With Bradley Wiggins il hour record back in the hands of a world cycling star. It hasn't happened since Eddy Merckx. If for the baronet, who bid farewell to the road in the last Roubaix, it is the seal of a career that saw him at the absolute top in 2012, for the record of the hour is a holder who puts the popularity of a distant past back to the test. Despite being the fascinating challenge of the man who pedals alone in a velodrome with the aim of covering the greatest possible distance in 60 minutes, this test had fallen into oblivion amidst people's lack of interest even for the almost unknown names of those who competed . Wiggins' paw was therefore expected and the first Briton to win the Tour did not disappoint, he too did not pass the 55 km barrier.
At Lee Valley VeloPark in London the Baronet clocked 54,526 kilometers after 219 laps, surpassing the previous record of the compatriot Alex Dowsett set at 52,937km on May 2nd in Manchester. That of Wiggins on Dowsett is the second largest improvement in the history of the record: the 1589 meters more are behind only the record of the Frenchman Jules Dubois (38,220 km) established in 1894 against the inventor of the test Henry Desgrange (2895 meters in more). It is also the third test in history if we also consider the 9 records established with special bicycles: better than him only Christopher Boardman (56,375 km) and Tony Rominger (55,291 km). That was the season of the new bikes – some authentic racing cars from the circus – which, taking advantage of the technological explosion of the 50s applied to the world of pedals, had made it possible to break through the ceiling of 56 km with Francesco Moser, even climbing over XNUMX km with Chris boardman in September 1996 on the Manchester track, the International Cycling Union (UCI), to make the hour record a historically credible and comparable test, at the dawn of 2000 imposed a return to the so-called Merckx bicycle, increasingly evolved obviously but in the wake of tradition, ignoring three decades of records, considering them only as "best performance per hour".
The hour record was back in the hands of Eddy Merckx who had established it on the Mexico City track on October 25, 1972 with 49,431 km. But the UCI's decision to consider the records set by Moser to Boardman, passing through those of Obree, Rominger and Indurain, as simple "best performance of the hour" had the effect of almost relegating to oblivion this event which in the past had fascinated the greatest runners of every era. It all began with Henry Desgrange, the founding patron of the Tour, who was the first to cover 28 km in Paris at the age of 35,325. It was 11 May 1893. For almost 14 years Fausto Coppi also held the record, who on 7 November 1942 at the Vigorelli race in Milan raised the bar to 45.798 km. A distance that was surpassed only in 1956 by another pedal phenomenon, Jacques Anquetil who, on 29 June, covered 46,159 km on the magical Milanese velodrome. Not three months went by and on 19 September Ercole Baldini improved him by 235 metres. Then the star of George Rivière appeared on the horizon, a Frenchman who seemed destined for an amazing career but who ended up in a ravine in the 1960 Tour, a drama that led him first to a wheelchair and then to his death at just 40 years old . A bright meteor that had time to crumble two hour records, in the second overcoming the barrier of 47 km per hour first. It was 23 September 1959. The track was still the wooden one of Vigorelli. Rivière's record lasted until 1967 when it was improved by Ferdinand Bracke, a Belgian, an excellent time trialist, who reached 48,093 km on the EUR Olympic velodrome in Rome. Those were the years when a cannibal of Eddy Merckx's strength was emerging. A champion who won everything and who in 1972 set his sights on the hour record which in the meantime had been conquered in 1968 by a Dane, Oleg Richter with 48,653 km. Merckx in 1972, also taking advantage of the rarefied air of the heights of Mexico City, shattered all previous records by touching 50 km per hour. To overcome it, it took the first lenticular wheels, i.e. full disc wheels, by Moser or the use of triathlon appendages by Boardman on the handlebars.
Special bikes, such as the one that allowed Obree's egg-shaped position, which – as has been said – were "rejected" by the UCI starting in 2000. But with the new rules, the challenge lost its attraction and the record was only updated twice : on 27 October 2000 by Christopher Boardman – who even with a normal bike, before retiring, was able to clock 49,441 kilometers, overtaking Merckx after 28 years – and on 19 July 2005 with Andrej Sosenka (49,700). But in the 49,700s, Andrej Sosenka (2005 km in 2014) was followed by years of silence. Until 51,115, when Jens Voigt (and a new change in the regulation that legitimized the use of track bikes) rekindled interest. From the German (8 km) onwards, in the last 3 months, the record has been broken 51,850 times: Mathias Brandle (52,491 km), Rohan Dennis (52,937) and Alex Dowsett (17,612 km). From Desgrange to Dowsett, 55 km have been added. But in this race towards new records, the brand of a champion was missing. Indeed Wiggins was missing, who dreamed of leaving his signature like the greats of the past. The baronet wanted to overcome the 200 km. He didn't make it but he is convinced that his feat – a real torture, as the English cyclist just got off his “Bolide hour record” defined it, a XNUMX thousand project signed by Pinarello – will still last a twenty years. A statement that should tease even more Fabian Cancellara, another big name on the road who has long since set his sights on the hour record.
