Disgraced doctor, Michele Ferrari, has written on his blog about Bradley Wiggins’s successful Hour Record attempt at the weekend, and feels that a mistake was made by the Briton’s support team that could have affected Wiggins’ performance.

On Sunday, Wiggins extended the record previously held by compatriot Alex Dowsett to 54.526kms, but it had been felt by many that 55 kilometres was within his reach. Last month, Dowsett had set a distance of 52.937kms.

In a blog article entitled ‘The Hour of Wiggins’, Ferrari states:

“In my opinion, it was the high temperature (28-30°C), artificially raised by his staff, to be responsible for the rhythm being always lower than the preset speed in the timetable and the decline in the second part of the effort. Similarly, the high temperature (30°C) was in my opinion the reason of Thomas Dekker’s failure at altitude, in Mexico, a few weeks ago.”

The Italian helped to make a name for himself in the sport, when he worked with Francesco Moser back in 1984 on his successful World Hour Record bid. In all, Moser made seven attempts on the record, and Ferrari also worked with the Swiss rider, Tony Rominger who made two attempts on the record.

Ferrari goes on to say that he feels the ideal temperature for the record attempt is 21-23°C, and that this is the reason why many successful record attempts have been made between September and November. Ferrari was issued with a lifetime ban from professional sport in July 2012, following on from a charge by USADA of administration and trafficking of prohibited substances.

You can read his full blog entry at www.53×12.com

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