Lotto Soudal rider Victor Campenaerts smashed the UCI Hour Record previously held by Bradley Wiggins with a distance of 55.089 kilometres in Aguascalientes.

Five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner Wiggins had set the benchmark with a 54.526km ride in London in June 2015, since keeping the record amid several failed attempts to usurp him.

But Belgian star Campenaerts finally broke through and surpassed 55km in Mexico on Tuesday, before revealing his delight at joining some of cycling's great names on the all-time list.

"I'm super happy. If I look at the list that I'm in now, I'm between the greatest cyclists in history," he said.

"I focused on this for a long time, so I'm really super happy that I took the record. I'm also really happy that I could break the magic 55km [barrier].

"It was really hard, especially because I was a bit optimistic in the first 30 minutes - you have to be optimistic - and, after, it was really important to set a new pace a little bit slower.

"I think I did great. I slowed down a little bit but I think I was still a little bit faster than Wiggins at every part of the race.

"I'm really happy. I worked really hard and really long for this. The team supported me and gave me 100 per cent confidence - it was important to give a good response to that. I hope I did."

Wiggins sent his congratulations to history-maker Campenaerts on Twitter, writing: "Chapeau, Victor, my man."