Sir Bradley Wiggins hailed by Dave Brailsford after new hour record

Team Sky team principal Sir Dave Brailsford praised the efforts of Sir Bradley Wiggins after he smashed the UCI Hour Record in London.

Wiggins covered a distance of 54.526km at the Lee Valley VeloPark, eclipsing Alex Dowsett’s previous best mark of 52.937km by 1.589km.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Brailsford said: "I think he rode well. It was heavy, it was a hard day to ride an hour, that’s for sure, and he dug in and ground it out. But Bradley is the king of pacing and I’m just so pleased for him. It’s his day, the crowd love him, everybody loves him. 

"He’s a magnificent athlete and it was just nice to be here and watch it all unfold. It’s one of those days when you will look back in your life and say 'I was there'. It was right up there for me. 

It kind of feels very, very special because it’s another thing that is brilliant for Britain, a great advertisement for British sport.

"It kind of feels very, very special because it’s another thing that is brilliant for Britain, a great advertisement for British sport. So it’s just a truly amazing hour really."

Dame Sarah Storey, who won 11 Paralympic gold medals in cycling and swimming, was in the velodrome as a pundit for Sky Sports.

She said: "It was absolutely sensational. "You watched him go very smoothly until maybe 45 minutes - maybe a little bit over - and then in that final 12 minutes, as he was talking about in his previous interviews, it was a place he had never been to before, a place where he really had to rally and dig deep.

“As [Wiggins' coach] Heiko [Salzwedel] said in his interview, as well, he had never seen Bradley suffer in that way before, but that’s where you find out what you are made of as an athlete and it really was absolutely sensational, very impressive.

“We saw Bradley go to a place that he has never been before as an athlete. 

"Bradley will have suffered in his life before - the Tour de France win wouldn’t have come like a walk in the park - but you do find out a lot about yourself as an athlete, what you are prepared to put yourself through, what sort of pain you are prepared to put yourself through. 

"He will go back over this ride and pick it apart with his team and decide if he’s going to do it again, I suppose."

Former track and road racing cyclist Rob Hayles, who is a close friend of Wiggins, added: "It was around 12 minutes to go, which is obviously correct in the way that he judged his effort, that his face just started to go and then it was about three minutes I couldn’t look at him anymore. 

It’s the right time for Brad in his career, he’s coming to the end of it and I’m fairly sure he will be happy with what he’s done.

"I was getting trackside, I was getting down to see his face and I was welling up. I just watched the clock, we knew he was going to get the record, it was just by how much and he wasn’t far off where he expected to be with good conditions - these weren’t great conditions for him - so it was an absolutely incredible ride."

When asked if Wiggins would attempt to break the record again, he said: "I think that’s good enough for Brad. 

"I like to think that’s enough for him, he’ll certainly be happy with that, but who knows? A rider may come along - another effort by Alex Dowsett at some point, who knows - and he’ll have another go. 

"But it’s the right time for Brad in his career, he’s coming to the end of it and I’m fairly sure he will be happy with what he’s done. 

"He knows what’s gone into this, it’s not just the hour, it’s been the weeks and the months leading up to it. I don’t know, he may have to find another team to help him because Heiko looks a fairly stressed guy and it’s been a lot of work with him."