Lars Bak
Lars Ytting Bak (born 16 January 1980) is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2019 for the Fakta, BankGiroLoterij, Team Saxo Bank, HTC–Highroad, Lotto–Soudal and Team Dimension Data squads.[4] Since retiring as a rider, Bak has acted as a directeur sportif for NTT Pro Cycling in 2020, and as team manager for UCI Women's WorldTeam Uno-X Pro Cycling Team in 2022.[5]
 Bak at the 2012 Giro d'Italia. | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Lars Ytting Bak |
| Born | 16 January 1980 Silkeborg, Denmark |
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) |
| Weight | 80 kg (176 lb; 12 st 8 lb) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role |
|
| Rider type | All-rounder |
| Amateur teams | |
| 1996–1999 | Silkeborg CR |
| 2000–2001 | Hammel CK |
| 2001 | CCI Differdange |
| 2001 | UC Trevigiani-Mapei |
| Professional teams | |
| 2002–2003 | Team Fakta |
| 2004 | BankGiroLoterij |
| 2005–2009 | Team CSC |
| 2010–2011 | Team HTC–Columbia |
| 2012–2018 | Lotto–Belisol[1] |
| 2019 | Team Dimension Data[2] |
| Managerial teams | |
| 2020 | NTT Pro Cycling[3] |
| 2022 | Uno-X Pro Cycling Team |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Background
Born in Silkeborg, Bak became a professional in 2002 for Team Fakta where he rode with fellow Dane Allan Johansen. In 2004 they both switched to BankGiroLoterij where Lars Bak would gain his first professional win, but as the BankGiroLoterij team stopped after the 2004 season, both Bak and Johansen went to Team CSC in 2005.
Here, Bak won the Danish National Road Race Championships, and in the later half of the season he showed his strength and talent as a good upcoming rider, as he won the respected ten stage Under 25 race, the Tour de l'Avenir. He won the leader's jersey by sprinting to the win in a group of four riders on the first stage, a position he defended through the following nine stages bar one, including a time trial and a number of hilly stages.
In 2011 he finally made his Tour de France debut where he worked hard for Mark Cavendish's sprint train and finished off by taking part in a breakaway on the last stage. Bak joined Lotto–Belisol for the 2012 season.[1]
In 2012, he won stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia.
Bak retired at the end of the 2019 season after 18 years as a professional.[4]
Major results
Source: [6]
- 2000
- 1st Stage 2a Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux
- 2001
- 5th Overall Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux
- 2003
- 6th Veenendaal–Veenendaal
- 6th Druivenkoers Overijse
- 7th Omloop van de Vlaamse Scheldeboorden
- 2004
- 5th Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen
- 9th Overall Tour de Luxembourg
- 1st Stage 1
- 9th Overall Danmark Rundt
- 2005
- National Road Championships
- 1st
Road race - 3rd Time trial
- 1st
- 1st
Overall Tour de l'Avenir
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st Paris–Bourges
- 6th CSC Classic
- 2006
- 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Vuelta a España
- 1st Eindhoven Team Time Trial
- 4th Overall Bayern Rundfahrt
- 8th Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise
- 2007
- 1st Time trial, National Road Championships
- 1st Stage 5 Tour de Wallonie
- 3rd Overall Tour Down Under
- 6th Overall Four Days of Dunkirk
- 2008
- 1st Time trial, National Road Championships
- 2nd Overall Tour de Pologne
- 1st Stage 1 (TTT)
- 2nd Overall Herald Sun Tour
- 7th Overall Bayern Rundfahrt
- 9th Overall Sachsen Tour
- 9th Overall Circuit Franco-Belge
- 2009
- 1st Time trial, National Road Championships
- 6th Overall Tour de Romandie
- 7th Overall Eneco Tour
- 1st Stage 5
- 8th Overall Danmark Rundt
- 9th Overall Tour of Missouri
- 2010
- 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Vuelta a España
- 2nd Road race, National Road Championships
- 8th Overall Danmark Rundt
- 2011
- 1st Stage 1 (TTT) Giro d'Italia
- 3rd GP Herning
- 5th Paris–Roubaix
- 8th Overall Ster ZLM Toer
- 2012
- 1st Grand Prix de Fourmies
- 1st Stage 12 Giro d'Italia
- 10th Overall Ster ZLM Toer
- 2013
- 2nd Overall Danmark Rundt
- 2014
- 2nd Overall Danmark Rundt
- 2015
- 2nd Overall Danmark Rundt
- 6th Overall Three Days of De Panne
- 2018
- 10th Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
- 2019
- 7th Paris–Tours
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
| Grand Tour | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Giro d'Italia |
DNF | — | — | — | — | — | 16 | — | 126 | 72 | 94 | 56 | 90 | DNF | 118 | 106 | — |
| Tour de France |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 152 | 96 | 108 | 82 | 37 | 173 | 123 | — | 147 |
 Vuelta a España |
— | — | — | 21 | — | — | — | 154 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
References
- "Bak looking forward to finally having his chance at Lotto-Ridley". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. 2 October 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- "Dimension Data finalise 2019 roster". Cyclingnews.com. Immediate Media Company. 22 November 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
- "NTT Pro Cycling Team". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- "Bak bows out with seventh place at Paris-Tours". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- Frattini, Kirsten (31 August 2021). "Uno-X: Behind the scenes at the new team with 2022 Women's WorldTour plans". Cyclingnews.com. Future plc. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- "Lars Bak". FirstCycling.com. FirstCycling AS. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
External links
Media related to Lars Bak (cyclist) at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website (in Danish)
- Profile at Team Saxo Bank (source for this article)
- Lars Bak at UCI
- Lars Bak at Cycling Archives
- Lars Bak at ProCyclingStats
- Lars Bak at Cycling Quotient
- Lars Bak at CycleBase
- Lars Bak at Olympedia