Bak looking to 2012 London Olympics

Lars Bak hopes to ride in his first, and possibly last, Olympic Games in 2012. The Lotto-Belisol rider has his focus on the Spring Classics, followed by the Tour de France and then the London Olympics.

“I've never ridden the Olympics. I would really like to. If you take my age into consideration, it is perhaps the last shot in the gun," the 31-year old told sporten.tv2.dk.

If he makes the Danish team, then most likely he would be riding for Matti Breschel, “who has huge chances to win a medal. It may be that we should put every ounce of riding for him."

But Bak hasn't entirely eliminated the possibility of winning a medal himself. "Who knows? If you get in the right break. Now I don't know the route 100 percent, but it would be a hard route, but also a route that I could do well on.”

Bak also thinks his former teammate Mark Cavendish has good chances for gold, and refuses to talk down the world champion Team Sky sprinter. "Now we must be careful not to say too much about Mark Cavendish, for when he really wants something, he can do it. He won Milan-San Remo a few years ago when people had also said that it was impossible.

“After all, his home is in Britain, so he'll be ready. And then it's the week after the Tour, so he will be well trimmed, and he has a strong team to help him.”

That doesn't mean it will be easy for Cavendish, though. "We often see that the Olympics is a difficult race because there are only 140 riders to start and four or five men on the teams, so it is difficult to control. It speaks against his chances that he cannot just put eight men back and control the race, but he'll be ready.”