Brandle trumps Voigt to set new world hour mark

Matthias Brandle set a new hour record of 51.850km at the International Cycling Union track in Aigle, Switzerland.

The current Austrian time trial champion set the new distance at the 200 metre International Cycling Union (UCI) velodrome rather than using the Granges track where previous record holder, Germany's Jens Voigt, set 51.115km on 18 September.

The 24-year-old Austrian, who rides for the IAM Cycling ProContinental team pushed through the pain barrier in the last 20 minutes to hold the meters gained in the first 40.

"I knew after 30 minutes that I was going to succeed," said Brandle. "I am very happy with the result."

"I have been training for this since September," added Brandle who achieved his record on a 7.2kg Scott bike.

"During the race it was so hard. I had a difficult period in the middle of the race where I suffered. I had to do a few laps easier but then in the end I could find my rhythm," he said.

The revival of the event has been a coup for UCI President Brian Cookson who took the reins in September of 2013 with a mandate to reform the organisation,.

He initiated rule changes which allowed for the use of pursuit bikes to be used, encouraging today's riders to look seriously at the long moribund event.

"He's (Brandle) responded with a wonderful performance putting a good few hundred metres onto Jens Voigt's record and set a new standard going forward," said Cookson.

"It sounds easy enough riding for one hour as hard as possible around a track, but once you get beyond 30, 35, 40 minutes, you start riding through a sea of lactic acid and the pain levels get higher and higher.

"It's another notch a bit further up. I don't think it's out of reach for some other riders so I'm sure it will encourage some others to have a go.

"I think we're going to see some interesting challenges in the next few months."