We chat with the cycling legend and former record-holder
Saturday 6 June 2015 13:26, UK
Ahead of Sir Bradley Wiggins’ bid to set a new UCI Hour Record on Sunday, we spoke to cycling legend Jens Voigt, who was the first man to attempt and break the record following rule changes last May.
Voigt set a new best distance of 51.110km, and although the record has been broken three times since, the German maintains a keen interest in the event.
Here is our conversation with Voigt…
Sky Sports: What sort of performance are you expecting from Wiggins?
Jens Voigt: I have not seen any split times or details from his training sessions, but I believe we will be looking at something like 54km to 54.5km.
I know he wants to aim at 55km, but 55km but is very fast and we just don’t have the "Superman" position anymore like Chris Boardman had, or smaller front wheels, which give you better aerodynamics, like the boys had in the past.
We are still using fairly fast bikes, but there are limits to it. OK, he has got the whole science project from Team Sky behind him, but also Bradley is not getting younger.
Sky Sports: If Wiggins succeeds, and depending on his distance, can anyone else from the current generation break his record?
Jens Voigt: He will put the bar very high and, after Bradley is finished with it, there will be only three people alive able to challenge that. That would be Tony Martin, Fabian Cancellara, of course, and Adriano Malori, that young Italian kid who won the prologue in Tirreno-Adriatico this year.
I believe everybody else is just physically not able to match this mark. If none of the three guys I just mentioned go, I think we will be looking at a 10-year break in the hour record after Bradley is finished.
Sky Sports: The hour record has a fearsome reputation. From your experience, is it justified?
Jens Voigt: It is definitely justified. I would say that my hour record was on the podium of the hardest days of my cycling life, and keep in mind I have had 33 years of cycling, so I had a lot of hard days.
If I would have punctured in the last five minutes and I maybe would have lost it because of that, I don’t think I would have gone again. I would say, ‘OK, I gave it the best I had and it didn’t happen. I’m not going there again’.
If you look at Jack Bobridge, who is probably the most extreme example of how painful it is, they had to take his front wheel out of the frame to lower the bike low enough so he could get his leg over the handlebars. He was so down and damaged and tired and cramped that he couldn’t get off his bike and lift his leg above the saddle.
It’s hard, but then Bradley must have seen all the videos and know. One of his coaches is German, Heiko Salzwedel, and I have known Heiko for a long time. He is a friend of many years and he was my first team director in 1997.
He contacted me, sent me a mail, we had a quick phone call talking about a few things and asked for some advice. He asked what I did there and then, and he said they were optimistic Bradley would take it.
Sky Sports: How prestigious is the hour record and how proud are you to have your name on the list of holders?
Jens Voigt: One of my biggest motivations to do the hour record as the last event of my career was to put my name on that list of the record-holders.
It has some of the biggest and best names in cycling, and that I could write my name on that list made me really happy and proud.
I did wish I would have had the record until at least Christmas last year, but there has been an explosion of hour record tries and it is unbelievable how popular it has all of a sudden become.
Our programme will run from 6pm-8pm on Sunday, with the record attempt itself taking place from 6.30pm-7.30pm.
