In advance of Bradley Wiggins’ attempt to break the World Hour Record on Sunday, The Impossible Hour, a film from Danish director Jorgen Leth is well worth a look.
Leth, renowned for making A Sunday in Hell, the brilliant documentary about Paris-Roubaix, decided to make a film about the attempt by his compatriot, Ole Ritter, to regain the World Hour Record back in 1974.
Ritter had broken the record in 1968 in Mexico City with a distance of 48.653kms, only to have it shattered by Eddy Merckx in 1972. The Belgian covered a distance of 49.431kms and described the ride afterwards as “the hardest ride I have ever done”.
The film tracks Ritter as he makes a number of attempts on the record, and is narrated by Leth himself.
