Shane Sutton has spoken to Cycling Weekly about Bradley Wiggins Hour Record attempt, and the failed attempt of Alex Dowsett, after he broke his collarbone training.

“I spoke to Brad the other day on this [the Hour Record] and I think he will set a marker, but it’s not going to be easy. So Brad’s going to have to work hard but if anyone’s going to set something that’s going to stand and stay up there for quite a while, I would say it’s going to be Brad for sure.”

The Technical Director of British Cycling says that Wiggins can set a huge distance if he applies the same focus that he applied to taking the World Championships Time Trial title in September last year.

“[It’s] that single minded focus that he has,” Sutton said. “Look at his ride last year at the worlds; most people thought ‘oh, Tony Martin’s the man’, but Brad just went away and with the belief he took from the Olympics and the Tour and all the rest of it, he took it into that context and he was just on another level to everybody."

But Sutton pointed out that it is not all rosy for British riders, after Alex Dowsett, who was due to make an attempt this month, crashed and broke his collarbone. Sutton says it will be hard for Dowsett to get back and make an attempt before Wiggins does, but that he is capable of doing it.

“For Alex to have that set back, he’s probably going to have to abort it for a while now, because he’ll be going into his road phase and everything else, and it does take a lot of specific work to get ready for that [the Hour Record], as you’ve seen with the training he’s done in London,” said Sutton.

“It’s a shame because this guy can time trial, he’s up there with the best on his day. He’s beaten Brad in a time trial in the Giro, he smashed it out of the park in the Commies, when they thought Dennis, who’s one of the top guys in the world, was about to win.”

“He’s got good pedigree for the Hour, and remember he started here on the boards at the academy. I would have expected Alex to have done a really, really good ride and it’s a shame.”