Filippo Ganna drove himself into the history books last Saturday. In Switzerland he smashed the world hour record. The Italian drove 56,792 km in 60 minutes: no less than 1,244 km further than the distance of Dan Bigham.
“I was surprised,” Alex Dowsett told VeloNews. “While we all knew Ganna’s net worth, I didn’t expect him to set the record like this.”
“What the Italian is doing is at the limit of human performance. Being able to make the difference between 56 and 57 km/h after all those laps is very punishing,” the 2015 world hour record holder knows from personal experience.
Dowsett doesn’t see it happening right away to top Ganna’s record. “I’m going to upset the whole of Belgium, but I can’t see who can break it.”
The Briton also gives a good reason for this: “The experience in track cycling has a major influence.”
“Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel have no experience on the track. Even though they belong to the strongest time trialists of the moment, that will be decisive at the finish.”
“Should Remco focus on track cycling, it might be possible in the future because of its natural aerodynamics,” says Dowsett. “Although that’s just speculation.”
