Gustav Larsson falls 10 laps short of UCI Hour Record

Sweden’s Gustav Larsson came nowhere near beating Rohan Dennis’s UCI Hour record in Manchester this afternoon, falling nearly 10 laps short.

The 34-year-old was attempting to beat the distance of 52.4901km that the Australian rode last month, but was off the pace early.

By the half-hour mark, the Cult Energy was behind schedule by well over a minute – equivalent to around four 250m laps of the track at the National Cycling Centre.

At the end of his ride, he had covered 50.016km – well short of Dennis’s benchmark, but comfortably breaking the Swedish record of 45.335km.

Since interest in the record was reignited last year following the UCI’s rule change to permit up to date bikes and equipment, six men have now attempted it, three of them successfully – Jens Voigt, Matthias Brändle, and current holder Dennis.

Larsson joins Jack Bobridge and Thomas Dekker in putting in a brave but ultimately unsuccessful effort.

The next man to have a crack at it may well be Alex Dowsett, forced to shelve his planned late February attack on the record in London after he broke his collarbone in a crash while training.

The Movistar rider indicated this week that he is riding back into form and may attempt it next month.

Sir Bradley Wiggins is expected to go for the record in June, most likely also in London, and is the current bookmakers’ favourite to hold it come the end of 2015.

Skybet is offering odds of 7 to 2 ON that the world and Olympic champion will have his name against the record on 31 December – meaning if you put £1 on him, you’d stand to win the princely sum of 29p.

Larsson’s record attempt came ahead of tonight’s finale of the 2014/15 Revolution Series, and highlights will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 7am next Saturday, 21 March, and will be available to watch online afterwards on the 4OD catch-up service.