Elliot Hubbard is working hard towards the Olympics -- and the Sydney Games could prove to be the swansong of his cycling career.

The Island's top cyclist, a fourth-year pro with New Jersey-based team Navigators, must wait until early summer to find out whether he has been granted a wildcard to go to Australia in September.

Hubbard needs to get the go-ahead from the Bermuda Olympic Association and then his application must be approved by world cycling's governing body Union Cycliste Internationale by July.

If all goes well, Hubbard will compete for Bermuda in Sydney, a few days after returning to the Island for the end-of-season CD&P Grand Prix.

And then he will have some serious thinking to do.

"I always told myself I'd race until the end of 2000 and consider whether to carry on,'' said 26-year-old Hubbard.

"At the end of the year, I'll find myself at a crossroads. I don't want to say either way yet what I will do.

"I'm still enjoying the sport immensely and I could see myself keeping going for another five or six years.

"On the other hand I know I will have to do another job after cycling and to do that I will have to go back to school -- and I don't want to leave it too late.

"I'm planning to come back to Bermuda and settle down and I'll have to have the relevant qualifications to work here. But even if I withdraw from the sport I will keep on enjoying my bike.

"I'll just race the best I can this year and then I will decide what to do at the end of the year.'' Hubbard has been back on the Island for a few days enjoying a rare break during his hectic and so far successful season with Navigators.

In the opening two months, Navigators have already won five races, something which Hubbard attributed to good teamwork and the sensational form of sprint specialist Todd Littlehales.

Littlehales, who finished second on Front Street in last year's CD&P criterium, was first over the line in all of Navigators' five victories.

"It's a team sport and we all have to work hard to get Todd in a good position 500 yards from the line to give him a chance to win,'' said Hubbard.

Hubbard is known as a climbing specialist and his chances of individual glory will improve later in the season when the hillier courses will be raced.

Hubbard's main goal this year is the Olympics and Hubbard saw Sydney as a second bite at the cherry after his first appearance in the Games, in Atlanta four years ago, was plagued by misfortune.

"In Atlanta, I was involved in a crash and I never got chance to put everything into the race, so for me this would be a second chance,'' said Hubbard.

"To take part in the Olympics is every athlete's dream. It's the kind of stuff you dream about as a kid. I could feel the goose-bumps just being there at the opening ceremony in Atlanta.'' Hubbard will concentrate on the 160-mile road race in Sydney, on a rolling course not entirely suited to his strengths, though he will consider competing in the time trial as well.