Bäckstedt going for Derny Hour record

In exactly one month, 30 year-old Liquigas-Bianchi rider Magnus Bäckstedt will attack the current Derny Paced Hour Record. The 2004 Paris-Roubaix winner, back after the Vuelta a España and the World Championships, is starting a special training on the Welsh track of Newport, where on Saturday October 29 he will try to break the officially recognized record of 66,114 km.

"I finished the Vuelta in a very good shape," Bäckstedt said before flying to the U.S. Interbike Show in Las Vegas, from which he will return next week. "I'm ready to start the tough derny paced training in the Newport Velodrome. The secret is joining rhythm and power: I will do my best to beat Pronk's record," the tall Swede added.

The first derny paced hour recordman was Jean Bobet in 1953. The current record holder is Dutch Matthé Pronk that last November in Alkmaar covered 66,114 km in one hour: 1,568 more than Belgian Theo Verschueren, who had covered the greatest distance since 1970.