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Great Britain’s Alex Dowsett said he “felt privileged” as he tried to regain the cycling hour record in Mexico.
Dowsett, 33, held the record for a month in 2015 before fellow Briton Sir Bradley Wiggins improved his mark.
On November 3, the runner Israel Start-Up Nation will try to break the current record of 55,089 km set by the Belgian Victor Campenaerts.
Dowsett postponed a Manchester effort in december 2020 after contracting Covid-19.
Time trial specialist and World Tour pro Dowsett will make his altitude record attempt in the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, which has hosted several male and female attempts, including the current Campenaerts brand established in 2019.
“Last year’s attempt was derailed when I contracted Covid-19, but the same reasons for wanting to do so are still there. I want to see what I’m capable of and this is an event that I really love and that I feel privileged to have the opportunity to take over, â€said Dowsett
“In terms of difficulty, I know the bar was set extremely high by Victor. It will be a very big demand but I think I can. The biggest obstacle this time around with Mexico will be the altitude.
“Being at altitude, the power output required will be lower than at sea level because of the thinning air, but that’s not all that easy because the thinning air also provides a harder environment to breathe. We believe that ultimately it should be more beneficial than detrimental to be at altitude. “
The former Team Sky and Movistar rider has just completed his second season with Israel Start-Up Nation, helping his team win a time trial at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali before ending their campaign on the CRO Tour.
Dowsett’s attempt comes as attention to the hour record increases. In September, Briton Joss Lowden broke the female record with a distance of 48.405 km in Switzerland, while Dan Bigham broke Wiggins’ national record with a distance of 54.723 km.
Meanwhile, Italian time trial world champion and Olympic gold medalist Filippo Ganna is also would have considered his own crack at the record.
What is the record for the hour?
It is simply a test of how far you can go in an hour and it is considered one of the best cycling aptitude tests.
It has been held by some of the greatest riders since 1972, including Eddy Merckx and Francesco Moser.
However, cycling’s governing body, the UCI, established two different versions of the record to account for the growing gap between modern bikes.
In 1997, they created the UCI “hour record” – in which riders must compete on specific machines with certain restrictions – and the “best human effort”.
Dowsett will challenge the version of the hour record – the 1992 British Olympic gold medalist Chris Boardman holds the best human effort record with 56.375 km set in 1996.
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