Alex Dowsett admitted he was put through the pain barrier as he became the first Briton since Chris Boardman to hold the Hour Record.
Dowsett produced a perfectly measured ride to break the world hour record with a distance of 52.937km in Manchester.
The 26-year-old started down on record pace but got quicker as the challenge went on and ended up beating Rohan Dennis’ existing mark by 446m.
He becomes the first Briton to hold the record since Boardman’s reign from 2000 to 2005, and he admitted it was tougher than he expected.
“I was expecting horrific and it was just terrible,” Dowsett said. “I’m not going to lie, the first 30 minutes was easy. Easy compared to what I expected.
“I knew it was going to be easy early on, but I wasn’t expecting that. I had to stay disciplined because the last ten minutes was a bit grippy.
“The coaches gave me a plan, which I didn’t like that much. Deep down I knew it was the right plan. We knew we would ride at an even pace that would actually put me behind Rohan until 45 minutes.
“I wasn’t too keen on that, so it was about the half way point that I went up because I knew I had a lot left in the tank.”
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