Oli Beckingsale remains positive about his chances of making the London 2012 Olympic Games despite the leg break he suffered in August.

The 35-year-old Beckingsale, a veteran of three Olympic Games’, fractured the neck of his left femur in a crash at the Nove Mesto round of the World Cup.

But speaking at Endura Racing’s team launch at the London Bike Show, Beckingsale told Bikemagic he still a shot at making it to the start line at Hadleigh Farm on August 12.

“My big goal next year is selection for the London Olympics which would be my fourth Games and far bigger than anything else I’ve ever done,” said Beckingsale.

“That’s obviously taken a big step back. It took a massive jump the week before I hurt myself. I had a ninth at the European Championships, which was a good selection race, and a big step towards getting to the Games, and to have this injury a week afterwards was a massive jump back.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do and I’m up against it, basically. There’s still a chance. Recovery is going better than people predicted and even I predicted, so I’m confident I’ve still got a shot of making it to the start line.”

And the former Giant rider believes the setback will only spur him on to return to competitive action stronger than ever.

“I was pretty grumpy for a couple of weeks [after the crash], but after a while I wanted to get back to the level I was at before, if not higher,” he added. “You sometimes have setbacks, and you realise why you race a bike and why we like riding when you can’t do it. When it looks like it’s going to be taken away from you, sometimes it spurs you on to just give it everything.”

Beckingsale signed for Endura in January 2011 and joined the team’s road riders at the Lincoln Grand Prix, where he helped Scott Thwaites to victory – and the multiple national bike champion is relishing the chance to return to the road in 2012 as part of Endura’s Premier Calendar squad.

“It’s a bit of a reunion, with Bibs [Ian Bibby], Wilko [Ian Wilkinson] and there’s other guys as well who have been on the mountain bike scene in the past,” added Beckinsale.

“I enjoy the group side of it. It’s actually one thing I don’t like about mountain biking: it’s more of an insular sport, you don’t travel as a big group. I enjoy the time with the road guys. They’re off to training camp next week. I enjoyed it last year, and there’ll be a couple of Premier Calendar races mixed in this year. Doing it as part of a team, traveling together, I really enjoy that aspect, and that’s something I miss with mountain biking.”