nearly 250,000 viewers - 43 percent of the entire television audience in Wales at the time.

This was more than 100,000 ahead of the peak audience in Wales for ITV's coverage of the Hungarian Grand Prix and more than twice the peak for Sunday's test cricket on S4C and Channel 4. The audience even beat Sunday's Eastenders omnibus on BBC One Wales.

In the race, Australian Sara Carrigan broke clear in the dying minutes ahead of German Judith Arndt to take the gold. Nicole's medal hopes, last Sunday, were effectively ended when she made slight contact with a barrier.

One of her rivals Zijlaard-van Moorsel crashed out in spectacular fashion but she was unable to take full advantage of the situation. Moorsel could be ruled out of the next event which is the time trial.

Six riders burst out of the pack and caught up with leaders Sonia Huguet of France and Spain's Eneritz Iturriaga Mazaga. They managed to pull away and lead by more than a minute on the pack.

The 21-year-old was stranded in a secondary group and could not get to the front. Even when Nicole used her strength to catch up with the bronze medal group she was not able to outpace her rivals on the line.

Nicole from Wick near Cowbridge is tipped to win gold in the next two cycling events which are the time trial and the points race. If she wins she will be the first British female cyclist to win a gold.

She is already a World Cup winner and destroyed the competition in the recent Giro d'Italia. In the 2002 Commonwealth Games she won a gold. If Nicole wins she will be the first Welsh woman in the modern era to win an individual gold at the Olympics.

At time of press Nicole was racing in the time trial.