"Breaking the record is wholly possible" - Current Hour Record leader Dan Bigham on assisting "teammate" Ganna to success
Cycling
Dan Bigham is a performance engineer for INEOS Grenadiers, who has become this August the new Hour Record title holder. His "teammate", Filippo Ganna, will be on the track this Saturday to try and improve the time, with Bigham's assistance included.
In an interview with Cyclingnews, Bigham talked about how "I think it's unique in the history of the Hour Record that the guy who holds the record is also the guy who's trying to help somebody else to break it." It will indeed be an unique situation, but one where INEOS Grenadiers win on both scenarios.
Bigham has talked about Ganna's attempt, and the preparation that is being finalized towards his decisive effort this Saturday in Grenchen, Switzerland - where Bigham's time was set. "All the testing, optimising, position, equipment, pacing, warm-up strategies, the mental approach... all that kind of stuff is coming off the back of mine and the studies we'd done to really pull it apart," he says.
The experience the team have gathered from his attempt will be valuable, and Ganna is expected to further improve the time. "Breaking the record is wholly possible. He wouldn't take to the start line on Saturday if it wasn't," the Briton confirms.
One aspect that has been special for this attempt was the build of a 3D printed frame designed for Ganna's effort. "It was a great process developing the bike in that way. It was a very open design process. The 3D printing made it a lot easier too. Normally you're constrained with carbon fibre and what you can do. But we had a lot of freedom," the current title holder said regarding that.
Ganna hasn't had the most successful season up to date, lacking strong results at the Tour de France and the World Championships - aswell as the Europeans, but he's looking to turn his luck around with a year-long project that's soon to be culminated.
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⚫️⚫️🟢⚪️🔴⚫️⚫️ A modern classic 🤩. @GannaFilippo looks ready for the #UCIHourRecord. Check out his new @bioracer jersey and order yours here: store.ineosgrenadiers.com/collections/fi…
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