Cycling: Tour de France: Obree sets world record

A HOME-MADE bike, cobbled together from a variety of unusual parts, including some taken from a washing machine, carried Britain's Graeme Obree to the world one-hour cycling record on Saturday in Oslo.

The innovative Scot covered 51.5 kilometres of the Hamar indoor velodrome, beating the nine-year-old mark set by the Italian, Francesco Moser, at altitude in Mexico by 445 metres. Persistence paid off for Obree after his failure to break the record on Friday.

'This time I just had to succeed,' said Obree who developed a unique riding style, with his chest resting on the handlebars and his back parallel to the ground. 'It's a lifetime ambition achieved. I felt my legs were going to give out but I held on.'

Chris Boardman, who used a revolutionary and vastly more expensive bike to win an Olympic pursuit gold in Barcelona, plans an assault on Obree's mark in Bordeaux, France on 23 July.