<p>LONDON (AFP) — Bradley Wiggins smashed the UCI hour record at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London on Sunday.</p>
<p>Wiggins’s distance of 54.526 km eclipsed the previous record of 52.937km set by fellow British rider Alex Dowsett in Manchester last month.</p>
<p>However, Wiggins’s ambitious target of 55km — which he had indicated beforehand might set a record that would stand for a generation — proved beyond the British cycling great.</p>
<p>“I’m just glad it’s done,” Wiggins told Sky Sports. “That’s the closest to knowing what it’s like to have a baby. It was tortuous. You’re counting down the minutes.</p>
<p>“I always compare myself to the greats. I’m just glad to be in the company of those guys. Just to get up there and do that takes a lot of courage. It’s tough.”</p>
<p>He was roared on to the new mark by a packed crowd that included Miguel Indurain, Wiggins’s<br />childhood hero and former hour record-holder Miguel Indurain, at what was the 2012 London Olympic Velodrome.</p>
<p>Since the UCI, cycling’s world governing body, unified the regulations surrounding the event last year, four riders have held the record: Jens Voigt, Matthias Brandle, Rohan Dennis and Dowsett.</p>
<p>Wiggins, who had shaved off the beard he had grown since abandoning the sideburns he sported at the 2012 Olympics in a bid to make himself more streamlined, was quickly ahead of the pace set by Dowsett on May 2.</p>
<p>He went through 100 laps at a speed of 54.612kph and broke Dowsett’s record with just under two minutes left. </p>
<p>Wiggins has said next year’s Olympic Games in Rio is likely to mark his farewell to competitive cycling. </p>
<p><em><strong>Editor’s note:</strong> Stay tuned for more from London.</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/06/news/bradley-wiggins-sets-hour-record-in-london_372856">BradleyWiggins sets hour record in London</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com">VeloNews.com</a>.</p>
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<p>Wiggins’s distance of 54.526 km eclipsed the previous record of 52.937km set by fellow British rider Alex Dowsett in Manchester last month.</p>
<p>However, Wiggins’s ambitious target of 55km — which he had indicated beforehand might set a record that would stand for a generation — proved beyond the British cycling great.</p>
<p>“I’m just glad it’s done,” Wiggins told Sky Sports. “That’s the closest to knowing what it’s like to have a baby. It was tortuous. You’re counting down the minutes.</p>
<p>“I always compare myself to the greats. I’m just glad to be in the company of those guys. Just to get up there and do that takes a lot of courage. It’s tough.”</p>
<p>He was roared on to the new mark by a packed crowd that included Miguel Indurain, Wiggins’s<br />childhood hero and former hour record-holder Miguel Indurain, at what was the 2012 London Olympic Velodrome.</p>
<p>Since the UCI, cycling’s world governing body, unified the regulations surrounding the event last year, four riders have held the record: Jens Voigt, Matthias Brandle, Rohan Dennis and Dowsett.</p>
<p>Wiggins, who had shaved off the beard he had grown since abandoning the sideburns he sported at the 2012 Olympics in a bid to make himself more streamlined, was quickly ahead of the pace set by Dowsett on May 2.</p>
<p>He went through 100 laps at a speed of 54.612kph and broke Dowsett’s record with just under two minutes left. </p>
<p>Wiggins has said next year’s Olympic Games in Rio is likely to mark his farewell to competitive cycling. </p>
<p><em><strong>Editor’s note:</strong> Stay tuned for more from London.</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/06/news/bradley-wiggins-sets-hour-record-in-london_372856">BradleyWiggins sets hour record in London</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://velonews.competitor.com">VeloNews.com</a>.</p>
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