Sir Bradley Wiggins has challenged cycling’s elite to “add more kudos” to the hour record by urging them to better him if he sets a new mark on Sunday.

Wiggins is confident he can beat the official record of 52.937km set last month by Alex Dowsett – Chris Boardman produced the all-time longest distance of 55.250km using the now-banned “superman” position – when he rides at London’s Lee Valley VeloPark on Sunday.

“I welcome competition,” said Wiggins. “Whatever I do on Sunday I hope someone goes for the record again, even if they fail. If no one attacks them because they’re frightened of failing, then the record will sit there dormant. That’s what sport’s all about.

“It will add more kudos to the record the more people that attempt it. Up to now it seems like people have been in a rush to get in there before I do it, and that’s great, but I hope it continues after this weekend.”

New rules dictate that Wiggins must use a conventional time-trial bike, a significant disadvantage to Boardman when he set his now defunct record in 1996. But the 2012 Tour de France winner remains optimistic he could eclipse Dowsett and Boardman should the air pressure and other conditions prove favourable.

Wiggins said he was aiming to join “quite a special club” of riders who have won the Tour de France and set an hour record. “It’s certainly not easy but I really enjoy doing this type of thing, just how quantifiable it is,” he said. “I find that easy mentally. Partly why I’m doing it is to put your name up there with those people who have done it before. It’s an incredibly historic record. To put your name up there, it puts you into a bracket of those who have done it and also won the Tour de France as well, which is quite a special club.”

Wiggins said training had been going well. “We’ve done a few lengthy sessions at race pace and they’ve gone well, it’s not been a slog,” he said. “That builds excitement. A month ago we were doing 40-minute blocks and we were saying ’it’s a shame it’s not on Sunday’. So we’ve just been trying not to get too carried away. Now we’re in the taper the nerves are building. But historically that’s what I’ve always done well, the execution. But now I’m going through the process of building myself up. If I was to get up and do a 4k pursuit I reckon I could get close to the world record at the moment. So I feel I’m in good shape.”

The four-times Olympic gold winner believes reaching the latter stage of his career at 35 could actually prove a boost to his chances of setting a new record.

“A lot of it is maturity as an athlete, I can train harder now than I used to,” he said. “I always used to shy away from that stuff, because I didn’t want to test myself. The only thing that really affects how fast you can go is the air pressure. It looks like it’s going to be high, and that could make a kilometre difference. That could be the difference between chasing Chris’ record. It’s doable but a lot will tell in the next few days.”