Ashton Lambie set a blistering pace to smash the 4km individual pursuit record yesterday, posting a time of 3:59.930sec.
It is the first time a rider has ever gone under 4 minutes in the discipline. His attempt the day previous resulted in a time of 4:02sec.
The effort at Mexico’s Aguascalientes velodrome, which remains unofficial for now as we wait for confirmation from on-site officials, breaks the existing record of 4:01.934sec set earlier this year by Italian Ineos Grenadiers pro Filippo Ganna.
Mexico’s track is said to be the fastest in the world, a result of the altitude level at 5,900ft. Lambie previously broke the record here in August 2018 – his time of 4:07sec knocked three seconds off Australian Jack Bobridge’s world record set in 2011.
Speaking after his impressive effort, track specialist Lambie said: ‘Honestly, it was brutal. I’ve been doing a lot more anaerobic capacity and strength work to hit that power.’
The American rider stated his ambition to break the record after the US men’s team pursuit squad failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, with the individual event not included in the Games.
The Italian team in Tokyo won the team pursuit gold medal with a time of 3:42 across 4km with four teammates – one being Ganna, who produced a superhuman effort to pip Denmark at the line.
We wonder what the response will be…