Bradley Wiggins' Pinarello Bolide HR

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Bradley Wiggins will attempt the UCI Hour Record this Sunday at the Lee Valley VeloPark aboard a Pinarello Pinarello Bolide HR. The bike was co-engineered by Jaguar with the Italian bicycle company with Wiggins calling it "the most aerodynamic track bike I've ever ridden".

Wiggins' Bolide HR is based on Pinarello's road model with the distinctive difference of one-piece titanium handlebar and frameset for aerodynamics.

"The UCI Hour Record is the toughest challenge of human performance in cycling, where every fraction of a second matters," Wiggins said. "I've worked with Jaguar's performance engineers since 2010, and their world class knowledge and experience in aerodynamics, combined with Pinarello's expert frame building, gives me confidence that I can set a new standard on Sunday.

Jaguar's engineers took the Land Rover to create a claimed overall aerodynamic performance increase of 7.5%. The engineers also used the same design methods of the Jaguar XE, the company's “most aerodynamic car”, with all the components of the bike examined for possible improvements.

The bike features a one-piece handlebar system created with Laser Sintering Technology with Wiggins' arm position optimized to reduce drag. The designers also narrowed the fork, bringing it closer to the front wheel in order to improve the air flow on the down tube and bottom bracket area along with the re-shaping of the chain ring and hubs for further aerodynamic benefits.

"Jaguar has a talented team of engineers with a great depth of aerodynamic knowledge, so we're very proud to be able to work on this collaboration with Pinarello," said Principal CFD Aerodynamicist at Jaguar Land Rover John Pitman. "Applying this level of engineering capability and analysis to the development of bikes is still very new in cycling, and showcases the industry-leading expertise and facilities we have at Jaguar Land Rover."

Pinarello has a history of creating bikes for the UCI Hour Record having last done so for Miguel Indurain, Wiggins' childhood cycling hero, in developing the Pinarello Espada for the seven-time grand tour winner.

"I'm extremely honoured to be involved in creating this special Bolide HR for Bradley's Hour Record challenge, twenty years after the last model we designed for Miguel Indurain," said Pinarello CEO Fausto Pinarello. "Our relationship with Bradley, as well as Jaguar during our years as fellow partners of Team Sky continues to ensure Pinarello are creating world class, high performance bikes."