Dekker falls short in Hour Record attempt

Thomas Dekker came close to breaking the Hour Record distance of Rohan Dennis (BMC), but fell just shy of the mark set by the Australian. Dekker rode 52.221 km in the 60-minute test on the velodrome at Aguascalientes, Mexico, just under the 52.491 set by Dennis at sea level in the Velodrome Suisse earlier this month.

The results is unofficial, due in part to confusion over the clock and lap count at the track, but also because the UCI must ratify the results.

"It is a pity that I have not broken the record," Dekker said, according to Telegraaf.nl. "I knew ahead of time that Dennis had put in a very good performance and that it would be very difficult. Unfortunately my effort was not good enough, but I couldn't do anything more than this. You always demand the best of yourself and this was the best that I could do."

Dekker went out quickly in his attempt, looking set to break Dennis' record at the halfway point. But his lap times began to creep up, and it was clearly going to be very close until the final minute. In the end, the Dutch rider fell shy by just 270m.