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Alex Dowsett to try and reclaim UCI Hour Record from Sir Bradley Wiggins

Manchester will be venue for record attempt in New Year

Alex Dowsett, who held the UCI Hour Record for five weeks last year until his distance was bettered by Sir Bradley Wiggins, has announced plans to regain the record early next year, reports BBC Sport.

The venue will be the same as the one where he broke Australian rider Rohan Dennis's record of 52.491 kilometres on 2 May 2015, Manchester's National Cycling Centre.

The 28-year-old Movistar rider rode 52.937 kilometres that day - almost two laps more than Dennis - but the following month, Wiggins smashed it as he rode 54.526 kilometres at London's Lee Valley VeloPark.

> Dowsett breaks UCI Hour Record

That had been Essex native Dowsett's first choice of venue when he announced his original record attempt in December 2014, but his plans to take a tilt at it at the end of February 2015 had to be put on hold after he broke his collarbone in a crash during training.

After Wiggins took the record from him, Dowsett said his own ride the precious month had been a "very conservative race and I could have gone faster."

Claims afterwards by Dowsett's support team that Wiggins' record was invalid because his Pinarello Bolide bike wasn't in production were rejected by the UCI, while British Cycling denied a separate claim it had given him preferential treatment in the build-up to his attempt.

> Claims Wiggins' Hour bike illegal & he got favourable treatment rejected

 

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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3 comments

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BikeBud | 7 years ago
0 likes

Good luck Alex.  Hoping I can get some tickets to come along and cheer myself hoarse for an hour!  

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LarryDavidJr | 7 years ago
6 likes

I reckon he can do it.  He clearly had something left in the tank last time, if he can gauge his effort better this time he's in with a real chance.  <cynicmode>All he needs now is a good bout of allergies shortly before the attempt</cynicmode>

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Jackson | 7 years ago
3 likes

Huge respect for having another go against such an impressive mark. 

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