In the final ride of his career, and a day after his 43rd birthday, the hugely popular German rider Jens Voigt has smashed the Hour record, riding 51.115 kilometres at the Velodrome Suisse. He becomes the first man to ride more than 50 kilometres in 60 minutes since Chris Boardman travelled 56.375km using a subsequently banned bike and riding position in 1996. Voigt has also set a benchmark for others – Sir Bradley Wiggins, Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin perhaps among them – to follow.
The Trek Factory Racing rider surpassed the existing record of 49.7 kilometres, set by Ondřej Sosenka in 2005, with a minute and a half seconds remaining. Unlike the previous record holder, Voigt could use up to date equipment following a UCI rule change earlier this year.
That should take nothing away from his achievement. It was an astonishing ride, in which his legs did what they were told and "shut up" for the last time, and one that in all probabilty will usher in a new battle for what has long been the most prestigious record in cycling.
Voigt went out quickly, and rapidly hit the sub-18 second laps he needed if the record were to be his. In the first 20 minutes or so, he was logging around 17.75 seconds per lap, well ahead of schedule, but that drifted out during the second third of his ride, though never exceeding the 18 second average.
Adjusting his position on the bike at times, and even the back of his skinsuit at one point, some might have worried that he had gone out too quickly and was going to pay the price. Such fears were groundless. During the final 20 minutes, his lap times got faster and faster, finally dropping below 17 seconds as the crowd cheered him on.
It remains for others to beat the new record, and it's certain some will have a crack. It's likely that anyone able to finish in the top ten of a time trial at the World Championships would be able to beat it, and easily.
None, though, would be as popular as Voigt, and in making him the first man to attempt it following the rule change, and moreover in the final ride of a career that has won him legions of fans, Trek have pulled off a huge marketing coup.
Next stop for Voigt is the UK – he'll be riding a sportive for charity in the New Forest on Saturday, then appearing at the Cycle Show next week. He – and his record-breaking bike – are bound to be the star attractions.
“I started as usual too fast, but that is just me I can’t control myself, and I realised that I was a second faster on the first lap than on the timetable so I tried to pace myself a little,” said Voigt afterwards. “But I was in good shape, just right.
“I am perfectly fit for this moment, I am in very good shape, and after 20 minutes I had gained one lap but I was still feeling in control. Then from 20-40 minutes I had a comfortable lead and I paced myself and was still gaining a little time.
“Then in the last 20 I sped up a little and gained another lap. The last 10 minutes were flat out – all-in.
“My only thoughts were to not over pace, to focus on holding the black line and to stay aero – no side thoughts. 51.1- yah I am pretty happy.
“The first 10 minutes I could not feel the pedals and thought, ‘oh this is easy!’ Then I went, ‘oooooh, maybe you’d better pace yourself a little bit here.’ Then I went on cruising speed from 20-40 mins.”
“But, he added, “I could feel at that speed I was good, I could hold on to this speed, I am not going to break down or slow down. So I felt in control, and yes indeed I had a little bit of time to enjoy it.”
Trek Factory Racing’s general manager, Luca Guercilena, followed the record-breaking ride from Spain, where the team is preparing for Sunday’s team time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Ponferrada.
He said: “At the start I was pretty worried because I knew the time schedule and he was fast, but then I was happy when I saw him balancing. I knew that at 40 minutes it was the line where he would either increase or go down and I was super happy to see him increase. It was really impressive to see him do this at the age of 43 – but Jens is Jens.
“It was a really nice way to finish his career with a good performance, and we gave him all our support and this is what he deserved. I am really happy the event went well. We all watched [the Hour Record] from a computer in Spain and I can say it was inspirational, and has given us a boost for Sunday.”
At the trackside to watch Voigt’s historic ride was UCI president Brian Cookson, who said: “It’s absolutely what we thought would happen, to bring the Hour Record back to status in a new era.
“It was pointless to continue the old system, we needed to allow the technology and bring back the magic. It was wonderful! Congratulations to Jens and all the Trek Factory Racing team.”
55 thoughts on “Jens Voigt smashes the Hour record in his final challenge”
great stuff. its also nice
great stuff. its also nice that he’s signed off with a victory in his own name, rather than in the service of another (or a fruitless escape attempt).
Boardman’s old buddy and
Boardman’s old buddy and teammate (as well as an utter legend in his own right). Can think of nobody better to take Boardman’s record*
*yes, I know. And it was about as believable as that Texan chap, or Froome on Ventoux.
andyp wrote:Boardman’s old
I believe that when you typed this you either used a non UCI approved keyboard, perhaps a mechanical or some piece of junk that didn’t use USB, or that you maliciously and with forethought made use of a font enhancement drug such as coke or god forbid coffee – whatever you did I think anybody in their right mind can see you cheated and ought to be ashamed of yourself for typing such drivel.
Quote:*yes, I know. And it
Unless you have some tangible facts to share, please leave the snide comments out of this.
Well done Jens!
Must be Mad wrote:Quote:*yes,
tangible facts:
Sosenka was a doper
Armstrong was a doper
Froome, well, did you *see* that stage?? laughable.
ergo, big Jens beat Boardman, not Sosenka.
As an aside, that was great. And he looked phenomenally fresh at the end of it.
Fantastic story and ending to
Fantastic story and ending to a characterful career.
Chapeau Jens!
=D>
Would like to see Bradley get
Would like to see Bradley get the record back for Britain (with or without Scotland)
Chris Deacon wrote:Would like
Chapeau for the most tenuous link to the referendum! Genius!
I’ll Get Me Coat,
I’ll Get Me Coat, :H
A very real fact: Early onset
A very real fact: Early onset male osteoporosis is very rare in otherwise fit, active young men. Unless they’re regularly (ab)using corticosteroids of course – then osteoporosis is a known and serious risk.
Bit more speculative: Testosterone deficiency is also somewhat odd to hear of in an elite male athlete in a sport where strength counts, unless of course they’ve been abusing exogenous testosterone so long that they’ve managed to dampen their body’s own production.
Paul J wrote:A very real
Indication of doping… or… the after effects of someone trying to compete in a world full of dopers. You decide.
Low testosterone levels is common enough in endurance athletes… anything over 90mins strenuous exercise has been shown to reduce testosterone levels. Why do you think supplementing testosterone is such an effective method of raising athletic performance in endurance athletes?
As for the corticosteroid allegation… Boardman would need to have been royally raping the drug to get the affect you are talking about. If he was doing so, as many did, he’d have surely displayed other symptoms of such abuse… such as a leanness that defies belief and muscle wastage… neither of which were noted during his racing years.
Not convinced.
Jimmy Ray: Thanks for your
Jimmy Ray: Thanks for your post, though I note you tend to be sympathetic to riders here, and trying to explain away accusations. E.g. on JTL you wrote:
“As for his performances in 2011/12, everyone who actually knows the guy, knows he had it in him all the time.”
So, I’m going to take what you say with a pinch of salt. 🙂
well done for denigrating his
well done for denigrating his achievement, cha-fucking-peau.
Nice Ride by Mr Voigt, and a
Nice Ride by Mr Voigt, and a great way to finish career. Not sure I’d say he “smashed the hour record”….. Ondrej Sosenka was slower, but on a far less aero bike, and if you ask me Mosers 1984 record – slightly faster, was done on what probably was a far less aero machine…
I’m all for new attempts, but i hope the bikes the riders use allow a decent comparison
Yeah, yeah, yeah but will it
Yeah, yeah, yeah but will it help me get that KOM?
Well done Jens, legend!
Is Boardman up for a
Is Boardman up for a challenge?
I am Spartacus!
A pleasing end to his career.
A pleasing end to his career. Well done Jensie.
Given that once upon a time
Given that once upon a time riders used to train hard and specifically for this event (Boardman and Obree dedicated their lives to the challenge – rather than undertaking a full calendar of road races and then a few practise runs), taking into account Jens’ age, and having raced through one of the worst periods of doping in history this doesn’t ‘smell right’. Popular guy, no doubt, but hardly a time trialist extraordinaire.
Colin Peyresourde wrote:Given
Boardman and Obree both went faster did they not? They also had to dedicate huge chunks of their time to developing the bikes they were riding, and everyone has said that any decent time triallist will smash Jens’ record as soon as they give it a crack.
It’s hardly like Jens going off and leathering it for an hour or so on his own would come as a shock to anybody that’s ever watched him race.
Colin Peyresourde wrote:..
No, of course not, which is why it’ll get beaten, in pretty quick order i’d imagine, by those who are. Not sure exactly what you’re getting at Colin, perhaps you could make things clearer, e.g. do you reckon Voigt is a doper ? Is this because he managed to go significantly slower than people who trained for this and used more bikes more dedicated to the task and, if so, can you explain the logic of that ? Just curious.
Colin Peyresourde wrote:..
No, of course not, which is why it’ll get beaten, in pretty quick order i’d imagine, by those who are. Not sure exactly what you’re getting at Colin, perhaps you could make things clearer, e.g. do you reckon Voigt is a doper ? Is this because he managed to go significantly slower than people who trained for this and used more bikes more dedicated to the task and, if so, can you explain the logic of that ? Just curious.
Colin Peyresourde wrote:Given
Boardman and Obree hardly dedicated their ‘lives’ to the hour record, they were both just extremely talented time-triallists. Boardman typically rode a full pro road race season with an obvious emphasis on TT’s and prologues. Obree was different (massive understatement) but, by your logic, he must have been on drugs to narrowly miss the record one day and then the following day attempt the record again and break it; surely no-one could do that without chemical assistance?
I watched the whole hour yesterday and what I saw was a very strong rider who has had some time to specifically train for the record attempt, in a very good aero position, holding a good line, on quite a fast track, riding an extremely well-paced ride. As others have pointed out, this record will be broken by more accomplished TT specialists but Jens’s name goes in the record books and deservedly so.
pwake wrote:
Boardman and
Aye, Irn Bru and Tablet. That gets the job done and undetectable as well. :))
pwake wrote: Boardman and
I don’t think you’re are applying my logic, you drawn some weird conclusions from your own rhetoric. Jens has worked with and consorted with known dopers throughout his career. His career has been longer than most, and while not glittering, his denials of knowing anything about doping in its ‘golden era’ sounds as if he protests too much. You probably still think Oscar Pistorius thought his girlfriend was in bed and that he wouldn’t kill anyone pumping four raptor bullets into a confined space.
You probably still think JTL was unlucky.
Let’s be clear about this – a
Let’s be clear about this – a lovely coda to the career of the eminently likeable Mr Voigt – and let’s not forget the PR value for Trek – but comparing this with pre-rule change attempts is pretty much chalk and cheese. All he has effectively done is laid down a decent marker for the likes of Spartacus, Wiggo and Der Panzerwagen to take a crack at. Well ridden though and a nice little PR stunt for all involved.
Couldn’t have happened to a
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer chap – well done Jens and thankyou thankyou thankyou for all the fun and shear joy you have brought to the peleton over the years. 😀
I await his next final ride
I await his next final ride with anticipation.
Watched this on Eurosport
Watched this on Eurosport last night, my girlfriend got really in to it too, so much so that she’s asked if we can go and watch some track cycling live somewhere, so an extra thank you Jens for that, and a fantastic ride, a great way to cement his name in history.
The only shame was that the music wasn’t louder in the eurosport coverage to make it a bit more of a party atmosphere.
RobD wrote:The only shame was
I thought the same but it could well have been down to copyright issues / having to pay royalties if they were broadcast.
I myself was welling up at the end and was overjoyed for the guy when he did it. Couldnt believe that he was grinning ear to ear and looked as though he could go for more!
RobD wrote:Watched this on
I hope my missus does not say the same; my nearest track is 160 miles away :S I may have to use one of those new horseless carriages to get there 😉
RobD wrote:Watched this on
That would have drowned out the high-quality commentary from Kirby. 😉
Quote:tangible facts:
Sosenka
Ah good, so watching a race is proof positive that the winner is doping now???
You grab the pitchforks, I’ll bring the tar and feathers.
Must be Mad wrote:
Ah good,
oh, the irony.
Amazed at how many negative
Amazed at how many negative comments there are, one of the most popular cyclists of modern times goes out and sets a fantastic time and people are chatting about dopers and ‘oh well it’s not that great’. Have a little bit more positivity, it’s Friday and it was a retirement present for Voigt. Well done to him, it won’t stand forever but he gets his name in the history books.
Some interesting equipment
Some interesting equipment choices:
No covers on the Trek shoes, though he uses them in other TTs (probably so the shoes appear in PR shots)
Stubby helmet vs teardrop aero style, despite the more controlled environment reducing the need to look around (is this a UCI thing?)
Looks like a SRM power meter head unit on the back of his saddle.
What’s the rectangular bump in his shorts behind his left thigh?
flobble wrote:Some
Overshoes have been banned on the track for the last couple of years IIRC
flobble wrote:Some
20 Rothmans?
flobble wrote:Some
Helmet – probably personal choice. The GB track team wear a stubby one too.
SRM – he had live data logging but he’s not allowed to see it or a speedo while riding so the unit was saddle mounted.
flobble wrote:Some
I think the helmet is a case that unless you can hold your head steady, there really is no point to teardrop helmets, every time you nod an airbrake goes up. As for the SRM I am sure I read the point is man against clock no assistance and no guidance beyond the man in the in field. Recording the data I assume is as much for when Cancellara makes his attempt as anything else.
I didn’t say anything about
I didn’t say anything about Boardman, I was just pointing out general facts about osteoporosis in fit, active men.
Paul J wrote:I didn’t say
Why don’t you just get to the point instead of coming across as a snide ass then ?
If a fact makes you feel
If a fact makes you feel uncomfortable, it’s not necessarily the fault of the messenger.
Paul J wrote:If a fact makes
Insinuation is not a “message”. It is gossip.
Quit being a hairdresser.
It was all just too corporate
It was all just too corporate for me and rather dull.
I did enjoy the Boardman and Obree days, but this was just a bit flat.
I thought he showed
I thought he showed particular talent, along with Dustin Hoffman, in Midnight Cowboy. 😕
Rubbish. It’s not gossip. The
Rubbish. It’s not gossip. The rarity of male osteoporosis generally is a well established medical fact. That sustained exogenous corticosteroid use noticeably increases the risk of osteoporosis is another well established medical fact. Not gossip, these are quie solid facts.
Not on the same level, but it’s reasonably widely reported and acknowledged that corticosteroid abuse was rife in cycling in those days and past.
You can’t draw a certain conclusion about Boardman, but the probabilities are clear. If you don’t like that, then your problem is with reality, probabilistic outcomes and/or logic – not me.
Paul J wrote:You can’t draw a
So you are talking about Boardman ? Get your story straight… and if you’ve decided you’re not talking about him again by the time I write this, then why not take your general facts on osteoporosis out of an article about Jens Voigts hour ride and on over to one of the BMJ forums. Fair enough ?
Paul J, if you cannot grasp
Paul J, if you cannot grasp asserting a fact about a disease and insinuating that there is a causal link to doping because a retired cyclist has that disease is nothing more than gossip, then there is no help for you.
Allow me to elaborate…
Most paedophiles are men between the ages of 18 and 60. Now what we know about you, you fit very neatly into that criteria, I’m not suggesting that YOU ARE A PAEDOPHILE but only asserting that fact about paedophiles, and that you just so happen to be also covered by that criteria. Now I have no evidence to offer that you have actually carried out any kind of sexual assault on any child but you do seem to fit the general profile of a paedophile. Again, I am not suggesting in any way that you are…. *but* if we had a Venn diagram with the criteria of a paedophile and what we know about you, the overlap is so much that you might not be able to tell the difference between them.
Do you see how this works?
Either provide evidence or quit with the fucking gossip and insinuation.
zanf: early-onset male
zanf: early-onset male osteoporosis is rare, somewhere around 1 in 10,000 (it’s actually hard to find good figures on very early onset male osteoporosis as most figures are for older men). Hard to know how many males are paedophiles, but it’s possibly between 0.1 to 1% of the population – reasonable orders of magnitude anyway. So 1 in 1000 to 1 in 100. The prevalance of corticosteroid abuse in cycling in the 90s and before is unknown, but 1 in 100 I would guess is almost certainly an under-estimate given what I’ve read from Kimmage and elsewhere, as even 1 in 2 might be.
So yes, based on just this information, there’s a much greater probability (by potentially a 100 times) that I’m a paedophile than that Boardman’s osteoporosis wasn’t related to the steroid abuse rife then. Indeed, similarly, on this information, it’s more likely Boardman is a paedophile!
I was being glib about not
I was being glib about not talking about Boardman. I replied to a comment about the believability of Boardman’s achievements with some general facts. Others noted those facts were relevant to Boardman (which was my intention).
Boardman is mentioned in this story a few times, and is from the same era. He was a team-mate of Jens and they won a few 2up time trials together I think.
Oh, and it’s funny how the
Oh, and it’s funny how the acceptability of disbelieving riders’ dodgy excuses changes here according to the nationality of the rider. Stories on Chris Horner, or (recently) Impey, and no one seems to get angry at scepticical comments. However, point out obvious but uncomfortable facts about a British icon and look how angry & annoyed some people get.
Try not look at the passports…
I’ve no idea who was doping
I’ve no idea who was doping or not, but like Lemond, Obree walked off the pro scene refusing to dope so GO I’m sure was clean, though he would test positive for pilchards and marmalade.
Flying Scot wrote:like
This isn’t a judgment on either of them, but LeMond was a pro for 15 years, and has glittering palmares; that’s hardly comparable to Obree walking out at the start of his pro career.
Simon_MacMichael wrote:Flying
It was around the same Time though, just as EPO came on the scene, I wasn’t comparing the two, merely stating that I believe Graeme and his hour to be clean and reflecting it in the era.
A old bloke on a new bike
A old bloke on a new bike beat a young bloke on a old bike. 8|
Given Wiggins performance in today’s TT I don’t think Jens will keep this for long.