Opera Giorgione

Cycle Sport Magazine, November 2003

"It's no surprise that she regards it as an ideal machine for one day racing"'.'

British pro, Nicole Cookes' exact Opera Race Bike as ridden to victory in the 2003 World Cup

"As a sister company of Pinarello, Opera bikes has a huge amount of bike manufacturing know-how to call upon, so each of its limited range is beautifully crafted. A wide range of sizes is offered as standard, but World Cup holder Nicole Cooke had a custom bike made to ensure the best possible fit.

You'll notice the short head tube but also two spacers which Cooke chooses to run under the stem to get the correct elevation. Plenty of racers would be tempted to throw these away in search of a lower front end for better aerodynamic advantage but Cooke has opted for a more relaxed, less extreme position. The frame is manufactured from Easton's highly rated scandium aluminum and includes a full carbon fork along with carbon seatstays for better vibration absorption. As you might expect on an Italian race bike, it has a full complement of Campagnolo's Record groupset, including wheels, but not the latest carbon cranks.

Cook has ridden her Opera to victory in three rounds of the World Cup competition, and most recently, the San Francisco Gran Prix. It's no surprise that she regards it as an ideal machine for one day racing, even though she has managed to write one of them off in Montréal. Fortunately, it was her spare bike, "The chain started jumping in the neutral section, so I swapped," Cooke explains. She then collided with a motorbike and crashed, injuring her knee, and doing worse damage to the bike. Or, as she puts it, "It got trashed."

Cooke regards her bikes as the tools of the trade, and does not obsess over the minutiae of the spec. "In terms of equipment I don't go into weighing everything, but what is important is comfort: the width and height of the handlebars, the saddle, the pedals are important, she says."

This page was last edited on 06/03/2004