By Susan Westemeyer
Team CSC newcomer Gustav Larsson has his eyes firmly on the goal of the 2008 Olympics for the coming season. He has already been selected for the Swedish team in both the time trial and the road race.
"I'm definitely doing the time trial, and then I'll decide later whether I'm going to do the road race as well," Larsson said. "I've spoken to the national coach about, whether it's wise to concentrate on just one of them or if I'll be able to focus on both at the same time.
"I'd actually quite like to do the four-kilometre pursuit on track both for teams and individually, but I probably won't have time to prepare myself and to qualify. The team race is already impossibility because we don't have a strong enough team," said Larsson on team-csc.com.
Looking to the regular road season, he noted, "First and foremost I'm a stage race rider with time trials as my specialty. I think I'm fairly strong both up and down the mountains. As a time trial specialist you quickly learn that you're constantly racing against time – chasing those extra seconds – and this is something, which you can also use when descending a mountain."
Larsson is coming to the Danish team from Unibet.com. He will meet another outstanding time trialler at CSC, namely two-time world champion Fabian Cancellara, but he doesn't expect any rivalry. "We're team-mates now, and we're going to help each other. Of course, I'm not expecting Fabian to reveal his deepest secrets to me, but we're a team now and we'll be working together. We'll support one another and work for the team just like the rest of Team CSC."
The 27 year-old turned pro in 2001 with Team Crescent. He rode with Fassa Bortolo and Française des Jeux before joining Unibet.com this year.
