Victor Kampenaerts has held the UCI Hour Record for over three years, but he suspects his reign will end this week.

In fact, the Belgian is "confident" that Dan Bigum will set the 55.089 km record on Friday at noon at the Grenchen Velodrome in Switzerland.

Campenaerts, who broke Bradley Wiggins' four-year record in Mexico in April 2019, believes Bigam's involvement with Ineos Grenadiers gives him an edge. Bigum is not a full-time professional rider, but works as a performance engineer for the British team under the umbrella of the Ineos sports project that helped Eliud Kipchoge break the two-hour mark in the marathon.

"I am convinced he will break the record. Ineos is a serious company and they wouldn't support a challenge if they didn't think it would be successful," Kampenaerts told Cycling News.

"We'll find out eventually. I don't know Dan at all and I don't know what his level is right now. But I do know that he is very smart and very interested in aerodynamics.

This will be Bigum's second Hour Record attempt in less than a year, but the first time he will be eligible for an official UCI world record as he is a member of the UCI's anti-doping pool. That was not the case last October when he ran 54.723 km in Glen Hen, which, even if eligible, would have broken Wiggins' British record, although it would not have reached Campenaerts' record.

While dabbling in time trials and track racing, Bigum has used his educational background to work on a variety of projects.

"Dan is not a well-known rider, but he has a lot of experience on the track and is an expert in marginal gains.

"In the past, you had to win the Tour de France to break the hour record, but since the new rules in 2014, it's completely different. It's all about marginal gains, and I've benefited from that, but Dan is already way above my level in terms of aerodynamics."

"Dan has already tried, he is one step closer, and now he is working 24/7 at Ineos. So even if he doesn't perform better physically than last time, he can still go further."

The question is, how far can he go?

"I don't think it will be close to my record," Kampenaerts said. 'I think he will at least put at least one lap on me, which means at least 250 meters. There is also a good chance that he will approach 56 km."

Kampenaerts is cool with the prospect of having the world record taken from his hands, but is happy with his run.

"I've held the record for quite a long time. Records are meant to be broken. I'm looking forward to it."