Martine Bras will ride at the Olympics

(image credit: Dolmans-Boels Cycling Team)

Martine Bras is no stranger to the loftiest heights of a successful cycling career - after all, she won her first National Championship title when she was ten years old - but now she's about to climb one step higher: she will represent her native Netherlands in the London Olympic Games.

Now aged 33, Martine had perhaps her best season to date in 2011with top ten results in several of the most prestigious races in women's cycling, a win at the UCI 1.2 Halle-Buizingen and an excellent Stage 3 victory at the Tour Féminin en Limousin.

The rider, currently with Dolmans-Boels, is brimming with confidence: "I shouldn't be underestimated on the London course," she says, "with many twists and turns and sloping streets, it suits me." However, like all good riders she hasn't forgotten that the cycling world has its own major events: "I'm still targeting the Limburg World Championships, which 2012 a challenging year for myself and for the team. It gives me the motivation to give everything I've got again this season."