Looked easy for the first 40 mins or so, then started to look hard, then absolutely fucking brutal.

I was welded to the screen. I find it hard to explain why one bloke riding around a track on his own for an hour is so gripping. But it just is.

I think we need an hour record VSP…

The rule change provided a loophole, an opportunity to get into the history books, and he was the first to fill his boots and get on with it. Even for a showman like him, just watching the coverage made me nervous. The idea of being the focus of millions of people’s attention for a couple of hours, every lap, facial expression, all the warm up, the ride itself, the post-ride media. You need more than just V for that, you need some big bollocks and no mistake.

Did the modern kit confer an advantage? Yes, no doubt, even though it was a frankenstein hack road bike. Would he have broken the athlete’s hour record? Probably not, but he’d be the first to admit that. Point is, he tried it, he did it, convincingly enough for it to look good, his name is in the books, and all that data he generated will give Trek/Faboo a huge leg up when/if he fancies trying it himself.

Chapeau Jens, is what I say.

Like @Brett, I don’t have any illusions of Voigt’s history and origins.  However, part of his appeal to me is that he was – and is – human.  Unlike most other famous riders, the mythos of Voigt isn’t built upon a palmares of memorable victories, but of almosts and could-have-beens.  His legendary breakaways usually failed, his attacks were stupid even in his own words.  And yet, as sure as the sun rises, you’d see him in another crazy solo breakaway the very next day.

As mere mortals most of us hop in the fast Tuesday rides without any illusions of winning the townline sprint, but yet we still blast away on the last stretch home, bike swaying under the effort, vision blurry, legs burnings.  Personally, I can count the number of times that’s worked for me in my life on one hand, but without exception it’s fun every single time and that’s all that counts.  That’s how Jens Voigt has ridden for the last 3 decades, and that’s why I’ll miss him.

“I’d like to do the hour, do you mind?”

“Mind, why?  Oh no do it (snicker). It will be good to see what you do… It will be a good gage for my go.”

– seriously I don’t think Jens ever thought that he’d be doing more than a bench mark and given that he is not a specialist nor a top champion I think he did a great effort that showed control and power. Also at the end he had fuel left so that if he had more experience he might have done more. At 43 this was not an underwhelming effort, actually he made something that has to be the worst bitch ride look like a walk in the park.

I don’t know if the record will stand for long, now that the equipment seems to have been OKed and specialists will be able to have a crack at it and probably start setting some real peaks.

And fuck Jens. There, I said it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqjEvDlFqdM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=nqjEvDlFqdM#t=160

@Gianni Yup. Thought I would tune in and out through the hour but I sat and watched it end to end!

Same here. At 50 mins my palms were sweating. What a ride.

Can’t wait for the Wiggo/Panzer/Faboo scrap. Bring it on!

What a stud. This will get a few guys fired up.

Indeed. Step up the Panzerwagen, Spartacus, Wiggo et al. Let’s see this get competitive!

Interesting that Jens used a very standard helmet and no oversocks. Nice mix of modern materials and some “old school” stuff.

He was really killing it in the last laps. Fantastic effort.

According to the Trek guy they are seeing a real-time feed of cadence, power, HR and even drag coefficient.

54km/hr

@Rob

and the guy is hard so I’m going for a very respectable time…

I’m going for 60 mins on the dot…….

Anyone way a tickertape on here?

@Rob

and the guy is hard so I’m going for a very respectable time…

I’m going for 60 mins on the dot…….

Ho ho… I reckon 51.6km. He should be able to beat Sosenka easily, given that Sosenka was on a road bike.

Looking forward to it. I’ve never watched an hour attempt live on TV/online before – has anyone?

Were the Obree/Boardman efforts live?

and the guy is hard so I’m going for a very respectable time…

I’m going for 60 mins on the dot…….

After looking at the current records:

(a) UCI unified record (from 2014) – Sosenka  49.7

(b) UCI hour record (until 2014) – Merckx 49.431, Bordman 56.375 and Sosenka 49.7

(c) UCI best human effort (1972-2014) Bordman 56.375

(d) IHPVA/WHPVA hour record – Russo 91.556

Sosenka was sauced to the gills, Bordman was on superman/disc/ carbon and we all know what Merckxs was! So Jens seems to me to be somewhere in the middle techno wise and coming off a hard ass summer so his form is good if he is peaking… and the guy is hard so I’m going for a very respectable  time…

Go Jens!!!

“In the hierarchy of the family, I’m just above the dog. But I like it that way.”

 http://road.cc/content/news/130168-jens-voigt-reveals-hour-record-trek-speed-concept

@Rob

In the mean time I am cheering Jens on for doing something that is brave, hard man awesome and cool, just going for it. I wish him luck and am betting that he may make it

…until he announces Ondrej Sosenka is “coaching” him ?! I suspect Sir Bradley is sitting somewhere rolling his eyes and being a bit “sweary” this afternoon. As for Faboo, well he’ll just be whinging, as usual these days.

The day Faboo has a crack at the hour, he’d whinge an hour is too long if he keeps on this current path he’s on.

@Puffy

@Mikael Liddy

@Puffy Brett’s openly pointed the finger in Voigt’s direction for many a year now, there are some relevant questions being asked & what better time to ask than when there are so many platitudes being sent his way thanks to the cult following Jens has been so happy to embrace?

But’s over now. It’s done, he’s out. Nothing can be gained from it.

Oh no he’s not! Just when we thought it was safe, he’s only decided to go for The Hour! I shit you not…..

http://app.bronto.com/public/?q=preview_message&fn=Link&id=7854jrgel8vjepr0ivbzyr41ldb59&ssid=31334&t=3

http://www.trekfactoryracing.com/news/jens-voigt-targets-hour-record-september-18

Fuck yeah!

@frank am I wrong but didn’t @ Buck do this for your attempt? I nominate him to do it – he did such a good job!

(Big shit eatting smiley face)

I believe he did: http://www.velominati.com/racing/festum-prophetae-the-impossible-hour/

@wiscot

Hell, I’m rooting all the way for Jens. Whatever happened in the past, you know he’ll do this clean as the dope control boys will watch ever pedal stroke and test the shit out of his samples. Again, whatever happened in the past, Voigt isn’t going to rick something this ballsy on dope. I wouldn’t bet against him at all. Maybe we have an extra special VSP to guess the distance like we did with Frank a couple of years back?

If Jens gets the record, sure raises the bar/puts pressure on Wiggins and Fabs doesn’t it? I mean those guys would prep to the n-th degree, Jens does it as a swansong at the end of a busy season. Hell, if Obree did two attempts in two days (one incomplete, one successful) then Jens can do it. I’m stoked about this.

I doubt I’ll have time to program the system to go for time guesses but its a great idea and I’ll certainly give it my best shot!

In any case, I’m wicked stoked for this! Can’t wait to see this and hopefully it ushers in a new era of Hour attempts!

As always, I’m humbled by the amount of time you and the Keepers put into this site. If time isn’t in your favor, I’m sure we all understand. I’m sure we could all throw up our guesses on a fresh article and posters can keep track of who gets closest. Keep it fun and low key. (So says the guy whose VSP picks have been unadulterated shite all year!)

(Big shit eatting smiley face)

Hell, I’m rooting all the way for Jens. Whatever happened in the past, you know he’ll do this clean as the dope control boys will watch ever pedal stroke and test the shit out of his samples. Again, whatever happened in the past, Voigt isn’t going to rick something this ballsy on dope. I wouldn’t bet against him at all. Maybe we have an extra special VSP to guess the distance like we did with Frank a couple of years back?

If Jens gets the record, sure raises the bar/puts pressure on Wiggins and Fabs doesn’t it? I mean those guys would prep to the n-th degree, Jens does it as a swansong at the end of a busy season. Hell, if Obree did two attempts in two days (one incomplete, one successful) then Jens can do it. I’m stoked about this.

I doubt I’ll have time to program the system to go for time guesses but its a great idea and I’ll certainly give it my best shot!

In any case, I’m wicked stoked for this! Can’t wait to see this and hopefully it ushers in a new era of Hour attempts!

If Jens gets the record, sure raises the bar/puts pressure on Wiggins and Fabs doesn’t it? I mean those guys would prep to the n-th degree, Jens does it as a swansong at the end of a busy season. Hell, if Obree did two attempts in two days (one incomplete, one successful) then Jens can do it. I’m stoked about this.

In full disclosure, of my questionable “history”, for laughs during winter roller racing I got a friend to give me (this was early 80′, he was a lawyer) a little Peruvian powder and between heats I snuck off to the loo. Came out at the start of the 40 second kilo ride like I was going to break 30 seconds but by 20 to go I was just hot air.

As this was done to see if I would gain an advantage by getting something for nothing – the  lesson learned was NO.

And just for the record I was never tempted to even TRY anything in open racing except caffeine and that was a short lived experiment with CocaCola syrup in a few races. A few buddies were injecting B12 and I’m sure there was other stuff going on in the level above me, the ones who were headed to the national team, but I never saw it.

As to Faboohoo and Wiggo, well they just missed their windows of immortality!

In the mean time I am cheering Jens on for doing something that is brave, hard man awesome and cool, just going for it. I wish him luck and am betting that he may make it

…until he announces Ondrej Sosenka is “coaching” him ?!   I suspect Sir Bradley is sitting somewhere rolling his eyes and being a bit “sweary” this afternoon.  As for Faboo, well he’ll just be whinging, as usual these days.

Ok, maybe I’m strange but I can hold two concepts in my tiny brain at once. First, Yensie is just about the perfect package for this crowd in terms of hard work, taking chances and going for it when others sit back calculating their odds. Plus he is a fun, nice guy.

Part two, Jasus H. Cripes can we get over the  – they did it or did not do it thing – they all did some shite, from day one and still some are. Is Voight worse or better than others? Maybe that is the question but I do not think it is a question with an answer until everyone admits and confesses and my guess is that won’t happen unless there is amnesty. 

For me this means that I hope the trend toward clean racing grows by peer pressure at the least and from consistency from the powers above to really clamp down on the heavy abuse.

In the mean time I am cheering Jens on for doing something that is brave, hard man awesome and cool, just going for it. I wish him luck and am betting that he may make it.

@Mikael Liddy

@Puffy Brett’s openly pointed the finger in Voigt’s direction for many a year now, there are some relevant questions being asked & what better time to ask than when there are so many platitudes being sent his way thanks to the cult following Jens has been so happy to embrace?

But’s over now. It’s done, he’s out. Nothing can be gained from it.

Oh no he’s not!  Just when we thought it was safe, he’s only decided to go for The Hour!  I shit you not…..

http://app.bronto.com/public/?q=preview_message&fn=Link&id=7854jrgel8vjepr0ivbzyr41ldb59&ssid=31334&t=3

@Puffy Brett’s openly pointed the finger in Voigt’s direction for many a year now, there are some relevant questions being asked & what better time to ask than when there are so many platitudes being sent his way thanks to the cult following Jens has been so happy to embrace?

But’s over now. It’s done, he’s out. Nothing can be gained from it.

Point taken Mikael. This piece just feels like a bit of a cheap hatchet job  to me. I wouldn’t class myself as JV’s number one fan but I did enjoy watching him race.

It’s too easy to write off a fantastic career with a few paragraphs and a photo suite with Jens alongside Gunderson, Riis, O’Grady et al, surely he was worth a bit more than that? Jens did win races admittedly, but nothing like on the scale of Gunderson, who seems to be the main comparison here. I simply can’t fathom some of the comments on this piece, such as his solo escapades being a little bit sad!! Isn’t that one of the reasons that we all love this sport, watching the break form and seeing if it will last, as many of Voight’s did.

I prefer to remember the character of the man, riding 15km on a kids bike in the 2010 Tour to avoid elimination, the horrific faceplant descending the Petit St Bernard in 2009 that would have ended a less resilient rider’s career. Watching him churning a massive gear on the climbs. The time he had for the fans and his genuine warmth.

He tried to do the things that we wanted to see in a bike race, that’s not a bad legacy is it.

Nice comment about the Aussie Rules doping too. I get the p*ss taken out of me by my non-cycling mates for following these “doped-up riders” but they are kidding themselves if they think the English Premier league isn’t awash with doping.

I’d like to see Jens come clean, maybe write a book. Funny how I could probably accept the excuse “but everyone else was doing it” from Jens but not from LA.

@brett

I was going to call the article “Shut up Jens”, but maybe “Speak up Jens” is more appropriate…

Now that Jens is retired, maybe he’s got a book in the works and will tell us what he knows.

Isn’t this a given these days…. the book part…?

WOW… Man I’m showing how little I know about history and how naive I am about this kinda thing… ol’ Jensie I’ve come to think of as one cool cat and quite a lot of fun to watch race. And it never crossed my mind to think of him in this light. I don’t know, maybe all of the sh** associated with the doping and such just doesn’t confront me and leave me questioning everything.

Exactly my thoughts as well.

I also love ice hockey and I know if they started looking…a lot of those dudes would be very, very dirty. The game has gotten too fast and crazy for those guys to be just playing on ping pong training and Labatts.

Not if that book is anything like Robbie McEwen’s.

When he didn’t win it was everyone else’s fault. When he did win it was due to his awesome natural ability.

Not one word about how he won green jerseys while everyone around him doped. Not even much of a mention about how the spot came up on Radioshack riding with Lance.

It’s a miracle!

The AFL administration has its own McQuaid in Andrew Demetriou, a CEO who has left the sport in arguably its worst position ever in terms of drugs scandals, abysmal governance, fan disapproval, plummeting attendances, etc. yet he seemed to run it as his own fiefdom with a huge pay packet.

When the scandal broke, the AFL CEO directly contacted the club they were being investigated by the Federal Police. Warning the subject of an investiagtion and advising them of the police interest is a crime in most countries.

There is a player at the club called Dustin Fletcher who is similarly as old as Jens, still playing at an elite level where the physical demands of aerobic fitness and big body contact kill off men half his age. No one seems willing to question how or why this guy is still there, largely because he’s by all accounts a nice guy. The excuse is that he “reads the play well”. The odds of not doping while him being at a club under investigation for systematic and frankenstein-like medical programmes are not worth considering.

There are Doctor Fuentes and other assorted quacks running around, with nicknames like Dr Ageless.

There is an Omerta, with an ex senior Essendon player now well-paid commentator who came out early on claiming he and his team mates were merely given vitamins. Like LA, this man bullied a player who spoke out, with that player now run out of the sport (Kyle Reimers is their own version of Christophe Bassons).

A subservient media panders along, bullied by the perpetrators and golden haired hero. A major journo from New Limited has been outed as the mouthpiece of the dopers, in return for exclusives he has been casting doubt on WADA, the process and anyone else but the dopers themselves. A woman journalist who stood up to question this scandal has been called everything under the sun by the dopers and their lackeys (ala Betsy Andreu).

The main perpetrator is now back in charge, having been suspended for a year only to be sent by the club to do a MBA course in France at Fontainbleu.

Great post by the way.

Ok, as no one has jumped in, in a bad German accent:

“Shut up Brett”

+1

Cycling backwater. That is awesome.

wilburrox – I don’t even like or follow baseball, but Cal Ripken has always rubbed me the wrong way. Not sure I even know why, just seems like a selfish cunt. So yeah, consider that streak and his era, now maybe I have a reason.

The East Germans gave him one shot of something in the 1988. He was young, he had no say in the matter.

Whatever it was, that shit’s still working.

The Jensie never doped.

Not sure how I feel about this one.

While the pervasive presence of doping is clear; I have to admit, I’ve never made the jump to assume that literally all of the peloton was doping. So given I’ve never made that leap, I need something more to be convinced Jens doped. Being surrounded by dopers, a doper does not make. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be surprised, but I just don’t share the certainty others clearly feel. I also agree that the circumstances reasonably raise questions. So asking one of them – which performances are Jens’ questionable ones? I’m not seeing him inexplicably winning stages then backing up. I’m not seeing palmeres littered with victories beyond his clear talent. He won a occasionally but generally paid the price. Or am I being selective in my recollections?

All that aside – what of his responsibility tell all? I do relate to that sense that there could be some value in him coming clean about all that he must have seen. There is also a level of complicity in withholding and lying about what you know – and I’m more convinced he must have seen more than he admits to than I am that he took more than he admits to.

I tend to agree with you here. We don’t condemn every rider that was even remotely a part of that era do we? If we’re going to assume that everyone was doping, then we don’t get to pick and choose which one’s are going to be OK with us.

Just because I live in Milwaukee, it doesn’t mean that I drink beer and eat brats every day. (Well, not every day.)

I think there is a better than good chance that he did see more than he lets on, but I don’t think that he has an obligation to do a tell-all of any sort. What purpose would that serve? We all know what happened during that era. Rehashing it over and over again will NOT help move the sport forward. I’m not saying that we need to ignore it, certainly not. It happened in cycling, baseball, track and field. Pick a sport. But we have to find a way to move past it in a constructive way, and it’s not just the responsibility of the UCI or USA Cycling, it’s up to all of  us.

For me, I’m a fan of Jens. He’s funny, outgoing, and entertaining. Something that I think the sport is lacking sometimes. Plus, he gives everything he has every time he gets on the bike. I don’t think any of us can fault him for that.

While the pervasive presence of doping is clear; I have to admit, I’ve never made the jump to assume that literally all of the peloton was doping. So given I’ve never made that leap, I need something more to be convinced Jens doped. Being surrounded by dopers, a doper does not make. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be surprised, but I just don’t share the certainty others clearly feel. I also agree that the circumstances reasonably raise questions. So asking one of them – which performances are Jens’ questionable ones? I’m not seeing him inexplicably winning stages then backing up. I’m not seeing palmeres littered with victories beyond his clear talent. He won a occasionally but generally paid the price. Or am I being selective in my recollections?

All that aside – what of his responsibility tell all? I do relate to that sense that there could be some value in him coming clean about all that he must have seen. There is also a level of complicity in withholding and lying about what you know – and I’m more convinced he must have seen more than he admits to than I am that he took more than he admits to.

 but I now have Beer on tap !

Cool! This your place?

@piwakawaka

@brett

I don’t care that Jens doped. The way he vehemently denies ever even seeing or hearing over his career just insults us, his fans. That is the point I’m making. Especially when all oh his contemporaries eventually admit that “everyone was doing it”, it was “the culture”… so how does Jens expect us to believe he was the exception and not only didn’t do it, but didn’t even know about it? And to so vigourously defend Armstrong really doesn’t help his credibility.

Julian Dean, anyone?

Does he toe the same line? I’m not au fait with his stance or opinions, but would love to hear more…

Yeah , saw nothing , heard nothing , took nothing…

@brett

@piwakawaka

PS we really need to catch up for a ride…

Yep , been few and far between this winter , but I now have Beer on tap ! So ride we should , I’ll be riding Sunday 9-12 , 90-100k ?

I was going to call the article “Shut up Jens”, but maybe “Speak up Jens” is more appropriate…

Now that Jens is retired, maybe he’s got a book in the works and will tell us what he knows.

Fair point that being honest and forthright may have been one way to improve his hard man status, though I don’t know that he really needs any improvement there.

I am a Jens fan and have been for a long time. He is a man who likes to punish his bike. And he is a good interview and not afraid of the using the f word. I’ll miss him. But I agree with Brett that he could, without implicating himself, still shed some light on cycling dark past. He is old enough to know something about it.

Ok, as no one has jumped in, in a bad German accent:

“Shut up Brett”

Nice. I was going to call the article “Shut up Jens”, but maybe “Speak up Jens” is more appropriate…

“Shut up Brett”

PS we really need to catch up for a ride…

@brett

I don’t care that Jens doped. The way he vehemently denies ever even seeing or hearing over his career just insults us, his fans. That is the point I’m making. Especially when all oh his contemporaries eventually admit that “everyone was doing it”, it was “the culture”… so how does Jens expect us to believe he was the exception and not only didn’t do it, but didn’t even know about it? And to so vigourously defend Armstrong really doesn’t help his credibility.

Julian Dean, anyone?

Does he toe the same line? I’m not au fait with his stance or opinions, but would love to hear more…

I don’t care that Jens doped. The way he vehemently denies ever even seeing or hearing over his career just insults us, his fans. That is the point I’m making. Especially when all oh his contemporaries eventually admit that “everyone was doing it”, it was “the culture”… so how does Jens expect us to believe he was the exception and not only didn’t do it, but didn’t even know about it? And to so vigourously defend Armstrong really doesn’t help his credibility.

Julian Dean, anyone?