Will Chris Boardman's record stand forever? Though the radical superman position is prohibited, there is still a chance to break Boardman's 56.375 km/h. I take Tony Rominger's 55.291 km as a reference for the best performance of a rider at sea level using the standard aero-position. Of course this would be then a "Best Hour Performance", according to the UCI rules...

Attempt at high altitude: As described on my hour record at altitude page, a track at an altitude of about 2000 m should give already an advantage of roughly 2-3 km compared to a track on sea level, the maximum improvement is reached around 3500 m. So it should be possible to reach more than 57 km/h at high altitude (see also swiss "Velo" magazine 1/95). The disadvantage is that all tracks at high altitude are outdoor tracks. It is hard to find the perfect day with the right temperature and light or no winds.

18 April 2005:
Lance Armstrong announces his retirement after the Tour de France 2005, I guess this means that there will be no attack on the hour record...

27th January 2005:
Maybe this page is NOT obsolete! It seems that Lance Armstrong wants to undertake a serious attempt to brake the world hour record. It is not clear if he is aiming for the UCI-record or for the "best hour performance", or maybe even for both? There are several articles about this on the web, check out the search engines or read this one at procycling.com

20-jul-2000:
Chris Boardman plans an hour record attempt in mid-October. It's not quite clear if he will use a UCI compatible bike or if he will be riding a "classic" bike as he is seeking to best Eddy Merckx"s 1972 record. Look at the german article in Radsport-News. 10-apr-1998:
I got a message from Tony Wells
Cycling Weekly this week has reported that Graeme Obree has abandoned his plans for the Hour as he cannot generate the power required to break the record within the UCI rules for bike design.
He now plans to attempt the recumbant Hour record, using a machine where he lies on his stomach! The current record, held by a German, is around 72km.

jan-1998:
From Greg Lunt's Graeme Obree page
Graeme Obree in hour tests
In his bid to gain selection for the 1998 Commonwealth Games. He is now well motivated and undertaking a new approach in his search to regain the coverted title of Hour Record Holder. A new diet, stamina training and the guidance of sports scientist Joe Beer are the combination in which Graeme is counting on to get him back in the spotlight.
Despite serious underfunding he is single minded about the task in hand despite Chris Boardman's promise that he would "Eat his hat" if Graeme pulled it off. The attempt is planned for sometime in May 98, with a public test in late Feb or March at Manchester Velodrome. It will last approx 20mins, approx 55kph at leat, then he will know if he is on course.
"To take the record I'm going to have to grit my teeth and then grit them some more and spit blood to make the difference. And, after doing all that, I'll either just break the record or just miss it. I might only add 10 meters to it, because I think the record is now at the edge of human ability."
Graeme Obree (Cycling Weekly)

Jevgeni Berzin, 19.10.97, Bordeaux, FRA: abandoned
After 5k Berzin was already 17" off the pace of Chris Boardman's record-breaking race, while after 10k he lagged 35". Having covered 14,850 km (59 laps) for an average speed of just below 52km/h, Berzin decided to call it a quit after just 17min had elapsed.

Koen de Koker, May 96, Manchester, GBR: 47.076 km
A quite controversial attempt. In May 1996 he attacked the world record in Manchester, after 10 months of inactivity, without any physical, medical or material preparation. He pushed a 70x12 gear (!) and rode 47.076 km in one hour. Probably he could have done much better, since he had proven to have a high power output in laboratory tests (550 Watt with 74 kg body weight).

Miguel Indurain,15.10.95, Bogota, COL: abandoned

DIST	Time	5 km-Speed (km/h)
5 km	5'29''	54.71
10 km	11'01''	54.21
15 km	16'39''	53.25
20 km	22'16''	53.41
25 km	27'52''	53.57
28 km	31'17''	52.68
abandoned

He started very fast, (at 5 km he was 1 sec faster than Tony Rominger), but then quickly lost time. Look how his speed dropped below 53 km/h at the end of his attempt. There was no chance to reach Tony Rominger's mark, I guess he would have finished around 53 km. For this attempt look also here.
It was to read that he started another attempt in Bordeaux after he returned from Bogota. This attempt was also abandoned, but I have no further information about split-times etc..

Nico Emonds, 6.12.95, Bordeaux, FRA: 52.466 km
After making 51.801 km on 13.11.95, he returned to Bordeaux to attack the 53 km mark. He could not quite reach it, but with 52.466 km Emonds is the 5th fastest rider of all times (at this time 1995).

Francesco Moser, 15.1.1994, Mexico City, MEX: 51.840 km
10 years after his record Francesco Moser wanted to return to Mexico to celebrate with some friends. But after the adaption of Graeme Obree's position (Moser added a chest-pad for more comfort) he found that he was maybe fast enough to break Chris Boardman's record.
On his first attempt he finished with surprising 51.840 km. His second attempt was abandoned due to cool temperatures and gusty winds.
He made some more tests in Bordeaux and then again in Mexico City, but all were abandoned.

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