By Scott Dougal, PA International

Nicole Cooke has strong legs but her slim shoulders hardly look equipped to carry the burden of expectation heaped upon them.

The Welsh 19-year-old won her first senior international title in the women's road race at the Commonwealth Games yesterday, adding the gold medal to her four junior world titles.

It would be no exaggeration to call her the most promising cyclist of her generation. One respected cyclist recently said she had the potential to be the greatest Briton on two wheels ever.

But mention the Olympics to her, or even the women's Tour de France which she starts and she laughs and tries to shrug off any suggestion she might do well.

As she made her way to a car waiting to whisk her to the airport where she was due to continue her journey to Hertogenbosch in Holland, one of the Scottish team's support staff encouraged her to go for a win in the Tour.

But Nicole, who says she intends to spend a "nice two weeks going round France" in a low-key domestique role for her Italian team, blushed, replying: "Don't say that!"

And, to the suggestion she could rival Colin Jackson as a Welsh hero, she protests: "But I've only just started."

However, modesty aside, she showed the ability to match her junior achievements in the senior arena against a Commonwealth field in which she was the youngest rider.

As well as that she has determination too.

While there were other Welsh riders in the field, she had none of the support in the peloton available to Canadian silver-medallist Susan Palmer-Komar while the Australians fielded a six-rider team - any one of whom could have won.

But Cooke thrives on the competition.

In the time trial seven days earlier, she never threatened to get near the podium, disappointing those who had tipped her for the gold.

"I was really disappointed in the time trial," she said, admitting she had felt under a lot of pressure. "It was a bit of an embarrassment."

In the road race, however, she looked another cyclist altogether, appearing to feed off the odds stacked against her.

"There was still the same pressure," she said. "But you can see your competitors and it's easier to see what they're up to and what you have to do to win."

And it is when you hear her talk like that and think of her taking control of pelotons on the toughest roads in Europe you realise great expectations are something she can handle.