Hour Record Rules Revisted/Revised

[Shame]

for eurosport3 live only try:
http://liveall.tv/player.php?streampage=oteelting20462oadyltega&width=600&height=450#

[Singer01]

3 seconds down after 10 minutes.

[el_angliru]

It seems like he's started in a fairly relaxed manner. He's certainly not trying to push towards 54-55 km from the start. Could be wise.

He was accelerating rather slow and only reached the 52 km average after 30 laps.

[TMP402]

Perhaps I'm ignorant and he has a long track career, but for someone who I thought was a predominantly road cyclist, he does seem to have pretty good black line discipline.

[Shame]

Alex at minute15 52.27
at minute 20 52.39
painting the lines well too.
He is 4 seconds behind, but Rohan went a little too fast at 52.8 then sliding down to 52.5
He's on schedule to reach Rohan at the 30 mark.

[Shame]

At the half 52.47
He passes Dennis by the 32 minute mark!
Can he hold it when the 40 mark hits?

[TMP402]

Lost a bit of black discipline, but regained it, impressive.

[Shame]

He's ahead (112 meters) at the 40 mark.
Seems the announcers keep looking at Rohan's pace rather than his distance.
He's not behind at all. 52.687 at 45 minute mark.

[el_angliru]

The speed has kept rising and rising until lap 150. Very disciplined and controlled effort so far. 52.706 km/h 50 mins into the race.

[Shame]

He's one lap up at 52 min.
Getting his second wind and going for 53

[Hugo Koblet]

He's destroying Dennis.

[Singer01]

awesome last 10 mins.

[TMP402]

He's ahead (112 meters) at the 40 mark.
Seems the announcers keep looking at Rohan's pace rather than his distance.
He's not behind at all. 52.687 at 45 minute mark.

So still no-one can put together a coherent live programme of the hour record. Amazing.

[Shame]

Looked to be 52.924

[Shame]

Indurain just breathed a sigh of relief.
52.937 official

[el_angliru]

I noticed that his estimated distance at the 50 minute mark was 52.706 km. But he arrived at 52.937. This means that his average speed the last 10 minutes was 54,092 km/h (if my math is correct)! This makes me wonder if he was riding it too controlled from the start? Could he have cracked the 53 km mark if he'd be a bit more ambitious from the outset?

Bobridge and Larsson were much too fast with speeds at 54-55 km/h early in the race, while speeds were decreasing rapidly towards the end (even below 50 km/h). Dennis' record race was a bit like that too (although to a lesser extent). On the other hand Voigt's record race was a bit like Dowsett's: He seemed to have much left in the tank towards the end. Brändle's record race is perhaps the most even of the ones we've seen in this new era.

What's the best way to do an hour race? I know there isn't any definite answer to this, as it probably varies from rider to rider. But what's the best approach in theory?

[Shame]

What's the best way to do an hour race? I know there isn't any definite answer to this, as it probably varies from rider to rider. But what's the best approach in theory?

This is the best pace. It will probably graph about the same as Boardman's 56 record.

[Shame]

[Zinoviev Letter]

An excellent performance, but I suspect that he actually had a little more in him.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

What's the best way to do an hour race? I know there isn't any definite answer to this, as it probably varies from rider to rider. But what's the best approach in theory?

Given the objective was to beat the current record, then this strategy was perfect.

Get deep enough into the event at or slightly above the target so that you can then use what you have left in the tank in the final quarter to beat the record. If you are unable to do so in that final quarter, then you sure were not going to do so by starting harder.

Minimise variations in lap pace (accelerations are physiologically costly), and ride a very good line.

That's a subtly different strategy to what's needed to ride the maximal distance you can on the day. These objectives are not the same. They can coincide, but not necessarily.

e.g. Rominger in his first hour ride and Voigt used this strategy.