Dan Bigham breaks Victor Campenaerts' Hour Record with 55.548km distance

Dan Bigham has broken the Hour Record with a distance of 55.548km. It means he beat Victor Campernaerts' record by almost 500m, or two whole laps of the track.

The British rider, who previously held the national Hour Record, with 54.723km, works for Ineos Grenadiers as a performance engineer. The team have supported Bigham in his efforts to push the boundaries of performance on the track.

He made the record-breaking attempt at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland on Friday afternoon, supported by close friends and family and staff from Ineos.

While it is always difficult to gauge an Hour Record attempt, Bigham looked smooth throughout, and by halfway through was up on the time set by Campernaerts in 2019. He started off with a negative split, but pushed on, passing the record in the end with more than half a minute to spare.

Bigham explained after the event that the three things he could control were his head position, breathing, and staying on the lower black line on the track, which were all things that he did through the attempt.

On the YouTube livestream, Campernaerts was commenting along with others, saying "crazy lap times", and congratulating Bigham.

It was revealed that he lost 2.3 kilograms in sweat during the attempt, proving the amount of effort that he put in; he was weighed straight after the event.

His partner Joss Lowden previously held the women's Hour Record, she set that last year, before that was broken by Ellen van Dijk in May.

On Friday morning, his team announced the kit that the Englishman would employed in his attempt. Along with a prototype Pinarello frame, there is a host of Ineos sponsor correct gear to go with it; the support of the super-team surely gave him an advantage of his last try.

He used a MOST Custom 3D basebar and extension, Princeton Track Special wheels, Continental GP5000TT tyres, WattShop Cratus aero crank & chainring 64T, WattShop Cratus cog 14T and a Izumi KAI chain.

As for his clothing, he was dressed in a specially made Bioracer Katana skinsuit, with Bioracer Epic overshoes. On his head was a KASK Mistral, and he used Nimbl EXPECT shoes.