Former Hour Record holder Matthias Brändle admitted he had doubts about his form ahead of powering to win this afternoon’s final Tour of Oman stage along the Matrah Corniche.

Brändle (IAM Cycling) attacked from a four-rider breakaway in the final three kilometres, and successfully pursuited to the finish to hold off Iljo Keisse (Etixx-Quick Step).

“Today was important for me – the last six or seven days, I was questioning myself because my body was not working,” he said.

“I had good feelings at home in training, but the last stages were hard. I couldn’t put any power through the pedals.

“My body hasn’t worked the same as normal in the 40°C. So yesterday, when I saw the forecast for today said the temperature would go down to 30°C, I looked at the stage’s profile and map and I started dreaming about winning it."

Brändle said he realised the group would stay away when it entered the final 50 kilometres with an advantage of nine minutes over a nonplussed peloton, but the presence of Keisse in the group meant he did not want to take his chances in a sprint finish.

“I was afraid [of Keisse], that’s why I attacked,” he added. “I saw he was suffering on the last climb, so I thought ‘don’t take a risk, try and drop him before the finish’. “

The 25-year-old Austrian rider compared his victory here to the two he took on consecutive days in last year’s Tour of Britain into Exeter and Hemel Hempstead.

He said: “In the breakaway, the feeling was the same as it was in Britain: we had strong riders, we worked together.

“I told them we had to work together and not go too hard in the climbs. In the end I was lucky to be the strongest.”

Current Hour Record holder Matthias Brändle says he won't be upset if Australian Rohan Dennis takes the title away from him in Switzerland tomorrow.

BMC rider Dennis will attempt to break Brändle's benchmark of 51.852km in Grenchen at 1pm UK time on Sunday.

And the IAM Cycling rider, who set his benchmark on October 30 last year, admitted to CW that he was not worried ahead of Jack Bobridge's unsuccessful ride last week, nor Dennis' tomorrow.

“I've already had it for three months, so I was not worried about losing it to Jack, and won't be tomorrow,” he said.

“Just like I took the record from Jens [Voigt], I know somebody will take it from me. I cross my fingers for Rohan that everything goes well for him.”

Brändle - who admitted it's unlikely he'll be able to watch Dennis' attempt live from Qatar, where he begins his 2015 road season tomorrow - added that Bobridge's failed attempt in Melbourne last Saturday added credence to his performance.

“I wasn't in the best shape when I did my ride, but I think some people underestimate the record. Some people think it's easy to ride 52 kilometres," added Brändle.

“Most people would have said Jack would have broken it, maybe nine out of 10 people would have said that. But it's really hard, and it's not for everybody.”

Speaking ahead of the Tour of Qatar, the 25-year-old Austrian reflected on his life since he made a name for himself on the international scene by breaking the record.

He said: “It has changed my life a lot. A lot more people know me in my country, I have a bigger profile I think. As a sportsman, you live a lot off your profile.”

Matthias Brändle timed his hour record perfectly on Thursday between Jens Voigt and Bradley Wiggins, explained IAM Cycling owner Michel Thétaz.

"Wiggins will beat it, no problem, but Brändle's name will be there for ever in the hour books," Thétaz told Cycling Weekly.

The 24-year-old Austrian topped the 51.115-kilometre record Voigt set in September with 51.852. Others may try, but Wiggins is expected to set a difficult mark to reach next summer.

"He's a young rider, that's the clever aspect of it. A lot of guys with the same strength will try now, but it will be tough to beat Matthias' record," Thétaz continued.

"It would be a marginal gain, a small distance ahead. It won't be easy to get 52 or 53 kilometres. Some riders will hesitate to go for.

Matthias' timing was perfect at the end of the season. It won't be easy as we go further into the winter. I don't see many riders trying to ride the hour for the next few months. He was clever to do it when he did it, off of Voigt's record and the road season."

Alex Dowsett (Movistar) and Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) have shown interest, but neither has scheduled a date to do so. Besides Wiggins, Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) is the only other cyclist to plan an attempt.

Brändle, besides being the first Austrian, became the youngest cyclist to set the hour record mark since 1958 when Frenchman Roger Rivière was 22.

His engine helped him to two stage wins and place fifth behind Wiggins in the final time trial of the Tour of Britain. He did not race on IAM cycling's Tour de France or Vuelta a España teams as he had hoped. Instead, he turned his attention to the hour in August.

"What we saw in 2013 when we met for a team camp at the Mallorca velodrome that he has power," Thétaz said. "Two months ago, he just gave me a call and said, 'I think I can do it.' He had it in his mind. He knows he's very powerful. He was confident."

Thétaz explained that Brändle has been progressing steadily since his early days as a professional with teams Elk Haus, Geox and NetApp.

"He's a very tall and powerful guy. You should see him in stages, where he can do 250 kilometres and win the stage. He's a breakaway rider, a stage winner that we saw in Britain this year.

"I think he'll be helping our leaders in stage races in 2015 and leading in some week-long stage races and classics."

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Bradley Wiggins says he was inspired by Jens Voigt's new Hour record

Stated baldly, the distance that Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling) covered, 51.852km, does scant justice to the excitement and drama involved. That’s always the way – it was just the same six weeks earlier when Voigt set the record that Brändle broke.

Brändle added a relatively modest 750 metres to Voigt’s distance, riding on the shorter-than-standard 200m track at the UCI headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland.

As with Voigt, Brändle set off strongly. He was not only strong; he was disciplined. As he reeled off 69-second kilometre after 69-second kilometre, on a solid 52.1kph average speed, the record almost began to look like a foregone conclusion. Even Brändle himself admitted afterwards, “At half way I thought I’d got it, I thought I would break the record for sure.”

But then: “It got hard. I had no choice but to slow down. I had to try to recover. I was beginning to get cramps. From about 30 minutes to about 45 was very difficult.”

His advantage over Voigt started to slip, from over 70 seconds, down into the mid-50s. There were concerned faces among his team in the track centre. A implosion in an Hour ride always starts slowly. They admitted later they’d been quite worried – he’d never faltered like this in his longer training rides.

“But after 45 minutes I started to get my rhythm back,” he said. “The closer I got to the end, the easier it became.”

For all that, he never really got back to the consistency of his first 30 minutes. He looked in some distress, and his line on the track grew increasingly ragged. Unlike Voigt, he couldn’t produce a storming rally in the last ten minutes. But he had enough left. “By 50 minutes, I knew that unless something big happened, I was going to do it.”

Was it harder than he expected? “Yes. It was much hotter than it was when we did the big training rides, and I didn’t expect that. I couldn’t have anything to drink, and that made it even harder. But I also felt the crowd, and I knew I was being watched every second of every lap.”

The high probability of his record coming under attack in the coming months didn’t faze him. “I’m on the list, that’s what I wanted. I’m there with some big riders, and now it’s the other guys who have to attack the record. And I’m fine with that. I’ve done what I wanted. I’ll go on holiday, and then get ready for next year.”

UCI President Brian Cookson, who, if he’d wanted to, could have watched the attempt through the window in his office that looks over the track, said, “This is exactly what we wanted from the record. We had an older rider, a retiring rider, who set a mark. Now we have a younger rider stepping up and breaking it. Matthias may even come back to the record some day, when he’s older and stronger. Today it was close, but it was enough, and it was great to have the record here, at the UCI’s own track.”

It’s clear that the UCI is delighted with its rejuvenated Hour record. And clearly the large and very, very noisy crowd that lined the track agreed. The question now is: who goes next? Because one thing’s for sure, and that is that we’re not finished with this record yet.

More on the Hour Record

Matthias Brändle sets new Hour Record

Austrian Matthias Brändle beats Jens Voigt's Hour Record in Aigle, Switzerland, with 51.852km

Matthias Brändle: The next man to attack the Hour Record

Cometh the hour, cometh the man

Matthias Brändle successfully set a new Hour Record of 51.852 kilometres at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland, on Thursday evening.

The 24-year-old Austrian of the IAM Cycling team beat Jens Voigt's mark of 51.115km set on September 18 a few miles away in Grenchen.

At the half-way, half-hour point Brändle was up on Voigt's mark by over 50 seconds and he managed to maintain his advantage despite easing up slightly in the second half of his leg-searing effort.

After the attempt, Brändle admitted that he had suffered a rough patch just after the mid-way point.

"I had a difficult period in the middle of the race, where I suffered," he said. "I had to take a few laps easier, but in the end I could find my rhythm again and bring it to the end."

UCI president Brian Cookson commented on the rousing crowd at the track, which is part of the UCI's headquarters: "It's been absolutely wonderful, a fantastic atmosphere here, a full house. The crowd have been terrific and really got behind Matthias, really helped him. And he's responded with a wonderful performance putting a good few hundred metres on Voigt's record and to set a new standard going forward."

Voigt was quick to congratulate Brändle on his achievement, making light of the 19-year age gap between them.

"Well - hats off to Matthias, he puts a strong performance in! Congrats to the new Hour Record!! Great to see the young kids going for it," Voigt said via Twitter. "But yes - gotta admit it hurts a little to lose the record, but that's normal, no?! But hey, I never had the illusion of holding it forever."

Although several riders, including Bradley Wiggins, Alex Dowsett and Fabian Cancellara, have shown interest in taking on the Hour Record none has yet set a date. It will now be Brändle that they will have to beat.

Hour records

Matthias Brändle (AUT) 51.852km Swizterland, 30/10/2014

Jens Voigt (GER) 51.115km Switzerland, 18/09/2014

Ondrej Sosenka (CZE) 49.700km Moscow, 19/07/2005

Chris Boardman (GBR) 49.441km Manchester, 27/10/2000

———— All records below set prior to the Lugano Charter ————

Chris Boardman (GBR) 56.375km Manchester, 06/09/1996*

Tony Rominger (SUI) 55.291km Bordeaux, 05/11/1994

Tony Rominger (SUI) 53.832km Bordeaux, 22/10/1994

Miguel Indurain (ESP) 53.040km Bordeaux, 02/09/1994

Graeme Obree (GBR) 52.719km Bordeaux, 27/04/1994*

Chris Boardman (GBR) 52.270km Bordeaux, 23/07/1993

Francesco Moser (ITA) 51.840km Mexico, 15/01/1994

Graeme Obree (GBR) 51.596km Hamar, 17/07/1993†

*Superman position

†Tuck position

More on the Hour Record

Matthias Brändle: The next man to attack the Hour Record

Cometh the hour, cometh the man

UCI confirm Matthias Brandle to attempt the Hour Record on October 30

Credit: Ulf Schiller

Jens Voigt sets new Hour Record

Jens Voigt closes career with new World Hour Record of 51.115km

Matthias Brändle will attempt to beat Jens Voigt's Hour Record on Thursday evening at the UCI Headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland.

UK fans may be familiar with the Austrian IAM Cycling rider by virtue of his two Tour of Britain stage wins in September.

But if that's all you know about the latest hour challenger, here's your quick primer.

1. Brändle was born on December 7, 1989. His home town is Hohenems in Austria, just five kilometres from Switzerland.

2. His cycling career started aged 12, when he joined the local mountain bike club, RV-Hohenems. “It was a welcome change to football, a sport in which I did not have the necessary talent,” he says. His first road club was Team Pro Cycle Bregenz.

3. He completed a course in mechanical engineering, specialising in plastic technology, at the Bregenz Höhere Technische Lehranstalten (Higher Technical Institute).

4. Brändle has progressed through the cycling ranks. In 2008, he rode with third division Team Ista, and two years later he signed for the Footon-Servetto ProTour squad. It was in their gold kit that he completed his first Grand Tour — the 2010 Giro d’Italia, in which he finished 90^th overall, three hours, 18 minutes and nine seconds behind winner Ivan Basso.

Brändle in Geox colours at the 2011 Tour of Romandy

5. He also completed the 2011 Vuelta a Espana for Geox-TMC. He rode in support of Spaniard Juan Jose Cobo, who beat Team Sky’s Chris Froome by 13 seconds overall. “It was a very special experience,” he said.

6. A year at Team NetApp followed (best result: seventh on stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia). He signed for his current squad, IAM Cycling, in 2013. He is seen below in a breakaway during this year's Critérium du Dauphiné.

7. This year, Brändle won the Austrian time trial championships for the third time. Then, like a bus, he managed to pick up two victories in as many stages during the Tour of Britain. He clipped off into Exeter on day five after a day long breakaway, and then was part of a three-man move alongside Alex Dowsett that turned the race on its head en route to Hemel Hempstead.

8. He says the perfect way to spend an evening would be driving a Ferrari around a racing track. "Preferrably I'd have [F1 driver] Fernando Alonso as the driving instructor," he adds.. He also owns two motorbikes, and says he uses them to switch off from cycling.

9. Brändle's favourite food is a "fine, tender" steak.

10. He currently lives in Vorarlberg, the westernmost federal state of Austria.

The 24-year-old will make his attempt on the 200m track of the UCI’s World Cycling Centre velodrome in Switzerland, exactly six weeks after Voigt set a new record of 51.115km.

Brandle’s team estimate that he’ll be able to ride around 52km after recent tests. His attempt starts at 6pm British time on Thursday [October 30].

Credit: Ulf Schiller

Jens Voigt sets new Hour Record

Jens Voigt closes career with new World Hour Record of 51.115km

You wait nine years for an Hour Record attempt and then two come along in the space of a couple months, as Matthias Brandle is set to go out and try and beat Jens Voigt's Hour Record, the UCI confirmed on Thursday.

The 24-year-old IAM Cycling rider will make his attempt on the 200m track of the UCI's World Cycling Centre velodrome in Aigle, Switzerland, exactly six weeks after Voigt set the new record of 51.115km at the Velodrome Suisse.

Brandle's team estimate that he'll be able to ride around 52km after recent tests, and that he will make his attempt at 7pm on Thursday, October 30.

Brandle, who is the current national time trial champion of Austria, took two stages at the Tour of Britain earlier this year, says he is "100% focused on this project."

"After he [Jens Voigt] made his successful assault on the Hour, I thought he had fulfilled his dream," Brandle said, "and within just a few weeks I surprised myself by starting to have the same dream."

"As of today," he continued, "I do not know whether I can beat the mark or not. But as usual it will be a very personal struggle between me and the clock."

UCI president Brian Cookson said he was pleased that Brandle was taking on the challenge, as well as saying that it justifies the rule change made to the Hour Record by the sport's governing body earlier this year.

"I am delighted that a young rider [Brandle] is interested in attacking the Hour Record just weeks after Jens Voigt's stunning performance," said Cookson.

"This proves that the Hour Record has again become a dream for athletes," he added.

"This is exactly what we hoped would happen when we decided to authorise the use of track bikes with modern designs and technology."

Time trial specialists like Bradley Wiggins, Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara have all been tipped to have a tilt at the prestigious record, but as of yet none of them have set a firm date on when they might make an attempt, although Wiggins indicated he may try it in June 2015.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47bmQXlU5fU#t=28

Matthias Brandle wins Tour of Britain stage five from break

Matthias Brandle keeps peloton at bay to take solo win in Exeter on stage five of the 2014 Tour of

Bradley Wiggins to take on Hour record in 2015

Bradley Wiggins says he was inspired by Jens Voigt's new Hour record

Credit: Ulf Schiller

Jens Voigt sets new Hour Record

Jens Voigt closes career with new World Hour Record of 51.115km

Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling) stayed away in the breakaway to win stage five of the Friends Life Tour of Britain in Exeter

The 24-year-old Austrian, in 37th place (at three minutes and four seconds) in the GC before the day’s start, broke away from the four-man escape group four kilometres before the finish on the day’s final KOM, the three kilometre category 2 Stoke Hill.

It was billed as a day when yellow jersey wearer Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma–QuickStep) might attack again but the peloton’s late chase did not enable the Pole to add to his lead. Therefore his 14second advantage over Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) and 27-second advantage to Bradley Wiggins (Sky) remains intact. The top ten GC has not altered.

The day’s escape formed early on and contained Brandle (IAM), Maarten Wynants (Belkin), Shane Archbold (An Post-Chain Reaction) and Andreas Stauff (MTN Qhubeka). Archbold rolled home second and Wynants third, eight seconds behind Brandle and six seconds ahead of the peloton.

15 kilometres from the finish and the gap still had a sizeable advantage of two minutes. Knowing that there was a feasible chance of the breakaway staying away having failed to pursue earlier, the peloton’s chase workload was shared out amongst the GC teams, as well as Great Britain.

As they approached Stoke Hill with five kilometres remaining, the four-man break ascended with a lead of 59”.

Bradley Wiggins was stationed at the head of the peloton before Dylan Van Baarle (Garmin-Sharp) attacked out of the bunch and Brandle broke from the breakaway group.

Omega Pharma led at the front and caught Van Baarle. The attacks kept coming, Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) and Nicholas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo), for the third day in a row, launching brief but unsuccessful attacks.

Earlier in the stage, Mark McNally (An Post-Chain Reaction) collected the remnants of the KOM points at Mamhead and the busy Haytor, picking up an extra eight points, which make him all but certain to win the classification.

Results
Tour of Britain 2014, stage five: Exmouth to Exeter, 177.3km

1. Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling in 4-32-03

2. Shane Archbold (NZl) An Post-Chain Reaction at 8 secs

3. Maarten Wynants (Bel) Belkin at same time

4. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani at 14 secs

5. Ben Swift (GBr) Sky

6. Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing

7. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-QuickStep

8. Kevin Ista (Bel) IAM Cycling

9. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo

10. Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin-Sharp at same time

Overall classification after stage five

1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-QuickStep in 20-21-50

2. Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani at 3 secs

3. Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing at 14 secs

4. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinnkoff-Saxo at 14 secs

5. Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar at 23 secs

6. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky at 27 secs

7. David Lopez (Spa) Sky at 27 secs

8. Leopold Konig (Cze) NetApp-Endura at 29 secs

9. Sebastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling at 29 secs

10. Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar at 40 secs

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