Lars Ytting Bak (born 16 January 1980) is a Danish former professional

road bicycle racer Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most com ...

, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2019 for the Fakta, , , , and squads. Since retiring as a rider, Bak has acted as a directeur sportif for in 2020, and as team manager for UCI Women's WorldTeam in 2022.

Background

Born in

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 52,571 (1 January 2025).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 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 In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

and a number of hilly stages. In 2011 he finally made his Tour de France debut where he worked hard for

Mark Cavendish Sir Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx people, Manx retired professional cyclist. As a Track cycling, track cyclist he specialised in the Madison (cycling), madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he ...

's sprint train and finished off by taking part in a breakaway on the last stage. Bak joined for the 2012 season. In 2012, he won stage 12 of the

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

. Bak retired at the end of the 2019 season after 18 years as a professional.

Major results

Source: ;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 Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen (Championship of Flanders) or Koolskamp Koerse is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Koolskamp (part-municipality of Ardooie), West Flanders, Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom ...

: 9th Overall Tour de Luxembourg ::1st Stage 1 : 9th Overall Danmark Rundt ;2005 : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotDinamarca

Road race ::3rd

Time trial In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

: 1st

Overall Tour de l'Avenir ::1st Stage 1 : 1st Paris–Bourges : 6th CSC Classic ;2006 : 1st Stage 1 ( TTT)

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

: 1st Eindhoven Team Time Trial : 4th Overall Bayern Rundfahrt : 8th

Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise, formerly known as the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in February around the city of Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in south ...

;2007 : 1st MaillotDinamarca

, National Road Championships : 1st Stage 5

Tour de Wallonie The Tour de Wallonie is a stage race cycling race on the UCI Europe Tour. It runs in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium in the end of July. Between 1974 and 1995 it was reserved to amateurs. Since 2005, the race has been organized as a ...

: 3rd Overall Tour Down Under : 6th Overall

Four Days of Dunkirk The Four Days of Dunkirk () is road bicycle race around the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France. Despite the name of the race, since the addition of an individual time trial in 1963, the race has been held over a 5 or 6 day period for ...

;2008 : 1st MaillotDinamarca

, 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 MaillotDinamarca

, 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)

: 2nd Road race, National Road Championships : 8th Overall Danmark Rundt ;2011 : 1st Stage 1 ( TTT)

: 3rd GP Herning : 5th Paris–Roubaix : 8th Overall Ster ZLM Toer ;2012 : 1st Grand Prix de Fourmies : 1st Stage 12

: 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

References

External links

*
Profile at Team Saxo Bank
(source for this article) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bak, Lars 1980 births Living people Danish male cyclists Cyclists from Silkeborg Danish Giro d'Italia stage winners Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Denmark 21st-century Danish sportsmen