German rider Jens Voigt has revealed that he is confident he will break the current world hour record at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen tomorrow evening.
The 43-year-old, who has been a professional cyclist since 1997, will retire from the sport after his record attempt.
"If it turns out to be 51km in the end, I'll be very happy, but we have a conservative approach to it," Voigt announced at a press conference on the eve of his last ride.
"I'm an emotional person, so one of the biggest challenges will be not to start too fast. If you aim at 50km or 51km, it feels easy for the first 10 minutes, but you've got to ride for another 50 minutes. The challenge will be not to get too excited.
"This is the thing I've been doing longest in my life. I've been married 11 years, I went to school for 12 years, but I've been cycling 36 years. It's frightening.
"I'm happy and relieved that there's no more suffering, no more training, no more pressure to perform, or fight for a position on a downhill or in a sprint. It will be a huge challenge to stop, but I've known this would happen since the start of the year, so I've had time to get myself ready for it."
The current world hour record is 49.700km, set by Ondrej Sosenka
Joe Sharratt
