Sir Bradley Wiggins smashes world hour cycling record in London

Sir Bradley Wiggins en route to smashing the hour record of fellow countryman Alex Dowsett today ©Getty Images

Sir Bradley Wiggins smashed the cycling hour record at the Lee Valley Velopark in London today, as the British cyclist set a new distance of 54.526 kilometres, adding a further 1.6km to the previous mark.

The 2012 Tour de France winner’s effort titled “#MyHour” was the latest in a series of hour record attempts, since the International Cycling Union’s (UCI) decision to ruled that the record could be broken on an aerodynamic bike last May.

Sir Bradley was aiming to surpass the distance of his fellow Briton Alex Dowsett, the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games time trial champion, who last month set a new distance of 52.937km at the National Cycling Centre, based in Manchester.

Sir Bradley rarely looked at risk of failing to extend the mark, establishing an early advantage and cruising to the new distance in front of a sell-out 5,500 crowd.

The four-time Olympic champion successful effort, was the latest triumph for a British cyclist at the velodrome, based in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which had been the scene for several gold medal performances during London 2012.

"I always compare myself to the greats, and just glad to be in the company of those guys," Sir Bradley said following the record.

"Just to get up there and put yourself on the line takes a lot of courage.

"I'm just glad it's done, that's the closest to knowing what it's like to have a baby.

"It was tortuous, you're counting down the minutes."

Sir Bradley Wiggins was up on record pace throughout his one hour long quest ©Getty Images — Sir Bradley Wiggins was up on record pace throughout his one-hour long quest ©Getty Images

Brian Cookson, the UCI President, was among those the congratulate Wiggins on achieving the feat, tweeting "The UCIHourRecord has witnessed something special tonight."

Following his successful attempt, Sir Bradley will now turn his attentions to re-joining the success British track set-up prior to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where he will hope to be part of the men’s team pursuit squad.

The 35-year-old will now hope to add to his palmarès by joining rower Sir Steve Redgrave and fellow cyclist Sir Chris Hoy in winning five gold medals at the Olympics.

Germany's three-time world time trial champion Tony Martin is a potential candidate to be the next cyclist to take on the world hour record, although Dowsett could also launch another bid to reclaim the crown.