Filippo Ganna smashes World Hour Record with distance of 56.792km

Filippo Ganna has broken the UCI World Hour Record with a distance of 56.792km at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland. 

The Italian, an Olympic gold medallist in the team pursuit, went 1,244m further than his aerodynamicist Dan Bigham, who set the previous record of 55.548km back in August. 

With such a dominant ride, the two-time world time trial champion also surpassed a 26-year-old ‘best human effort’ held by Chris Boardman. The Brit’s distance of 56.375km, recorded in 1996, was later chalked off by the UCI for his use of a banned ‘superman’ position, but stood as a benchmark of human ability.

Speaking after his successful attempt, Ganna said: "This result is amazing and now we think to the recovery and maybe try to celebrate all together.

"I think next time maybe I try in another part of [the] season, maybe with more fresh legs and we can go more high again."

Though he had predicted a slow start, the Italian's first lap saw him go immediately two seconds up on Bigham. He didn’t let the adrenaline get the better of him, though. Easing into his effort, Ganna stuck to his plan of a negative split and soon fell below the target time. By lap 32, he was riding at a three-second deficit on his 3D-printed Pinarello Bolide.

Ganna then began clawing back the lost time and hit record pace with just 18.75km covered. By that point, the sails were well and truly open, and the Ineos Grenadiers rider was rifling around the track, edging closer to Boardman’s best human effort. 

His 143rd lap was ridden at an average speed of 58.03km/h, exceeding the fastest lap ever clocked in an Hour Record attempt. The Italian then bettered it, and bettered it again. 

With over a minute to go, the record belonged to Ganna. He powered on to complete 227 laps of the velodrome, five more than Bigham managed two months ago. 

As he pedalled his bike to a halt, a giant grin took over the Italian's face. Ganna finished his evening by dancing along to the music blasting into the track centre, before being doused in champagne by his support team.