Rohan Dennis (BMC) became the first man to beat the 52-kilometre mark as he set a new Hour Record on Sunday.
The 24-year-old beat Matthias Brändle's previous record of with a distance of 52.491 kilometres.
Fresh from winning the season-opening Tour Down Under in his home country of Australia, Dennis was looking to continue his excellent start to the season, his first full campaign with BMC following his mid-season switch from Garmin-Sharp in 2014.
The young Australian is one of a number of riders to have taken on the record, with several more attempts planned for the season ahead.
Jens Voigt preceded Brändle as the record holder before the Austrian set a distance of 51.85 kilometres at the end of last season.
Dennis' compatriot Jack Bobridge failed with his attempt a week ago, while current and former World Time Trial champions Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin are set to launch their own assaults on the hour.
Movistar rider Alex Dowsett was forced to postpone his attempt after a training crash left him with a broken collarbone.
With a gear of 56x14 on his custom BMC bike, it was clear fairly early on that the record was in serious danger as Dennis set an extraordinary tempo.
For a time it looked as though he could reach the 53-kilometre mark, but as the hour wore on the effort began to take its toll.
"I’m pretty tired but really proud," Dennis said.
"BMC made it easy. The whole week leading into this since the Tour Down Under was really stress-less, it was perfect.
"It nearly felt too easy but of course it wasn’t. It was just that they made it absolutely perfect.
"There was a lot of pain. I couldn’t really enjoy it too much to be honest," he added.
"I knew I needed to get 208 laps and once I went past it, I knew I had about two, two and a half laps still to go.
"It’s a great event and hopefully that record stands for a little while."