Sir Bradley Wiggins has said that he is pencilling in an attempt at the one hour record.
Wiggins, who is currently negotiating a deal with Team Sky which will take him up to the Rio Olympics has told William Fotheringham of The Guardian that one of his goal is a crack at the World Hour Record.
“If I pencil it in, it will be in late June because of the good weather and it leads on from Paris-Roubaix and the training for that.” Wiggins said.
The rules for the Hour Record have been changed this year from having to use the same sort of equipment that saw Eddy Merckx break the record in 1972 and now riders can use 'whatever aerodynamic equipment is currently deemed permissible. '
Speaking about the change which means that Ondrej Sosenka's record of 49.7km is there to be beat, Wiggins said: “After that record everybody said there was no point any more, because it had gone too far with the equipment. It was almost the end of an era.
“I hope it is there to be broken and that I can pave the way for the next person, whether it’s Fabian or Tony. The glamour went from it when the UCI went to the athlete’s hour and moving away from it was the best decision they made.
“I was never a fan of it – I could see the challenge of comparing yourself with Eddy Merckx but the equipment wasn’t the same. For Chris Boardman’s record [in 2000] he wasn’t wearing a helmet like Eddy’s, and he had overshoes not clips and straps. It looked similar but wasn’t the same. I’d like to rejuvenate it, re-establish a mark for everyone to attempt. You can’t under-estimate how hard it is. I spoke with Miguel Indurain about it; he said he had only three weeks to do it after the Tour [in 1994] and he hadn’t ridden the track before, but he wanted his name on the list of holders.”
Source: DSG
