Rohan Dennis sets new UCI hour record with 52.491 kilometres

Showing excellent form and fine track technique, BMC Racing Team’s Rohan Dennis was successful in his attempt to tackle the UCI hour record on Sunday, smashing the previous record of Matthias Brandle.

Dennis covered 52.491 kilometres to go almost 600 metres further than Brandle’s 51.852 kilometres, as had been set on October 30 in the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland.

Riding on the Swiss track in Grenchen, the Australian rider was clearly faster than the Austrian. He covered 40 kilometres in 45 minutes 26 seconds and continued to push his limits all the way until the hour mark. Although his average speed dropped slightly inside the last ten minutes, he had enough in hand to succeed.

Dennis’ effort was well clear of the first of the current spate of hour record attempts, as tackled by Jens Voigt on September 18 in the same Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen. On that occasion he covered 51.110 kilometres.

The mark was subsequently beaten by Brandle. A third rider, Australian Jack Bobridge, tried to go further last Saturday in Melbourne’s DISC velodrome, but appeared to start too quickly and had to settle for 51.3 kilometres.

“I am pretty tired but really, really proud, he said less than ten minutes after the end of his effort, looking remarkably composed. “BMC made it easy. The whole week leading into this was very stressless. There was no pressure. It was perfect for me. It almost felt easy, although it wasn’t. It is great.”

He said he knew he had the record before the end but still had to suffer on to try to go as far as possible.

“There was a lot of pain,” he said. “I couldn’t really enjoy it too much, to be honest. I knew it was 208 laps [to equal Brandle]. Once I went past that, I knew I just had to go as hard as I can. I knew I still had to finish off the hour.”

Dennis showed excellent form last month when he took the biggest road race success of his career, winning the Santos Tour Down Under.

He then travelled back to Europe earlier this week and knuckled down to his final tune-up for the hour. BMC Racing Team coach Marco Pinotti described the various factors that had to be dealt with, including the jet lag and tiredness from his journey.

The work by Dennis and the team got him into the correct shape to take on the hour record. After ten minutes he was on target for 52.387 kilometres, and he increased that to 52.606 kilometre pace by the twenty minute mark. That put him nearly 11 seconds up on Brandle’s speed at that point.

He continued to accelerate, increasing his schedule to 52.726 kilometre pace after 30 minutes and 52.805 by 40 minutes.

However he slowed slightly after that, with his average speed dipping under 52.5 kilometres per hour. Still, it was more than enough to smash the former record, earning the current UCI WorldTour leader a place in history and giving him further motivation for the season ahead.

He thanked the crowd for their encouragement. “They really got behind me, especially when they knew it was going to be a new record. I am really appreciative that the came out and supported me. That’s a new record and I hope it stays a while.”

UCI President Brian Cookson complemented him on his showing. “Rohan’s performance is absolutely stellar,” he said. “He is the first rider to top the 52 kilometre mark. This performance is an indication of how good he is at the start of the season, confirming his demonstration at the Tour Down Under.

“Rohan is literally hitting the gas. I am delighted to see riders from outside Europe having a crack at this legendary record. I just can’t wait to see more attempts coming soon both on the men’s and women’s UCI Hour Record. It is great news for fans of our iconic event.”

Dutch rider Thomas Dekker will make his own attempt on the record on February 25 and now knows that he has a fight on his hands.

Craiglea

Yawn, what a boring hour.. cannot even comprehend trying to commentate that for an hour.
- max
  
  Even after being bored for an hour, you coudn’t come up with a better comment?
- James
  
  I went to see bobridge’s attempt and it was interesting to watch until 50mins when we were convinced he wouldn’t make it (started to get ragged and still wasn’t going fast enough). It also helps if you’ve gone on a velodrome and maggoted yourself for an hour so you know how hard it is.
CB

Well done RD, beating the real absolute hour record of Boardman in 1993. Breaking 52km so decisively will really make others take note now, and probably has dissuaded Bobridge from trying again, if he was secretly intending to.
Rosie Price

Amazing! beat that!
Simon

Well done and well paced, the key surely to a succesful attempt. Noteworthy too is the prep which was similar in the last weeks to Bobridge. Both did the nationals and TDU, however the extra recovery time despite jet lag must have helped in refining the pacing etc.
- Andy B
  
  I wonder what effect watching Bobridge going out too hard had for dennis, surely must of helped pacing and provided some insight into what was needed
  
  Great to seen a young Australian with the record
FlashingPedals

Respect the mans effort. 60minutes and you alone on the track. No SRM, just you, and your own trained rhythm. Merckx Moser Rominger Boardman all beat the hour and now Rohan Dennis has left his mark.
If or when,Tony Martin, Wiggins, Cancellara attempt it, then the speed might hit 54/55 who knows, but that’s the thrill of a record attempt. well done Rohan.
- Cameron Harris
  
  I know what you mean about no SRM, but out of interest - is that a SRM attached to the back of the seatpost?
  - lefthandside
    
    Might be! He was using an SRM power meter but not for his own information - only for data collection. Riders aren’t allowed to see any of that data during the race, so that’d be a good place to put it.
    - jules
      
      i don’t think a power meter would help that much for this event. cos a TT on the velo involves such constant power, i find that you can pretty much feel your power output in your legs. obviously your ‘calibration’ drifts as you tire and lactic acid plays tricks, but his coach with the stop watch would have taken care of that. i get my smoothest power on a velo by focusing on sensations rather than trying to adjust my effort by power numbers.
      - Simon
        
        “i get my smoothest power on a velo by focusing on sensations” Ahh those old sensations… :-) Reads like the translation of euro riders’ interviews in cycling journals for the past 40 years.
    - Alan
      
      A rough calculation gives about 450 to 480 Watts. (Don’t beat me up if that’s in error by 10%). I can maintain 450 Watts for nearly a whole minute.
  - RayG
    
    Looked like one. Which leads to the most important question - what was his W/kg?
    - Sean Doyle
      
      Does W/kg factor in this setting where there is no up or down? Wouldn’t it have to be W/frontal area (aero)? I’ve not used a PM so not sure how to correlate the numbers to anything I’ve ever done.
- Col. T.
  
  Agree with all that. Up there with the legends.
  Well done.
Choco

No shoe covers, would have thought every fraction of a second counted, are they banned in these attempts?
- jules
  
  i think they are - non-essential clothing
- Simon
  
  I take another view. While he holds the record, he’s possibly incurred a sock height and mismatched colour “infraction”.
  - Andy B
    
    He does love his black shoes
  - scottmanning
    
    Noooo White socks are always a good choice.
    - Sean Doyle
      
      Noooooo white socks look so school girl.
- Tim
  
  They’re also not always faster - Specialized wind tunnel guys have tested only 2 covers that are faster than no covers (with modern shoes - no huge buckles, straps etc), probably why some of the Specialized sponsored pros don’t use them in TTs.
- tertius_decimus
  
  I’m baffled by people who think such things as shoe covers or leg warmers make you faster. Maybe there are little invisible jet engines mounted into them? Get a clue.
- Michele
  
  Shoe covers are now banned on the velodrome full stop.
Ralph

Good on him but am the only person getting bored by this one hour stuff? Kind of reminds me of surfing competitions, the more competitive and individualistic its gets the more the joy seems to seep out. The waves and the road, not the scores and the stopwatch, are more interesting for mine..
Wish I was on the bike…

Awesome effort by the young Adelaide rider; making it harder for the next attempt! Should be happy with the achievement!

Rohan Dennis sets new UCI hour record with 52.491 kilometres

By Shane Stokes and Matt De Neef - February 9, 2015