@ UCI
Dutch rider Jeffrey Hoogland crushed the men’s 1 kilometer time trial world record by almost a second yesterday, posting a time of 55.433 seconds in Mexico as he beat Francois Pervis’ 2013 benchmark.
“I don’t actually know if I’m still alive. I can’t really enjoy it yet,” Hoogland told the media after his effort. “It hurts everywhere. But I’m very happy with the world record, that’s why I came here. The fact that I am almost 1 second faster is really cool!
“I almost expected miracles here at altitude, but it was still a blast to cycle. It wasn’t until I heard the cheering at the finish that I knew it was a world record anyway.”
The 30-year-old, who had to be helped off his bike by Dutch national coach Mehdi Kordi and took on extra oxygen after finishing, told Dutch daily newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, “I can’t really enjoy it yet. It hurts everywhere but I’m very happy with the world record – that’s why I came here.
“I want my name to be at the top of the starting list for the kilometer for a number of years. It’s a legacy, something you can look back on,” said the Dutchman to De Volkskrant ahead of his record attempt. “That Hoogland rode a really hard ‘kilo’. That’s nice if you are no longer involved in the sport and it still lives on.”
“Recently everything has had to make way for this moment,” Hoogland added. “I don’t know how long my career will last, but I wanted to remain associated with the sport forever with a world record. The fact that I have now succeeded feels fantastic. I am very grateful to all the partners who have given me this opportunity.”
The men’s kilo record has only been surpassed on three occasions since France’s Arnaud Tournant became the first man to dip under a minute on the open-air track of the Alto Irpavi Velodrome in La Paz, Bolivia in 2001.
However, the discipline has not been included on the Olympic program since Chris Hoy took gold for Great Britain in 2004.
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