Bradley Wiggins pedals during his attempt to break cycling's hour record at the Olympic velodrome in London on Sunday. Wiggins added the UCI world hour record to his extensive career honours tally when he smashed the mark set by fellow Briton Alex Dowsett by covering 54.526km (33.881 miles). (Reuters)
By William Fotheringham/theguardian.com
Key members of the bike and coaching team behind Sir Bradley Wiggins’s hour record have poured cold water on claims that the aerodynamic bike used to beat Alex Dowsett’s time set in May broke current equipment regulations and that he received preferential treatment from British Cycling.
Dowsett’s coach Steve Collins told BBC Essex that the bike and bars ridden by Wiggins en route to hitting 54.526km for the 60 minutes were not within current regulations.
“One of the sad bits about it was that Bradley’s bike wasn’t in production,” Collins said. “For attempts like that it should all be production available so you can buy it off the shelf. You can’t get 3D-printed handlebars moulded to your own arms to make it easier for your own attempt.”
Asked if he thought British Cycling preferred Wiggins to Dowsett, Collins said: “Oh yes, completely.”
Wiggins rode titanium handlebars custom made through a process similar to 3D printing but which others call “additive manufacturing” on the bike produced by Pinarello, the Italian bike manufacturer.
“We had to do full documentation for the UCI detailing every component; every bit of the bike and kit was approved by the UCI down to the shoes, helmet and skinsuit. The bike is fully approved by the UCI,” a source close to the Wiggins bid responded.
“The handlebars are made under a new manufacturing process, but Pinarello are offering this commercially through their MOST brand. It was the first time this had been done at this level, but a full mountain bike frame was made in this way last year, and parts for bikes have been made in this way in America, the US and Australia.”
The Bolide HR used by Wiggins to beat Dowsett’s distance by over 1.5km, can be found on the UCI website on page 14 of their list of approved frames and forks.
The entry states that the frame was registered on 21 May this year.
Custom-made titanium bars similar to those used by Wiggins can be found on the Pinarello website on page eight of a section headlined “Bolide HR’s White Paper”.
The text reads: “Standard technologies such as CNC or carbon moulding would be excessively long and expensive to produce this particular shape, so we use an additive manufacturing method also known as 3D printing to manufacture a titanium handlebar.
“The capabilities of this technology allowed to produce [sic] a small batch of handlebars, every one different from the other. This method will be used to provide a similar service to Pinarello customers via the MOST parts brand.”
Heiko Salzwedel, the British Cycling endurance coach who helped Wiggins prepare physically for the hour, rebuffed
Collins’s claim that the Olympic gold medallist had received preferential treatment from the governing body.
“I’m a GB coach responsible for anyone with a British passport and anyone who asks me will get my support.
“Brad isn’t involved with Team Sky any more, he doesn’t have the resources of a team like Dowsett’s Movistar and in his eyes this was a performance that helped him build to the Olympic Games so it was natural to help him.
“I didn’t reduce the time I spent with the team pursuit squad because they were training together; sometimes I spent more time with Brad but that would have been the same if it was Ed Clancy doing a record.
“If Alex had asked me I’d have helped him, but he didn’t. He asked for his training times at Manchester and got them free of charge.”
