Will Chris Boardman's record stand forever? Though the radical superman position is prohibited, there is still a chance to break Boardman's 56.375 km/h.

In 2011 Jack Bobridge broke Chris Boardman's 4000 m pursuit record from 1996 (4.11.11) riding 4.10.53 in a "non-superman" position. So in principle it sems possible that also the hour recors mark of 56.375 km/h could be broken...

If I take Tony Rominger's 55.291 km as a reference for the best "non superman" performance of a rider at sea level using the standard aero-position. From september 2000 - until may 2014 this would have been then a "Best Hour Performance", according to the UCI rules in this period. From may 2014 this will be again the "hour record"...
For the moment please look at my "UCI Hour Record" page for updates... Right now I am not sure how to handle the situation from 2000 - 2014.

Attempt at high altitude: As described on my hour record at altitude page, a track at an altitude of about 2000 m should give already an advantage of roughly 2-3 km compared to a track on sea level, the maximum improvement is reached around 3500 m. So it should be possible to reach more than 57 km/h at high altitude (see also swiss "Velo" magazine 1/95). The disadvantage is that all tracks at high altitude are outdoor tracks. It is hard to find the perfect day with the right temperature and light or no winds.

27th February 2015: A graph by Xavier Disley: Voigt vs. Braendle vs. Dennis vs. Bobridge vs: Dekker

25th February 2015: Thomas Dekker to attempt Hour Record at altitude
Unsuccessful attempt (52.221 km): Thomas Dekker misses UCI hour record
Two graphs by Xavier Disley:  Graph1   Graph2

8th February 2015: Rohan Dennis will attempt to break the hour record on 8th february in Grenchen, Switzerland. Successful attempt (52.491 km), see my Rohan Dennis page

31th January 2015:
Jack Bobridge with unsuccesful attempt, see also here

30th October 2014:
Matthias Braendle (Aigle,SUI , 51.852 km)

18th September 2014:
Jens Voigt (Grenchen, SUI, 51.115 km)

History of  Attempts from 2000 - 2014 (UCI Record)

6th July 2006:
Laszlo Bodrogi cancels his hour record attempt

26th January 2006:
Laszlo Bodrogi announces that he will undertake a hour record attempt in september (one week after the TT World Championchips in Salzburg)

19th July 2005:
Sosenka breaks hour record! Look at my Sosenka hour record page.

7th July 2005:
Sosenka with hour record attempt
Czech rider Ondrej Sosenka (Acqua e Sapone) will undertake a hour record attempt in Moscow on 19th july.

18th April 2005:
Lance Armstrong announces his retirement after the Tour de France 2005. No more words about the hour record...

27th January 2005:
It seems that Lance Armstrong wants to undertake a serious attempt to brake the world hour record. It is not clear if he is aiming for the UCI-record or for the "best hour performance", or maybe even for both? There are several articles about this on the web, check out the search engines or read this one at procycling.com

15th December 2004:
Nuttli hour attempt fails
Swiss track specialist Jean Nuttli tried to crack the track hour record on Wednesday, December 15, but failed. In the Vienna Velodrome, Nuttli only completed 46.642 km. He said that his training results had been OK, but the dry air in the velodrome made it hard to breathe.

31st October 2004:
Dominique Bozzi hour attempt fails
French rider Dominique Bozzi failed in his hour record attempt at the Bordeaux velodrome, completing 45.379 km. For more details check his website www.d-bozzi.com

8th April 2004:
Obree drops hour-record bid
Scots cyclist Graeme Obree has abandoned his bid to reclaim the world hour record held by England's Chris Boardman. Obree, who held the record before Boardman set his mark of 49.441km under new rules in 2000, told AFP of his decision after a test ride on Sunday at the Manchester velodrome suggested he was too far away from record-breaking fitness...
Read the full article here

2nd Jul 2003:
Hutchinson fails in bid to break Boardman's record
MANCHESTER, England - Michael Hutchinson failed on Wednesday in his bid to improve the world hour record set by former Olympic track champion Chris Boardman three years ago.
Hutchinson, 29, who represented Northern Ireland at last year's Commonwealth Games, abandoned his attempt at Manchester Velodrome after gradually slipping back on his schedule.
Boardman was 18 seconds down on Boardman's mark after the first 10 kilometres and the national road time trial champion slipped more than a minute off Boardman's pace after 30 kilometres before pulling off the track after 40 minutes having covered 32.5km.
Hutchinson is expected to make another attempt on Boardman's record later in the year.

15th Nov 2002:
Swiss champion Jean Nuttli abandons his first attempt after 60 laps (15 km/48.449 km/h). It seems that he has problems to keep his nerves under control. A 20 minutes training ride in normal cycling clothes was faster than the actual attempt.
On the next day he completes one hour, but reaches only 47.093 km.

21 Oct 2001:
German cyclist Thomas Liese has failed in his attempt to break the one-hour cycling record. Liese stopped his attempt after 37 minutes because he had fallen behind Boardman's pace (about 600 m). Liese rides for the team Nuernberger and was returning to professional cycling after a 12-year break.

July 2001:
At the start of the Tour de France Lance Armstrong tells reporters that he wants to break the hour record this year with the help of controversial Italian doctor Michele Ferrari. Lots of discussion, but nothing has happend so far...

June 2001:
Ten days after the end of the Giro D Italia Abram Olano cancels his attempt

January 1998:
From Greg Lunt's Graeme Obree page
Graeme Obree in hour tests
In his bid to gain selection for the 1998 Commonwealth Games. He is now well motivated and undertaking a new approach in his search to regain the coverted title of Hour Record Holder. A new diet, stamina training and the guidance of sports scientist Joe Beer are the combination in which Graeme is counting on to get him back in the spotlight.
Despite serious underfunding he is single minded about the task in hand despite Chris Boardman's promise that he would "Eat his hat" if Graeme pulled it off. The attempt is planned for sometime in May 98, with a public test in late Feb or March at Manchester Velodrome. It will last approx 20mins, approx 55kph at leat, then he will know if he is on course.
"To take the record I'm going to have to grit my teeth and then grit them some more and spit blood to make the difference. And, after doing all that, I'll either just break the record or just miss it. I might only add 10 meters to it, because I think the record is now at the edge of human ability."
Graeme Obree (Cycling Weekly)

Jevgeni Berzin, 19.10.97, Bordeaux, FRA: abandoned
After 5k Berzin was already 17" off the pace of Chris Boardman's record-breaking race, while after 10k he lagged 35". Having covered 14,850 km (59 laps) for an average speed of just below 52km/h, Berzin decided to call it a quit after just 17min had elapsed.

Koen de Koker, May 96, Manchester, GBR: 47.076 km
A quite controversial attempt. In May 1996 he attacked the world record in Manchester, after 10 months of inactivity, without any physical, medical or material preparation. He pushed a 70x12 gear (!) and rode 47.076 km in one hour. Probably he could have done much better, since he had proven to have a high power output in laboratory tests (550 Watt with 74 kg body weight).

Miguel Indurain,15.10.95, Bogota, COL: abandoned

DIST	Time	5 km-Speed (km/h)
5 km	5'29''	54.71
10 km	11'01''	54.21
15 km	16'39''	53.25
20 km	22'16''	53.41
25 km	27'52''	53.57
28 km	31'17''	52.68
abandoned

He started very fast, (at 5 km he was 1 sec faster than Tony Rominger), but then quickly lost time. Look how his speed dropped below 53 km/h at the end of his attempt. There was no chance to reach Tony Rominger's mark, I guess he would have finished around 53 km. For this attempt look also here.
It was to read that he started another attempt in Bordeaux after he returned from Bogota. This attempt was also abandoned, but I have no further information about split-times etc..

Nico Emonds, 6.12.95, Bordeaux, FRA: 52.466 km
After making 51.801 km on 13.11.95, he returned to Bordeaux to attack the 53 km mark. He could not quite reach it, but with 52.466 km Emonds is the 5th fastest rider of all times (at this time 1995).

Francesco Moser, 15.1.1994, Mexico City, MEX: 51.840 km
10 years after his record Francesco Moser wanted to return to Mexico to celebrate with some friends. But after the adaption of Graeme Obree's position (Moser added a chest-pad for more comfort) he found that he was maybe fast enough to break Chris Boardman's record.
On his first attempt he finished with surprising 51.840 km. His second attempt was abandoned due to cool temperatures and gusty winds.
He made some more tests in Bordeaux and then again in Mexico City, but all were abandoned.

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