# Baden Cooke

Baden Cooke (born 12 October 1978) is an Australian retired professional racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2000 and 2013.

## Early life

Born in Benalla, Victoria, Cooke began competitive cycling at 11. He completed secondary school at Galen College in Wangaratta, Victoria, and was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.

## Career

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. Having moved to the French team Française des Jeux in 2002, Cooke competed in the Commonwealth Games that year, finishing third behind fellow Australians Stuart O'Grady and Cadel Evans. He also participated in the Tour de France in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2012. In 2003 he won the Green jersey which is the Points classification in the Tour de France by two points in a tight finish on Stage 20 on the Champs-Élysées with fellow Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen second and O'Grady seventh in the final points classification. In 2004 Cooke came 12th in the points classification.
Cooke represented Australia in the road race at the 2004 Summer Olympics along with McEwen, Michael Rogers, O'Grady and Matt White.
Cooke raced 2006 and 2007 for Unibet.com. He joined Barloworld for 2008 but in 2009 moved to Dutch cycling team Vacansoleil. Cooke announced on his website that he would ride for Team Saxo Bank in 2010 – he continued with that team in 2011, before moving to the new GreenEDGE team for the 2012 season. After the 2013 season, Cooke retired.
After retiring, Cooke announced that he was moving into rider management. In January 2014 he became the agent of former team-mate and winner of the 2013 Vuelta a España Chris Horner. He subsequently also became agent for Michael Matthews, Gert Steegmans and Janez Brajkovič.
He recently purchased a stake in Factor bikes and Black Inc wheels.

## Television appearances

In 2021, Cooke competed on Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn.

## Career highlights
### Major results
#### 1996

    1st National Junior Points Race Championships
    1st Bendigo Tour
    1st Criterium Bike SA Race

#### 2000

    1st National Madison Championships
    1st Prix de Bles d'Or
    Rapport Tour
       1st Points classification
       1st Stage 7
    Herald Sun Tour
       1st Stages 2, 5 & 9
       1st Criterium competition

#### 2001

    Tour de l'Avenir
       1st Points classification
       1st Stages 6 & 10
    1st Stage 4 Sea Otter Classic

#### 2002

    1st Overall Herald Sun Tour
       1st Stages 2 & 4
    1st Overall Paris–Corrèze
       1st Stages 1
    1st Dwars door Vlaanderen
    1st Tro-Bro Léon
    1st Stage 1 GP du Midi Libre
    1st Stage 8 Circuit des Mines
    3rd Road race, Commonwealth Games
    3rd GP Ouest France-Plouay
    5th Paris–Brussels
    9th Road race, UCI Road World Championships

#### 2003

    1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
    1st Grand Prix de Fourmies
    Tour de France
       1st Points classification
       1st Stage 2
    Tour Down Under
       1st Stages 1 & 4
    1st Stage 9 Tour de Suisse
    1st Stage 3 Tour Méditerranéen
    2nd Dwars door Vlaanderen
    4th Paris–Tours
    7th Paris–Bourges

#### 2004

    1st Overall Bay Classic Series
    1st Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise
    Herald Sun Tour
       1st Stages 2, 3 & 5
    Tour Méditerranéen
       1st Stages 1 & 3
    1st Stage 2 Three Days of De Panne
    3rd Overall Tour Down Under
       1st Stage 6

#### 2005

    Herald Sun Tour
       1st Stages 4 & 5
    1st Stage 1 Tour of Poland
    5th Dwars door Vlaanderen
    6th Gent–Wevelgem

#### 2006

    1st Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise
    1st Halle–Ingooigem
    1st Stage 1 Course de la Paix
    1st Stage 5 Tour de Wallonie
    5th Overall Tour of Denmark
    6th Paris–Tours
    10th E3 Prijs Vlaanderen

#### 2007

    1st Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
    1st Stage 3 Tour Down Under
    1st Stage 2 Étoile de Bessèges
    4th Paris–Brussels
    6th Omloop Het Volk
    8th Gent–Wevelgem

#### 2008

    1st Stage 2 Clásica Internacional de Alcobendas y Villalba
    1st Stage 1 Geelong Bay Classic Series
    1st Stage 3 Herald Sun Tour

#### 2009

    1st Stage 4 Herald Sun Tour

#### 2010

    1st Stage 4 Bay Classic Series

#### 2011

    2nd Paris–Bourges
    5th Dwars door Vlaanderen
    10th Gent–Wevelgem

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| 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 |
Legend :
| DSQ | Disqualified |
| DNF | Did not finish |