Cooke was exhausted at the finishing line

Fresh from Sunday's victory at the Amstel Gold Race in Holland, the Welsh cyclist repeated her magnificent feat to win the fifth stage Fl�che Wallonne in Belgium.

Cooke finished four seconds ahead of Sue Palmar-Kolmar after surviving a late counter attack on the brutal Mur de Huy.

Men's race details

She now has 157 points in the overall standings with Sara Carrigan second (140) and Mirjam Melchers (124) third.

"Having won a few days before, everyone knew I was the rider in form so it did mean I had more pressure on me," Cooke told this website.

"But I was able to race well and make sure no-one broke away without me being there."

Cooke has now moved up from 23rd to 11th in the overall UCI world standings and is the only 20-year-old in the top 100.

Results:

1. Nicole Cooke (GBR) 97.5km 2hr 40min 52sec
2. Susan Palmer-Komar (CAN) at 4sec
3. Oenone Wood (AUS) 9
4. Edita Pucinskaite (LTU) 11
5. Olivia Gollan (AUS) s.t
6. Nicole Brandli (SWI) 21
7. Amber Neben (USA) s.t
8. Fabiana Luperini (ITA) 23
9. Mirjam Melchers (NED) 24
10. Trixi Worrack (GER) s.t.

Overall World Cup standings (after 5 races):

1. Nicole Cooke (GBR) 157 pts
2. Sara Carrigan (AUS) 140
3. Mirjam Melchers (NED) 124
4. Regina Schleicher (GER) 120
5. Zoulfia Zabirova (RUS) 94

Spaniard Igor Astarloa finished strongly in the closing stages to win the men's version of the race.

The Saeco rider broke away on the second last climb of the 199.5km course and was then joined by another Spaniard, Aitor Osa, from the leading bunch of 15 riders.

The two opened up a gap of over half a minute on the fast descent into the town of Huy and then on the decisive final climb, Mur de Huy, Astarloa broke clear to win.

Osa hung on for second place, with Kazakhstan's Alexandre Shefer finishing third, to give Saeco two out of the three podium places.

Astorloa's victory was also the first by a Spaniard in a major one-day race, outside of the World Championships, for 11 years.

Federico Echave won the GP Americas World Cup race in 1992 but since then Spanish success has been restricted to stage races and Oscar Freire's two worlds wins.

Results

1. Igor Astarloa (Spain) Saeco four hours 39 minutes 17 seconds.
2. Aitor Osa (Spain) Ibanesto.com 16 seconds behind
3. Alexandre Shefer (Kazakhstan) Saeco 56
4. Unai Etxebarria (Venezuela) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1:00
5. Alexandre Kolobnev (Russia) Domina Vacanze 1:06
6. Oscar Mason (Italy) Vini Calderola-Sidermec 1:08
7. Christian Moreni (Italy) Alessio 1:13
8. Angel Castresana (Spain) ONCE-Eroski 1:15
9. Christophe Moreau (France) Credit Agricole 1:19
10. Eddy Mazzoleni (Italy) Vini Calderola-Sidermec same time
11. Danilo Di Luca (Italy) Saeco 1:34
12. Michael Boogerd (Netherlands) Rabobank 1:36
13. Oscar Pereiro (Spain) Phonak 1:42
14. Tyler Hamilton (U.S.) CSC 1:44
15. Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Spain) Ibanesto.com same time
16. Iban Mayo (Spain) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1:45
17. Samuel Sanchez (Spain) Euskaltel-Euskadi
18. Patrik Sinkewitz (Germany) Quick Step-Davitamon
19. Dave Bruylandts (Belgium) Marlux-Wincor all same time
20. Andre Noe (Italy) Alessio 1:47