page_title: Jens Voigt
section_title: Hour record
hierarchical_section_title: Jens Voigt / Hour record
caption_attribution_description: English: Jens Voigt - Hour Record - bike (details)
context_page_description: Jens Voigt is a German former professional road bicycle racer and, upon retirement, became a cycling sports broadcast commentator. During his cycling career, Voigt raced for several teams, the last one being UCI ProTeam Trek Factory Racing. Voigt wore the yellow jersey of the Tour de France twice, though he was never a contender for the overall title owing to the mountainous nature of the stages of the race being better suited to climbing specialists. His career achievements include winning the Critérium International a record-tying 5 times and a number of one-week stage races, as well as two Tour de France stage victories. In September 2014, he set a new hour record.
  Among cycling fans, Voigt was generally popular, both for his aggressive riding style and his affable, forthright and articulate manners in dealing with the public and media. He speaks fluent French and English, in addition to his native German.
context_section_description: It’s a huge challenge for me, both physical and mental. [...] We have been doing some discrete tests in the velodrome in Roubaix prior to the Dauphiné [cycling race] and we believe that I have a fair chance.
  — Jens Voigt
  On 3 September 2014, Voigt announced that he would try to beat the UCI hour record of 49.7 kilometers held by Ondřej Sosenka. The record attempt took place on 18 September 2014 in the Vélodrome Suisse in Grenchen. Jens Voigt's plans to attempt the record were hatched in June 2014 and followed some of the planning that was made for Fabian Cancellara's possible crack at the record. At 43 years old, Voigt had to work on his position on his bike to improve his aerodynamics. The bike on which the German rode was revealed on 12 September 2014. The attempt occurred on the day after Voigt's 43rd birthday and was broadcast live by Eurosport and the UCI channel on YouTube. Prior to the attempt, some prominent cycling personalities such as Bradley Wiggins, Eddy Merckx and Chris Boardman expressed the opinion that Voigt had a fair chance of beating the 49.7 km mark.
  The record attempt was successful. In front of an audience of 1600 people, Voigt rode 51.110 kilometers during the course of an hour, beating the previous record by 1.410 kilometers. He reached the previous mark on the 199th lap of the velodrome, with 1:28 remaining. Voigt used a modified version of the Trek Speed Concept frame, with dual disc wheels and standard aero bars. He also used a front gearing of 54 teeth and a rear gearing of 14 teeth. Voigt stood up on his machine a couple of times during the event. He was faster at the end of the attempt, as he covered some laps (250 meters) in under 17 seconds. Voigt is the oldest rider to ever beat the record and his average power output was 412 watts. He is also the first German to hold the record. The UCI president, Brian Cookson, believed that this event could be the start of a cascade of attempts by other riders who perform well in time trials.
  I gave it everything in the last 20 minutes. I knew that I still had the energy, that I was ahead of the mark. I felt euphoric – it was the last 20 minutes of my sporting career.
  — Jens Voigt
  Setting the hour record capped a 17-year career in which he is estimated to have bicycled 850,000 km (ca. 528,000 miles). Voigt's record stood until 30 October 2014, when it was broken by Austrian cyclist Matthias Brändle.
caption: Detail of Voigt's custom Trek track bike used for the record
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