Italy’s Filippo Ganna claimed the Hour record by covering 56.792km at the Tissot velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland on Saturday. The double time trial world champion bettered the mark set in August by his Team Ineos teammate Daniel Bigham by 1.244km.
He also beat the 56.375km mark set by Chris Boardman in 1996 using the controversial ‘Superman’ position. That performance had long been seen as unbeatable as the Englishman was using “Superman-style” handlebars. The International Cycling Union (UCI) then tightened the rules.
“I’ve put so much work into it,” Ganna said. “To arrive at this amazing goal is fantastic for me and for all the staff who have worked for a long time to get to this result.” Describing the pain of the last five minutes, he said: “I lost energy to try to go for 57 [km], but nothing [in the legs]. It’s OK.”
Boardman wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations @gannafilippo haven’t watched one in quarter of a century, glad I tuned in, a beautiful thing to witness.”
Congratulations @gannafilippo haven’t watched one in quarter of a century, glad I tuned in, a beautiful thing to witness 👏👏👏
— Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) October 8, 2022
Ganna added: “To arrive at this amazing goal is fantastic for me … This morning I was thinking about just trying to break the record by one metre, but in the end I said why not try to do a new [unified record]. This result is amazing.
“Next time maybe I’ll try in another part of the season with fresher legs and we can go higher again. Now I’m thinking about recovery and trying to celebrate together with everyone here.”
Bigham, 31, said: “A massive kudos to Filippo for that historic ride. I know the commitment, determination and work that’s needed to put in a performance like that. It’s fantastic that this ambitious project came together on the night. Having my record beaten by Filippo was always part of the plan and it’s great to have such a deserving teammate as the new record holder.”
Earlier, Tadej Pogacar retained his Il Lombardia title when his attacking intentions were rewarded on the finish line after a 253km ride from Bergamo to Como in northern Italy.
The 2022 Tour de France runner-up shook things up in the penultimate ascent before beating Spain’s Enric Mas in a two-man sprint while another Spaniard, Mikel Landa, was third, 10 seconds behind. It was Pogacar’s third victory in the Monuments, after he prevailed last year in Como, and also in Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
“It’s really amazing to repeat victory here. It was great team work,” the 2020 and 2021 Tour de France winner said as he paid tribute to his UAE Emirates teammates. “This season has been almost perfect.”
The Tour champion, Jonas Vingegaard, suffered in the finale and claimed a disappointing 16th place.
Pogacar accelerated with 20km left, and Landa and Mas were the only ones to follow in the ascent of the Civiglio. Two kilometres further on, the Slovenian attacked again and Landa was dropped, but the Spaniard made it back in the descent, only to crack on the last climb to San Fermo della Battaglia, when Mas upped the pace. Pogacar followed easily and he was never troubled in the final sprint.
It was the final race for previous Grand Tour winners Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde, both of whom are retiring. The Italian Nibali, one of only seven riders to win all three Grand Tours, finished 24th while Spain’s Valverde, a former world champion and Vuelta winner who served a doping ban from 2010-12, took sixth place.