Unbelievable Filippo Ganna ! The Italian, reigning double time trial world champion, broke the hour record detained since August 19 by the Ineos engineer And Bigham (55.548km). In 60 minutes, he covered the distance of 56.792 kilometers at the velodrome in Granges, Switzerland.
After a rather sluggish start, and lap times below the reference mark, the rider from Verbania, 26, gradually increased the pace, passing with an 11-second lead at the halfway mark.
On a 3D printed frame which uses biomimicry to increase its aerodynamic performance, Ganna has accelerated further. “Top Ganna” even managed to beat the old record of Chris Boardman (56.375 km), erased from shelves after change in equipment regulations.
A reference in lap times in recent years, Ganna will brighten up, with this record, a season during which he missed his objectives. Only seventh in the time trial at the Worlds in Australia, he was also beaten at the Euro (3rd) and in the two times of the Tour de France.
In August, in an attempt primarily to gather information ahead of Ganna’s attempt, INEOS Grenadiers performance engineer Dan Bingham erased the 55.089 km run by Victor Campenaerts in Aguascalientes in 2019, Mexico.
Campenaerts was then the fourth Belgian to set the hour record after Oscar Van den Eynde in 1897, Ferdinand Bracke in 1967 and Eddy Merckx in 1972. The “Cannibal” had also chosen Mexico for his record.
Among the ladies, the hour record belongs to the Dutchwoman Ellen van Dijk since May 23, on the same velodrome in Granges, with a distance covered of 49.254 km.