The Bradley Wiggins Hour Record preview show
June 4 | On Sunday Sir Bradley Wiggins will attempt to set a new world hour record at the London Velodrome, and the Telegraph Cycling Podcast has a special preview show featuring interviews with Wiggins himself and the three Brits who have held the record: Graeme Obree, Chris Boardman and the current holder, Alex Dowsett.
The hour record, Obree tells us, is the ultimate test for any cyclist: “A man-made Everest.”
After calling time on his road career, Wiggins admits that he is happy to be back on the track: “It’s the stuff I love doing the most. It’s like a time trial, but the difference with this is you haven’t got Tony Martin or Fabian Cancellara to go up against. It’s so predictable, that gives me calm. If I could have made a career out of doing this it would’ve been much easier. This is one hour, at 16.3[-second] laps.”
Wiggins has spoken of covering 55km, which would be more than 2km further than the mark set by Dowsett last month. He is comparing himself with some of the other former holders of the hour record, he explains, including Miguel Indurain and Tony Rominger, but what is driving him is the desire to perform as well as he knows he can.
“If I wanted to do it, I want to do it properly,” Wiggins tells the podcast. “I could have gone for it a week after Paris-Roubaix but the love I have for the record, I really want to test myself, do my homework, mix up my position, and try and get the most out of the record as possible, because I’m never going to do it again. Athletically you want to put as big a distance down as you can.”
Sitting in the track centre at the London velodrome, Wiggins added: “I want to come off here absolutely spent.”
The Telegraph Cycling Podcast, supported by Jaguar, will be broadcasting live from the London Velodrome on Sunday 7 June as Wiggins goes for the hour record. The live podcast will begin at 6pm.