Victor Campenaerts believes "56 km is certainly achievable" for Filippo Ganna's hour record attempt

Former hour record holder Victor Campenaerts has backed Filippo Ganna to become the first man to break the 56km barrier when he makes his attempt at cycling's ultimate endurance test on Saturday October 8th.

The current record holder is Dan Bingham with 55.548km from August of this year. Before Bingham, the Victor Campenaerts effort of 55.089km had held the record for over 2 years. Now he believes Italy's and INEOS Grenadiers' Filippo Ganna can go even further, despite the disappointment of only a 7th placed finish at the Time Trial World Championship in Wollongong.

"An hour record is easier", Campenaerts declared, "because you can adjust yourself 100 percent on that day. You train for a long time on that track and there are no variables that you have at a World Championship, especially at a World Championship in Australia."

Despite Ganna's drop off in form during 2022, Campenaerts believes he still has more than enough to break the record, "Ganna still rides formidably, but on a lesser day is no longer on the podium. In 2020, on a lesser day, he still won, albeit with a smaller difference." He went on to add, "I am still confident that he will set the record, but it will be a little less impressive than I thought. Although he will set a formidable distance."