2015 – The Year of the Hour; who's going for the record?

Before the UCI changed the rules last year to allow modern track bikes and equipment to be used in attempts on the Hour record, many cycling fans looked back on the mid-1990s with a fair degree of nostalgia. Memories of that era are likely to be reignited in the New Year with a number of riders already confirming they will attempt it.

During the mid-1990s, riders including Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman battled to outdo each other, until the outlawing of aerodynamic bikes and riding positions brought their rivalry to a halt.

Four men have confirmed this week that they will try and break the record early in the New Year, while Dame Sarah Storey has announced she will attempt the women’s version.

It looks as though 2015 could be a vintage year for the Hour – significantly, it’s a non-Olympic year, so track and time trial specialists can make it a target for 2015, without compromising their training schedules for Rio which might make it more difficult to attempt the record once the Rio Games are closer.

In this article, which we will update regularly, we look at the history of the Hour and the cyclists confirmed or rumoured to be taking it on.

Confirmed attempts – men

Jack Bobridge (AUS) – DISC Velodrome, Melbourne, 31 January 2015

If anyone’s going to set a record that will last, it’s Bobridge. In 2014, he shattered Chris Boardman’s ‘unbreakable’ world record in the individual pursuit which had stood for 15 years. Twice Commonwealth gold medallist in both the individual and team pursuits, and a former world champion in both events, he’s also won a rainbow jersey on the road, in the under-23 time trial in 2011. Joining Australian outfit Team Budget Forklifts for 2015, he is aiming for the team pursuit at Rio 2016.

Rohan Dennis (AUS) – Velodrome Suisse, Grenchen, Switzerland, 8 February 2015

The 24-year-old BMC Racing rider is another member of the Australian team pursuit squad, and helped it win back-to-back world championships in 2010 and 2011, plus Olympic silver at London 2012. At this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow he focused on the road rather than the track and took silver behind Alex Dowsett in the time trial.

Alex Dowsett (GBR) – Lee Valley VeloPark, 27 February 2015

Unlike the Australian pair, Dowsett isn’t a track specialist – but his strength in the time trial may well balance his relative inexperience on the boards. The Movistar rider was British national time trial champion in 2011 and 2012, and last year won an individual time trial stage at the Giro d’Italia. He’s also the reigning Commonwealth time trial champion. Despite breaking his collarbone in a training crash in mid-January, he still aims to attempt the record as scheduled, as part of the Revolution Series - tickets available here.

Thomas Dekker (NL) - Aquascalientes, Mexico, late February 2015

The Dutch rider, without a team after Garmin-Sharp let him go at the end of last season, will be the first rider since the rule change to aim for the Hour at altitude - which he believes will give him an advantage over others going for it, although he is not a track specialist. He has said that it may be the final act of his career.

Sir Bradley Wiggins (GBR) – date and venue tbc 2015

The Hour will be one of Wiggins’ two big targets for 2015, with the 34-year-old confirming in January he will focus on it after his tilt at winning Paris-Roubaix in April - his final race for Team Sky, although the date and venue are yet to be finalised. The last man to win the individual pursuit at the Olympics prior to the even being scrapped after Beijing 2008, he has won three golds on the track and one on the road, the time trial at London 2012. His strength against the clock also underpinned his Tour de France victory the same year, and he is the current world time trial champion.

Rumoured attempts - men

Fabian Cancellara (SUI) and Tony Martin (GER)

Prior to Wiggins winning the rainbow jersey in Ponferrada in September, Cancellara and Martin had enjoyed a duopoly over it. The Swiss rider was set to have a crack at the Hour prior to the UCI changing the regulations this year, but it was Trek Factory Racing team mate Jens Voigt who made the first successful attempt on it afterwards. Martin, meanwhile, has also expressed an interest in going for the Hour, and it would be unsurprising if he confirmed his own attempt in the coming months.

Confirmed attempts - women

Dame Sarah Storey (GBR) – Lee Valley VeloPark, 28 February 2015

With 11 gold medals in swimming and cycling, Storey shares the title of being Great Britain’s most successful Paralympian. In February, she will become the first woman in more than a decade to attempt the Hour, with the record currently held by Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel of the Netherlands who set a distance of 46.065 kilometres in 2003. Storey’s ride will come at the velodrome where she won two of her four gold medals at London 2012. Her attempt takes place on the Saturday afternoon session of the Revolution Series - tickets available here.

History

The current men’s record of 51.852 kilometres was set by the Austrian rider Matthuas Brändle in October at the UCI’s World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland.

He was the second rider to go for it after the UCI’s rule change earlier this year, with Jens Voigt having set a distance of 51.115 kilometres the previous month.

Prior to that rule change, there had been two records in existence since a previous rule change in 2000 to outlaw aerodynamic bikes and certain riding positions from the official UCI Hour Record.

The mid-1990s saw as Boardman, Obree, Francesco Moser, Miguel Indurain and Tony Romiger all vie in to set the farthest distance in 60 minutes.

In 1996, Boardman set a distance of 56.375km using the “Superman” position pioneered by Obree, which remains the Best Human Record as defined by the UCI, which implemented its rule change later that year.

Eddy Merckx’s distance of 49.431km set in 1972 was reinstated as the official UCI Hour Record and was bettered by Boardman at Manchester in 2000, when he rode 49.441km.

That record was beaten by Ondřej Sosenka, and in 2005 riding in Moscow he set a distance of 49.7km, which remained the record until bettered by Voigt in September.