News – Jack Bobridge to attack hour record

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The World record holder for the Individual pursuit, Australia’s Jack Bobridge, will look to beat the 51.852km of Matthias Brandle

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News – Jack Bobridge to attack hour record

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Bobridge, who has moved to an Australia UCI team to help his preparations for the Rio Olympics, will attempt to break the hour record on Saturday, 31 January, at the indoor velodrome in Melbourne (Australia). The record, of 51.852km, is currently held by Austria’s Matthias Brandle and Bobridge is confident of surpassing that mark.

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“I never thought I would break Boardman’s individual pursuit record, I don’t think anyone thought I’d beat it”, said Bobridge of his history making ride in 2011 . “At this point, I can see myself beating the current hour record but it’s how much further I can go that will be decided on the day” he says to Cycling Australia

The Hour Record remained on the shelf for a lot of years after the greats of the sport such as Eddy Merckx, Francesco Moser, Miguel Indurain, Chris Boardman and Graeme Obree to name but a few put their name down in history. In recent months, others have added theirs such as Jens Voigt and most recently double Tour of Britain stage winner Matthias Brandle.

“I’m aiming to set a benchmark that leaves everyone questioning themselves about whether they want to do it or not” Bobridge says. With other riders like Aussie Rohan Dennis having already confirmed he will make an attempt on it, and Britain’s Alex Dowsett and Bradley Wiggins also rumoured to be having attempt, there seems to be no shortage of contenders for the hour record crown.

Part of Jack’s preparation according to Cycling Australia will be doing the Aussie road champs time trial on January 8 and then, providing he is selected for the UniSA team, racing the Tour Down Under. “It’s been years of preparation with pursuits and team pursuits. I think it’s going to come together with all that previous track work.”

Bobridge’s tilt at the record will be led by Cycling Australia’s High Performance Unit Men’s Track Endurance Coach, Tim Decker. “He’s the world individual pursuit record holder so the hour is an obvious choice,” said Decker of the rationale behind the Bobridge announcement. I have no doubt that he can do it. You look at his four-kilometre time and you look at what is possible over an hour, Jack should be able to well surpass the current record. It captures people’s imagination to see how far you can go in one hour. People from outside of cycling will look at it and think ‘wow, that’s a long way in one hour on a bike”.

When: Saturday 31 January, 5pm (exact time TBC)
Where: Darebin International Sports Centre (DISC), 281 Darebin Rd, Thornbury, VIC
Tickets: $AUS10, Cycling Australia members $AUS8

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