Sir Bradley Wiggins gave everything he had to raise the standard of a “torturous” and “relentless” UCI Hour Record but the Beamonesque mark he targeted was beyond even him.

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Tickets sold out in seven minutes to watch Wiggins ride around in circles for 60 minutes, targeting fellow Briton Alex Dowsett’s record of 52.937-kilometres.

And the 2012 Tour de France champion, four-time Olympic gold medallist and world time-trial champion delivered in 54.526km.
He had the strength to raise his bike above his head in celebration.

“I’ve got to be happy with that. I couldn’t have done much more,” Wiggins said. “That’s raised the bar a fair bit to what the existing record was. For sure it will deter people or make them think twice about it. It’s the first real big marker now.”

Wiggins had set himself a target of over 55km (220 laps) and a record which would last a generation, thus bearing comparison with Bob Beamon’s long jump world record from 1968 which lasted almost 23 years.

 

 

He did everything in his power, even shaving his beard, to perform, but the conditions at the Lee Valley VeloPark – formerly known as the Olympic Velodrome – were not conducive to such a distance and Dowsett may be among those 
encouraged to try again.

Wiggins recorded the same distance to that achieved on Wednesday in a full dress rehearsal at lower – and therefore more favourable – pressure.

“I couldn’t have done any more today with the conditions. It was 1030 (bar) pressure,” Wiggins added. “I keep banging on about pressure, but it was probably the worst weekend to have done it in the last couple of months. That was about as far as I was going to go under those conditions today.

“Perhaps not as far as I maybe have dreamed or hoped had the conditions been different, but (I’m) satisfied nonetheless.”
For the 35-year-old Wiggins it was a one-time opportunity, with the Rio Olympics next summer likely to be his swansong.

“I won’t go for it again,” he added. Asked how he will celebrate, Wiggins said: “By standing up for a start. Struggling to sit down at the moment.”