Cycling: Obree misses world hour record

GRAEME OBREE, of Scotland, yesterday failed to break the one- hour world record by 462 metres on a hi-tech cycle at Hamar, Norway, but said he would try again today.

Obree covered 50.689km (31.497 miles) in 60 minutes at the Vikingskipet track in southern Norway, the furthest distance covered near sea level, but short of the 51.151km record set by the Italian, Francesco Moser, in 1984 in Mexico, at an altitude of 2,500 metres.

'I'm very disappointed. The record can be broken,' Obree said after completing the attempt on a Reynolds cycle with triple-spoked carbon fibre wheels.

Obree, however, is determined to pip his rival, Chris Boardman, to the record and will make a second attempt today, ahead of Boardman's own attempt in Bordeaux next Friday. Boardman, training at the Bordeaux-Lac velodrome, said yesterday: 'I'm disappointed for him. It's a pity, I thought he was going to beat the record.'

The Barcelona pursuit gold medallist added he was confident he could eclipse Moser's record. 'I have been preparing for seven months and it's the only thing I have been thinking about. It will be tough but I think I can do it,' Boardman, the world record-holder at 4km and 5km, said.

It was Obree, on a cycle of his own design, who beat Boardman's one-hour British record of 49.383km on Thursday.