Bradley Wiggins breaks hour record at London velodrome

LONDON (AP) Olympic champion and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins added another prestigious honor to his collection on Sunday, breaking the UCI Hour Record by covering 54.526 kilometers (33.88 miles) at the velodrome in London's Olympic Park.

''That's the closest I will come to knowing what it's like to have a baby,'' Wiggins said, referring to the pain in his legs after smashing the record of 52.937 kilometers set just last month by fellow Englishman Alex Dowsett.

Wiggins took some time to recover from his exertions - then hoisted his bike above his head in celebration in front of a raucous sell-out crowd.

Wiggins became the sixth cyclist to win the Tour de France - cycling's greatest race - and break the hour record, after Lucien Petit-Breton, Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain.

''I always compare myself to the greats and I am just glad to be in the company of those guys,'' the 35-year-old Wiggins said. ''To get up there and do that . to put yourself on the line takes a lot of courage and it's a mental game as much as anything.''

The four-time Olympic champion had said he was targeting 55K, or 220 laps around the track.

It is the fifth time the record has been broken since governing body UCI changed the rules last year to allow cyclists to ride bikes that can be used for endurance track events.

In 2012, Wiggins won the Tour de France and was the Olympic time-trial champion. He has also won three Olympic gold medals on the track, and plans to compete in the velodrome again at next year's Rio de Janeiro Games.