Wiggins praises Belgian’s record

EXHAUSTED: CAMPENAERTS BREAKS 55KM BARRIER

elgian cyclist Victor Campenaerts set a new one-hour world record for distance covered on a track this week with 55.089km, edging past the previous record set by British great Sir Bradley Wiggins.

The European time-trial champion established the new record at the Aguascalientes velodrome in Mexico at an altitude of 1 800m, beating the previous record of 54.526km set in June 2015.

“I broke the magic 55km,” the exhausted 27-year-old gasped after bettering Wiggins’ mark by 563 metres, albeit under arguably easier conditions.

“I was too optimistic at first, and after half an hour I needed to set a new slower pace.

“I worked long and hard for this and the team were right behind me and now I paid them back.”

Wiggins set the mark of 54.526km in 2015 and he congratulated Campenaerts.

“Chapeau Victor my man,” the 38-year-old wrote on Twitter.

Wiggins was the 2012 Tour de France champion, also won the Olympic time trial that year, went on to clinch the 2014 world championships time trial and also won four further Olympic gold medals on the track.

Campenaerts has been sleeping in simulated conditions of 3000m altitude, which increases the red blood cell count, with which the body delivers the oxygen that fuels physical feats.

His bike was constructed to his requirements without gears or brakes for weight and with straight handlebars for aerodynamics.

Winner of the recent time-trial at the one-week Tirreno-Adriatico, he is the double European time-trial champion and was third at the 2018 world championships behind Rohan Dennis and Tom Dumoulin. –