Thursday 30 April 2015 18:24, UK
Former Olympic champion Chris Boardman is backing Alex Dowsett to set a new world hour record at the Manchester Velodrome on Saturday.
However, Boardman also believes Dowsett’s milestone will last just a few weeks, predicting that Sir Bradley Wiggins will improve further on the performance later in the summer.
The 2012 Tour de France winner will make his bid for the hour record at Lee Valley on June 7.
Dowsett, the 26-year-old from Essex, is hoping to beat the current record set by Australian Rohan Dennis who covered 52.491 kilometres during his attempt in Switzerland back in February.
Regarding Dowsett, Boardman said: "I think he'll get it, but it could be tough.
"He does his homework, he understands the demands of the event, his background is riding against the clock. He's well-qualified in the discipline.
"But Brad could, quite feasibly, even with the standard position, push into the 55km.
"I would imagine both of them will do it once. In Brad's case, he'll do it once and that will be enough. If he does it well – and I wouldn't say it's unbeatable because you never say that – but it will make it incredibly difficult for anybody else.
"They'll have to be prepared to fail, the next person, if they want to try."
Dowsett, who is a member of the Movistar team, had to abandon his initial attempt that had been scheduled earlier this year after fracturing a collarbone in training.
The Maldon cyclist said: "The hour record is the ultimate time-trial. It's a case of man and machine: no changing conditions, no wind, no real tactics.
"It's the purest form of a time-trial. There's no tiny respite in the hour record. The pacing is so important and you never get a chance to recover."
