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Sir Bradley Wiggins backs Victor Campenaerts to beat his Hour recordVictor Campenaerts and Sir Bradley Wiggins (via VTM Nieuws).PNG

Sir Bradley Wiggins backs Victor Campenaerts to beat his Hour record

British legend returns to his native Flanders to present Belgian rider with Crystal Bike award
by Simon_MacMichael
Fri, Dec 07, 2018 17:06
7

 

Sir Bradley Wiggins says he hopes that Lotto-Soudal rider Victor Campenaerts will be the man who breaks his UCI Hour record.

The Briton tipped the 27-year-old to break the record when he presented Campenaerts, winner of the European time trial championship and third at the world championships, with the Crystal Bike award for best Belgian rider of the year last night.

Five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner Wiggins had been kept hidden from the audience at Knokke Casino in West Flanders until the moment he stepped onto the stage to give Campenaerts the award.

Wiggins – born in Ghent, where his Australian father Gary was based while racing on the six-day circuit – delighted the audience by announcing the name of the winner in Flemish, any inhibitions removed by his admission that he may have had a glass of wine or two beforehand.

“I wish you all the best for the Hour record,” Wiggins told Campenaerts. “I think it needs to be broken, it’s three years now, and the new generation, I think it will be so healthy for the sport that the record doesn’t last for 20 years.

“Good luck to you, I know that you are putting lots into it, and I really do hope you do it and I think it will be fantastic for the sport.

“But the great thing about the Hour record is once you’ve done it, your name is there and then pass it on to the next generation.

“So I think this man has all the attributes to go and break the record.”

The current record, which Wiggins set at Lee Valley VeloPark in June 2015, stands at 54.526 kilometres.

Campenaerts, who plans to have a tilt at the record during a suitable break from riding on the road with Lotto-Soudal next year, rode an average speed of 54.8 kilometres an hour during a 30-minute test session at the velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland in September.

Sir Bradley Wiggins
Victor Campenaerts
uci hour record
Simon MacMichael

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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7 comments

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don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
1 like

I look forward to Belgian TVs follow on interviews with Geraint and SirChris.

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Paul J | 6 years ago
0 likes

Oh, you can watch the documentary of Boardman's attempt on the Merckx hour record on Youtube - it's really good. He was wearing a skin suit soaked with alcohol, to help cool Boardman - as the heat was cranked up to max in the velodrome to thin the air, just as with Wiggins' attempt.

There's also a really good documentary on Boardman and Obree's rivalry there too.

Avatar
Paul J | 6 years ago
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Boardman did very well at the Tour, and on the road generally, in his specialisation - the Time Trial. He also won the UCI road TT WC (a long TT), while also competing for the track IP (short distance). To try claim Boardman wasn't competitive on the road, when he won plenty of stages, **won yellow jerseys** _three times_, and has UCI road TT rainbow jersey, doesn't... add up - it's laughable.

And he did all that right in the heart of the EPO (and everything else) era. And he finished his career with not one, but two, conditions that are consistent with long-term abuse of testosterone and cortisone substances - which was known to be near-normal in cycling in that era.

But yeah, he's clean, while managing to regularly beat many known dopers in TTs, over many years.

The only person to have been top-level in that era, who I'd be willing to believe was clean, is Graeme Obree. (He walked out of pro cycling within 2 weeks, when his french team told him he had to put money in the doping pot - Boardman stayed in pro cycling, at the top, for many years; Obree was about 35 to 50W down on Boardman, but beat Boardman with his wit and ingenuity).

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Paul J | 6 years ago
0 likes

Same for me, the Hour Record is the one set under the "normal bike" rules.

Boardman had the benefit of better doping, and an aero skinsuit, and only barely beat Eddy's record. Which just shows what a phenomenal athlete Merckx must have been.

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to Paul J | 6 years ago
1 like
Paul J wrote:

Same for me, the Hour Record is the one set under the "normal bike" rules.

Boardman had the benefit of better doping, and an aero skinsuit, and only barely beat Eddy's record. Which just shows what a phenomenal athlete Merckx must have been.

You're confusing a known dope cheating Merckx effort at altitude with Boardmans aero effort which beat dope cheat Mosers aero effort (again at altitude). Boardman beat merckx on same type of bike at sea level with no skin suit. That altitude difference is huge in favour of Merckx.
There's a good reason why Boardman couldn't compete in the tour and finish whilst lesser cyclists did.

Boardman also has the absolute record with aero kit.

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BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
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Given the advances in tech as well as extreme body position allowed, the record is still Boardman's for me.
What's telling between the efforts is that Wiggins stepped off the bike like he was on a Sunday pootle, Boardman had given absolutely everything and could barely get off the bike and walk.
Wiggins could have gone further IMHO but that he didn't with all the advantages he had shows you what a supreme effort Boardman's was. the UCI should attribute CB with the record and stop being @@@@@@s with demoting it as they have to best human effort.

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Paul J | 6 years ago
0 likes

His accent isn't even that bad (though he did sat "thousand" instead of "duizend" 3 )!

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