Bradley Wiggins The Hour record attempt: What is it, what’s the time to beat, when will he do it and how can you watch?
Bradley Wiggins is about to attempt a new record in the cycling world, adding to his already impressive string of accolades which include Olympic gold medals and being crowned Tour de France champion.
The Hour is a simple sounding record attempt where riders must cycle the furthest distance within 60 minutes to take the record.
It is one of the toughest tests of a cyclist's prowess, with one rider saying it was the closest he had come to death without actually dying. Wiggins has called it cycling's Holy Grail.
The record is currently held by British rider Alex Dowsett with a distance of 52.937km, set just last month.
Wiggins isn't just aiming for 52.938km to surpass Dowsett by a single kilometer, however. He's aiming for an ambitious 55.25km. That's about nine additional laps around London's Lee Valley VeloPark.
In 2000, cycling's governing body UCI made changes that effectively expunged the previous records set largely during the 1990s due to the use of new technology which they believed would not have been a fair comparison with previous riders.
The records were split into two separate types – those made with new bike technology and those without – and record attempts became subject to strict rules.
By 2014, that ruling was scrapped and a "unified record" created, however, it was the latest record – Ondrej Sosenka's in 2005 that would stand as the one to beat, rather than prior efforts. That has since been surpassed four times, with Dowsett now the record holder.
Wiggins will attempt the epic feat to surpass that at 6.30pm, and while tickets to see the event live at the velodrome were swiftly sold out, anyone wanting to watch the attempt can see it broadcast on Sky Sports 2, Pick TV channel on Freeview, at skysports.com or on the Sky Sports Youtube channel.