Sir Steve Redgrave has urged Great Britain's rowers to lay down a marker for the Olympics in the first race of this weekend's World Cup.
The GB team will be at full strength for the first of three regattas, which starts on Friday in Belgrade and finishes on Sunday.
Britain are sending 57 athletes - 34 men and 23 women - to Serbia, and with the Olympic squad announced on June 6, rowers will be itching to make an immediate impact.
Redgrave hopes their winter of hard work has paid off, although he is aware that triumphs this weekend are not a precursor to what will happen in London in less than three months' time.
"It will be really quite fun to see how our very successful British team gets on and see what everyone else has been doing," said Redgrave, who is a supporter of the EDF Community Rowing Challenge.
"It's not D-Day but it is getting close to it. This is probably one of the biggest days in the calendar, this weekend.
"Obviously if they go out and win, then you can't guarantee winning gold medals in three months, but you know you're on target to do that.
"Rowing is a very consistent sport, you need a lot of time to be able to make small adjustments in speed.
"We always have a saying: 'It's what you do during the winter that determines how fast you go in the summer.'
"They've done their winter now but they don't really know where they are. They've got their times that they've worked to, they've got a rough idea but actually getting out there against the opposition will give a good marker in a lot of the events."