British track cyclist Jessica Disley broke the women’s UCI Derny Hour Record on Friday afternoon with a staggering distance of 60.160km.

In doing so, she beat the previous benchmark by almost 8km, and surpassed Filippo Ganna’s unassisted world best by more than 3km.

The UCI Derny Hour Record is a separate category of the legendary effort which involves two riders on the track: one on a standard bicycle, and the other motorpacing on a derny.

Disley set her record inside Newport's Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales with derny rider Tony Cassidy.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly an hour after her record-breaking feat, Disley, who works for aerodynamics company AeroCoach, described the effort as “pretty wild”.

“It’s massively overstimulating behind the derny,” she said. “You’re going so fast, you’ve got the speed, the wind, some of the fumes from the derny as well. The concentration and the arm pain are the biggest things. The G-force pushes you into the banking at that speed; that’s the thing that’s the most painful – the upper body, arms, triceps, shoulders, everything.”

It took only a handful of laps of the 250m track for the 35-year-old to get up to world-record pace. With seven minutes to spare, she surpassed the previous benchmark, and took aim at the 60km barrier.

“Ganna’s record was 56[.792km], so I thought, ‘If I don’t do 60km, but I can beat Ganna’s record, that’d be cool’,” she said. “And then Magnus Bäckstedt did a 58.250km at Newport behind a derny in 2005, so my next goal was that.

“[To break the record] like this, adding a decent chunk onto the record, and doing what I really wanted to do, is the best case scenario,” Disley added.

An accomplished time triallist, The Worcestershire-based rider’s first taste of derny racing came last June when she competed at the Welwyn DernyFest, “and absolutely loved it”.

She then went on to place fourth at the British Derny Championships in London in October, where she and her derny pacer agreed to have a tilt at the Hour Record.

“Since then, it’s just been training for this,” Disley said. “I did a mixture of track sessions with Tony, building up the length of time at the pace I wanted to do.

“I also did other general track sessions to get stronger, heat training on the turbo – jacket on and heating on – and a few rides outside where I was doing an hour straight at a power well above what I needed to do for the record.”

Compared to the unassisted Hour Record, power is not as crucial when motorpaced, Disley explained, saying it feels “very different”.

“Heart rate is the main thing,” she said. “The physiological effort of concentrating on everything for an hour just means your heart rate’s massively higher than it would be for the same power outside.”

A lot of that concentration is spent on riding just centimetres from the derny rider’s wheel. For Disley, this is the hardest part.

“If you were doing an [unassisted] Hour Record by yourself, and you were struggling at some point, you could slightly ease off, have a little micropause, and then go again,” she says. “You can’t do that when you’re behind the derny because you’ll get dropped. If you ease off even a fraction, the derny is gone and that’s it.”

Did Disley ever feel like she might lose the wheel? “Yes, definitely,” she laughed. “If that had been a training session that wasn’t a critical one, I would absolutely have bailed.”

Instead, she held on for more than 240 laps of the track, at a blistering 60kph, and put her name at the top of the honours list.

“I think it should be quite difficult for someone to beat that now,” she said. “I just wanted to feel like I’d done as well as I could do, and Tony did as well, and we’ve done that.”

The previous women's UCI Derny Hour Record was 52.406km, set by South African Adélia Neethling in 2016. The men's record is 66.639km and belongs to Dutchman Maas van Beek.

British cyclist Charlie Tanfield fell three kilometres short of breaking Filippo Ganna’s UCI Hour Record on Thursday.

The 28-year-old rode a distance of 53.967km during his attempt inside the velodrome in Konya, Turkey. Ganna’s benchmark, which has stood since October 2022, remains at 56.792km.

Tanfield’s distance makes his effort the seventh furthest Hour Record of all time. He is also the fourth fastest Brit, behind Bradley Wiggins, Alex Dowsett, and the national record holder, Dan Bigham (55.548km).

Speaking before his attempt, Tanfield explained that he planned to use a ‘negative split’ strategy, meaning he would start below record pace, before then trying to speed up in the second half of his effort.

The Brit rode his fastest 250m lap around 19 minutes into his attempt, clocking 15.887 seconds. He then began to slow slightly around the 38-minute mark, and by 44 minutes in, his lap splits were up above 17 seconds.

A former track world champion, Tanfield began preparing for the Hour Record shortly after last summer’s Paris Olympics, where he won a silver medal as part of Great Britain's team pursuit squad.

During his training, he spent time at altitude in Andorra, and carried out turbo trainer sessions in a tent in his garden, riding at a temperature of 45°C.

“It’s a beast,” he said of the challenge. “It’s such a hard event that unless you are passionate about it, I really don’t think you would be willing to put yourself through the suffering and the preparation you have to do to actually get to the start line.”

Asked if he had a target distance in mind, Tanfield said it was “quite up in the air”.

“I’ve done a lot of training on slower kit, so it’s quite hard in your head [to know] what’s going to be race pace, the conditions in Konya – the air density is so much lower – it’s very hard to map that out.”

The track in Konya is located at 1,200m altitude – 750m higher than the velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland where Ganna set his record.

Tanfield completed his attempt on a Hope-Lotus HB.T bike, specially designed for the Paris Olympics. He also wore a new skinsuit.

Earlier in the day, para-cyclist Will Bjergfelt broke an 11-year-old benchmark in the C5 UCI Hour Record. The Brit rode a distance of 51.471km, and became the first para-cyclist in history to break the 50km barrier.

There will be one further record attempt on Thursday afternoon, as part of the event organised by British Cycling; track sprinter Matthew Richardson will try to become the first rider to go below nine seconds in the flying 200m.

Great Britain’s Will Bjergfelt broke the UCI Hour Record in the C5 classification on Thursday, and became the first para-cyclist in history to pass the 50km barrier.

The 46-year-old rode a distance of 51.471km on the velodrome in Konya, Turkey. In doing so, he beat the previous record – 47.569km, set in 2014 by Italian Andrea Tarlao – by almost four kilometres.

“[I feel] amazing, it’s not quite sunk in yet really,” Bjergfelt said afterwards. “Whilst I was going round the track and everyone was cheering at the end there, it started to hit home. I don’t think it’s quite hit home yet that I’ve smashed the world record on the track and that’s a dream come true.” 

Speaking before his attempt, Bjergfelt said he was “pretty confident” in his ability to set a new record.

“I definitely want to see if I can crack 50km, and if I do, I’ll be the first para-cyclist to break that barrier. That will be something that’s pretty special,” he said.

In 2015, Bjergfelt was hit head-on by a car, and shattered his right leg. Having previously ridden for UCI Continental teams, he returned to cycling shortly afterwards, and received a C5 para-cycling classification, given to those with ‘least impairment’.

He then went on to become the first para-cyclist to compete in the Tour of Britain, and later a road world champion, winning the C5 event in Glasgow in 2023.

“I want to put out there that, even if you do have an impairment or a slight disability, there’s so many amazing things that you can do, and it shouldn’t hold anyone back,” Bjergfelt said.

“If you’d like to do it, crack on and do it. I want to try and inspire people really to get involved.”

In preparing for his Hour Record, the Brit focused on heat training, completing indoor turbo sessions while dressed in full winter kit.

He had never previously ridden on the track in Konya, which is at 1,200m altitude, and benefits from decreased air density, thus reducing aerodynamic drag.

For his attempt, Bjergfelt competed for the first time on GB’s Paris Olympics bike, the Hope-Lotus HB.T – “the fastest bike I’ve ever ridden on the track,” he said.

“The Hour Record in para-cycling has stood for a long time now, 2014, and since then, aerodynamics have advanced massively,” Bjergfelt said before his attempt. “I feel like I’ll be in a very, very good place to forward the record on and push it on and make it something big again.”

There will be two further record attempts from British cyclists in Konya on Thursday; Charlie Tanfield will try to break Filippo Ganna’s benchmark in the UCI Hour Record, and track sprinter Matthew Richardson will attempt to become the first person in history to go below nine seconds in the flying 200m.

Altitude training in Andorra, turbo sessions in 45°C heat, and a lifetime’s worth of revision have all gone into Charlie Tanfield’s latest bid to join cycling’s history books.

This Thursday, the 28-year-old will attempt to break the UCI Hour Record, a benchmark held by Eddy Merckx, Bradley Wiggins, and most recently Filippo Ganna, whose 56.792km, set in 2022, remains the distance to beat.

For Tanfield, holding the record, and joining the list of greats, is a career dream. “I’ve watched every single attempt in the modern era. I could tell you the way that they rode them, and the splits they were riding, too,” he says.

“A lot of things have changed over the years, but the thing that’s stayed the same is the idea that I would do it at some point. I’ve got the opportunity now, this year after the Olympics, to focus on it and give it my best shot.”

A former world and European champion in the team pursuit, and Olympic silver medallist, Tanfield will make his Hour Record attempt inside the velodrome in Konya, Turkey – at 1,200m altitude – as part of a special event organised by British Cycling.

It’s a goal of his that dates back to 2018, he explains over a video call, when he used to pore over the data needed to break Wiggins’s then benchmark with his housemate and team-mate at the time, Dan Bigham.

“Dan would have his spreadsheets and stuff. We’d put in the numbers and fantasise about how fast you could go over the hour. That sounds so sad,” Tanfield laughs, “but it did light a spark in me that it could be a thing I could do in the future.”

Bigham himself would go on to break the record in 2022, then an engineer at Ineos Grenadiers, creating a blueprint for Ganna’s attempt. The Brit's distance of 55.548km is still a national record.

Have the two friends spoken about Tanfield’s bid? “There’s been a bit of banter,” Tanfield says, but no advice or help; instead he has decided to carve his own path – “I quite like to learn things for myself. It’s quite important that I develop as a rider myself through this process.”

That process began shortly after the Olympics in Paris last August. Used to riding four-minute events, Tanfield began working on extending his threshold power, with his sights set on the Hour.

“My preparation has been a mixture of heat training and altitude, and not as many track sessions as you probably think,” he says.

Earlier this year, he went to Andorra, where he stayed in the apartment of British Cycling coach Cameron Meyer. “I was basically riding down the mountain, training on the turbo trainer, then riding back up the mountain, back up to 2,200m, where I was staying,” Tanfield says.

When he returned to the UK, he then trained inside a heat tent in his back garden. “When the sun’s out it’s pretty hot – it’s like 45 degrees in there,” he says.

“The heat is a massive part of dealing with it… [During the attempt] your core temp starts to get quite high by 40 minutes, 45 minutes, so that’s the make-or-break point at which you either fail or you manage it to the finish,” he adds.

As such, Tanfield will be setting out with a ‘negative split’ strategy, meaning he’ll start below record pace, and then speed up in the second half of his effort. “It doesn’t make sense to go out flatline, because you will just overheat,” he says. “As soon as your core temp gets up to like 38, 39 degrees, you’re losing 20 or so watts off your threshold. It really compromises you.”

When Ganna set his record in October 2022, he did so in Grenchen, Switzerland, on a specially developed, 3D-printed Pinarello Bolide F HR bike, fitted with custom components galore.

Tanfield’s set-up will be similar to the one he rode to team pursuit silver at the Paris Olympics – a Hope-Lotus HB.T bike – plus a new skinsuit.

“Currently it’s quite up in the air,” he says, asked about his target distance. “I’ve done a lot of training on slower kit, so it’s quite hard in your head [to know] what’s going to be race pace, the conditions in Konya – the air density is so much lower – it’s very hard to map that out.”

Still, now with less than 24 hours before he turns his first pedal strokes, Tanfield’s positive he’s in the form of his life.

“It’s a beast, it’s such a hard event that unless you are passionate about it, I really don’t think you would be willing to put yourself through the suffering and the preparation you have to do to actually get to the start line,” he says.

For him, that journey has been “a very rough road”.

“There have been a lot of times where I’ve thought, ‘What the hell am I doing? This is absolutely outrageous.’ It’s so difficult. I cannot describe how hard the mark has been set up. But as I’ve got closer and closer, I’ve got a little bit more confident. It’s exciting, just to see exactly how quick I can go.”

If Tanfield breaks the record, he’ll follow in a more than 30-year line of Brits to have done so, including Graeme Obree, Chris Boardman, Alex Dowsett, Wiggins, and his friend Bigham.

“It’s a really iconic event, and the history of the people who have done it over the years, they’re all, within their own right, legends of the sport,” Tanfield says. “They’re all the best riders of their generations, really, all the top guys. It would be cool to compare myself against those and give it my best shot.”

Tanfield will begin his UCI Hour Record effort at 10:15 UK time in a behind-closed-doors event in Konya, Turkey. There will be no live stream of the attempt.

During the same event, track sprinter Matthew Richardson will try and break the flying 200m world record, while para-cyclist Will Bjergfelt will attempt the UCI Hour Record in the C5 category.

Vittoria Bussi broke the UCI Hour Record for a third time in her career last weekend, a feat she dedicated to her two cats, Gauss and Chanel.

The Italian, who previously held the record of 50.267km, nudged her benchmark out by a further 188m, covering 50.455km on Saturday in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Afterwards, Bussi posed for photos inside the high-altitude Velodromo Bicentenario, holding two large images of her cats above her head. She later wrote on Instagram: “To Gauss and Chanel. To our love, to the life that was and to the life that will come.”

A PhD level mathemetician, Bussi first broke the UCI Hour Record in 2018, when she set a distance of 48.007km that stood for three years. She returned to the challenge in 2023, financing her attempt through a personal crowdfunding campaign, and going on to become the first woman to surpass the 50km mark.

“I can say with a smile that I contributed to the history of the UCI Hour Record for women,” Bussi said after her latest feat.

“This record has always been really special to me as an athlete and as a person, and I hope I have transmitted to young generations and people that sport is not just an athletic performance but that athletes bring messages to the world.

“The Hour taught me that one of the most important things in life is to understand the preciousness of time in every single instant of our life."

Born in Rome, the 38-year-old began cycling in her mid-twenties, after starting a maths doctorate at Oxford University. She raced for Italian trade teams in 2014 and 2015, but felt uneasy riding in the bunch, so turned her attention to individual efforts.

When Bussi broke the UCI Hour Record in 2023, she travelled with her two cats, with whom she said she shared a “love story”.

“It's hard to put into words how often these two animals have saved me from a little too much crying,” she wrote at the time, “how much they've filled the void of being away from home, and how much they have filled my life with their spoiled cat whims.”

The Italian announced her retirement from cycling last September, before revealing plans to return to hunt two records: the UCI Hour Record, for a third time, and the 4km distance record. The latter is currently held by Great Britain’s Anna Morris, who clocked 4:24.060 at the British National Track Championships in February.

Women’s UCI Hour Record holder Vittoria Bussi has announced plans to try and break two world records later this month.

The Italian, who shared news of her retirement last September, will return to the track and attempt to better her own record in the Hour again on 9 May. She will then take aim at the women’s 4km individual pursuit record, which stands at 4:24.060, and is held by Great Britain’s Anna Morris.

Both attempts will take place at altitude at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico. It was there that Bussi, a PhD level mathematician, last broke the Hour Record in October 2023, riding a distance of 50.267km, and making history as the only woman to surpass the 50km benchmark.

“I am over the moon thinking that I will have the chance to attempt to break the UCI Hour Record presented by Tissot again in my life,” Bussi said. “I can say that I started my real cycling career with this record, so it will be the perfect dream to finish it with another record.”

Born in Rome, the 38-year-old began cycling in her mid-twenties, after starting a maths doctorate at Oxford University. She raced for Italian trade teams in 2014 and 2015, but felt uneasy riding in the bunch, so turned her attention to individual efforts.

Bussi first broke the Hour Record in 2018, holding it for three years, before she was beaten by Great Britain's Joss Lowden.

With little financial backing, the Italian’s 2023 Hour Record attempt became reality thanks to a personal crowdfunding campaign, which exceeded its €10,000 target by over €2,000.

Bussi announced her retirement from cycling in September 2024, following an unsuccessful attempt at the 3km individual pursuit record. Her comeback is now scheduled for Friday 9 May.

“To me, [the Hour] record has meant much more than just a sport performance, it actually helped me in the darkest period of my life, so I am deeply and sincerely thankful to all the people who supported me during all these years, as an athlete but most of all as a person,” she said.

“It will be the most challenging Hour of my career as it has been prepared together with the individual pursuit, my other (very different!) love. I think it would be a beautiful historical moment for women’s cycling to be able to hold both the records at the same time, so I am honored to try!”

Donations can be made to Bussi's record-hunting via her GoFundMe page.

Walter Fowler’s family are so used to his record hunting that there’s little surprise when he tells them he’s targeting more. “It’s passed off casually,” the 90-year-old chuckles. Still, come next year, he knows they’ll all be on his side when he looks to add another four to his collection.

A great grandfather, Fowler is hoping to set new benchmarks on his track bike in the 200m, 500m, 2km pursuit and the Hour. They’re all records he has held in different age bands throughout his career, and, as determined as ever, he’s now after them in the 90-94 bracket.

In fact, had back pain not kept him away, he may even have swept up a few at the Masters Track World Championships last month. “When you get to 90, you have to wrap yourself in cotton wool, to some extent,” he tells Cycling Weekly. “I thought it would be better to solve the back problem and train for a return next year.

“I’m training now. I’m training indoors, mainly, because I don’t like getting cold and wet. When I go on the turbo, I’m at it for about an hour each time, and that’s at least three times a week, maybe sometimes four times a week.”

Currently, the records for the 200m, 500m and 2km pursuit are all vacant in Fowler’s age category. The 90-94 Hour record stands at 34.498km, set by American Carl Grove in 2019. If Fowler’s to break it, he estimates he’ll need to train for six months, in which time he’ll have to do all the planning, too.

“I have to make all the arrangements separately, independently, with the commissaires, timekeepers and so on,” he explains. When he set the 80-84 record in 2015, and the 85-89 record in 2019 – which he still holds – he did so during the lunch interval at the British Masters Cycle Racing (BMCR) Track Championships. “I was the entertainment,” he says. “It worked very well, because I had a full audience.”

Born in 1934, Fowler first took up cycling when he was 15, at the Preston Park Velodrome in Brighton. He enjoyed touring on his bike throughout his adult years, and returned to the track in 2007, then in his early 70s, when he was convinced by “the youngsters” in his club to sign up to the Masters World Championships. He obliged, and the following year travelled alone to Sydney, Australia, where he won his first world title.

Ever since, Fowler has kept a sporting CV of his achievements. The document today boasts three Masters world titles, 12 gold medals across the BMCR and British Cycling National Championships, and a handful of age-specific world records. His most recent record in the Hour, set five years ago, is 34.602km – just 100m further than Grove’s 90-94 best he’s hoping to beat.

“If I had doubts that I was in the running, I probably wouldn’t bother,” he says, “so I have to be confident that I could do it, provided my body holds up.

“Now there’s the rub. When I got to 85, everything hit me. A GP once said to me, ‘You may have the body of a younger man, but that doesn’t mean things won’t fall apart inside.’ And at 85, that came true,” he continues. “It’s natural for me to be continuing to do sports in the best way that I can, as far as my body will allow. I’m not able to predict how long that will last.”

Like a lot of people his age, Fowler hasn’t been without his health scares. He has suffered from cataracts in his eyes, hearing problems, and in 2010, underwent bladder cancer surgery. Late last year, he was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, a condition that weakens the muscles and causes numbness in the fingers and toes.

“It’s very difficult to know what caused it,” he says. “In my case, I’ve no idea. I was a fit person, doing all the proper things, eating properly and exercising daily. My bloods are always good, I have low cholesterol and all the usual things, and yet, I went down with a nerve condition.”

Such a diagnosis might spell the end of a cycling career for many. But Fowler has always prided himself on his resolve. “If anything, it’s causing me to dig deeper,” he says.

“I’m firmly convinced that exercise is the way to hold this problem at bay, and it’s also a way to keep me in the mood and in the groove for continuing what I’ve been doing successfully for 15 years. If anything, it’s making me more determined.

“There are times when I feel like giving up, because I’m not getting anywhere with doctors or in my own mind working out how it’s occurred and what to do. Sometimes I feel defeatist. But I always come back again and continue working, because it’s the only thing I can do.”

And so, like the wheels on his bike, Fowler’s record hunting rolls on. He will have multiple opportunities to go after his latest set in 2025; there's the BMCR Track Championships, the British Cycling National Masters Track Championships, both typically held in September, and the Masters World Championships, scheduled for the start of October in Roubaix, France. If for any reason he falls short, there’s always 2026, 2027 and 2028, by which time he will be 94.

Fowler knows there aren’t many his age who do what he does. Does he ever have any thoughts about cutting back his cycling? “Oh no, no, no. Indeed not. No, I don’t want to slow down,” he says adamantly. “Sport for me, and trying to win championships and individually get records, it’s part of my reason for living, you know. It makes life worthwhile.

There’s also a deeper force that keeps him motivated. “My wife died in 2014, 10 years ago, and at the time – we might have expected that something like that would happen – it was agreed that I would carry on, in the way I always had,” he says. “That’s always on my mind, that I’m keeping my promises from that time. I have missed her every day since.”

Walter Fowler has requested that anyone with advice for managing peripheral neuropathy kindly get in touch. Emails sent to this article’s author, tom.davidson@futurenet.com, will be forwarded on.

The women's Hour Record holder, Vittoria Bussi, has ended her career "with bitterness in my mouth" following an unsuccessful world record attempt.

The Italian, now 37 years old, spent last weekend in Aguascalientes, Mexico, trying to break the 3,000m individual pursuit record, which stood at 3:16.937, set by the USA's Chloé Dygert in 2020.

Bussi clocked 3:19.787 in Mexico, a new Italian record, before announcing her retirement on Instagram. 

"I end my career like this," she wrote, "not on the peak of glory, but with bitterness in my mouth. In the end, movies with happy endings are kinda boring, right?"

In October last year, Bussi became the first woman in history to go beyond the 50km mark in the Hour Record. The then 36-year-old managed a distance of 50.267km, also in Aguascalientes, reclaiming the title that she had previously held in 2018. 

A PhD level mathematician, Bussi's Hour Record attempt became reality thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, which exceeded its €10,000 target by over €2,000. Shortly after breaking the record, she explained, she had the "bizarre idea" to try and better the individual pursuit benchmark. 

"It all started as a joke," Bussi wrote on Instagram. "Just a week after the Hour Record, with the bizarre idea of learning to go from a standing start and reach almost 60km/h in seconds.

"I moved to Aigle [UCI headquarters in Switzerland] to learn this and in May, without expectations, I did 3:19 in a test, and then 3:18 a few days after my wedding."

In Aguascalientes, Bussi adopted the strategy of starting at world record pace, and trying to hold on "as long as possible". 

"At 2,500m, for a moment, I believed in the fairytale of a third world record, the story of the girl who finds redemption by reaching the top of the world in a speciality she may not have been made for, in which she was never given a chance. Then Mr. Lactic Acid arrived, the seconds flew by, and the legs couldn't move anymore. The fairytale is over."

Born in Rome, Bussi began cycling in her mid-twenties, after starting a maths doctorate at Oxford University. She raced for Italian trade teams in 2014 and 2015, but felt uneasy riding in the bunch, so turned her attention to individual efforts. Across her career, she finished three times runner-up in the Italian Time Trial Championships.

In 2018, Bussi set the Hour Record with 48.007km, a benchmark that stood for three years, before it was surpassed by British time trial specialist Joss Lowen in 2021. The Italian took back the record last year, beating the distance set by Ellen van Dijk by more than a kilometre.

Reflecting on her latest individual pursuit attempt, Bussi said it gave her perhaps "even more pride" than her Hour Record feats, "for courage, for accepting the pain, for not having regrets". 

"Always push yourself further, even where you are not capable," she signed off her post. 

Italian cyclist Vittoria Bussi reclaimed the women’s UCI Hour Record on Friday, becoming the first woman in history to go beyond the 50-kilometre mark. 

The 36-year-old managed a distance of 50.267km at altitude on the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico. 

With her achievement, Bussi bettered the benchmark set by former time trial world champion Ellen van Dijk last May, 49.254km, by more than a kilometre. 

Bussi previously held the record in 2018, when she covered 48.007km, before she was surpassed by British time trial specialist Joss Lowden in 2021. 

Speaking after her successful attempt on Friday, Bussi said: "I'm thrilled to have beaten the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot for the second time in my career, covering the distance of 50.267 kilometres on the same velodrome where I previously broke it in 2018.

“I owe this to all those who supported me throughout the years, believing in me and my project. This achievement is the result of an outstanding teamwork, and I want to thank everyone who contributed to make it happen."

The 36-year-old had originally organised her bid for Wednesday, but rescheduled due to unfavourable atmospheric conditions. 

“It looked like Christmas,” she wrote on Instagram. “The temperature had suddenly dropped sharply. That’s why we’ve decided to delay the record attempt by 48 hours.” 

A PhD level mathematician, Bussi meticulously planned her attempt under the moniker ‘Road2Record’. She launched a crowdfunding campaign to make it reality, exceeding her €10,000 donations target by over €2,000. 

“As a mathematician, I contribute to aerodynamic and technological studies, aiming to break the 50km mark in the next attempt at the women’s UCI Hour Record,” she wrote on her GoFundMe page. 

On her ‘Road2Record’ website, she described the attempt as a “challenge and a redemption”, a shot at reclaiming the crown that was hers for three years. 

Bussi’s achievement is the latest in a time of renewed interest in the UCI Hour Record. 

Last October, Ineos Grenadiers rider Filippo Ganna broke the all-time record, covering 56.792km at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland. 

The Italian’s successful bid was masterminded by aerodynamics expert Dan Bigham, who set the previous record of 55.548km himself in August 2022. 

If you have always fancied breaking a world record - and have £17,000 to spare - WattShop is offering people the chance to set new fastest times at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland this September.

The British company, behind many of Dan Bigham's most audacious attempts, including his Hour Record-breaking ride last year, will help riders who want to break world, or national records in Switzerland from 11th September.

It is not just elite records that are on offer, but masters age group records, in anything you can think of on the track: Hour Records, the Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit, Tandem, Kilo, etc. 

The press release reads: "We've been keeping the fun to ourselves and we've decided it's time for that to change; we have a new challenge for you to set your sights on...

"With a number of World Records under our belt, we have a wealth of knowledge and experience that we are ready to share. Concerning equipment choices, position optimisation and aerodynamics, our expertise is unmatched; we know what works; we know how to refine your entire set up to help maximise your potential and make your ambitions a reality."

Two packages are on offer for those wanting to target a record: the "Full Package" or the "Independent Rider".

The Full Package costs £17,000 ($21,273), and will see a rider supported from "start to finish". 

"We will guide you through the preparation stages, bike optimisation, practice events and race build up, at your side all the way to the moment you cross the finish line as a new record holder," the WattShop blurb says. 

"The formal requirements of a record attempt will be entirely managed by WattShop. We will provide aerodynamic expertise, record-breaking experience, equipment recommendations, and even nutritional & physiological advice. 

"We will oversee every aspect of your record attempt, with no stone left unturned in your relentless pursuit of speed. You will arrive in the gate in the best possible position to achieve your goal."

If you feel like you could break a record without all of this support, then you can opt for the Independent Rider level, for just £7,000 ($8,760).

"We'll arrange commissaires and anti-doping requisites, as well as track time in the days leading up to your attempt," WattShop says. "We will manage the formal aspect of a record attempt so that when the time comes, it's just you, the bike, and the track."

The Grenchen velodrome has been chosen as it was the site of Hour Records set by Bigham, Filippo Ganna, Joss Lowden and Ellen van Dijk. 

While it's extremely unlikely you will break any of these records, WattShop is offering the chance to set a national or age-group record, which could be just as impressive.

If all of this sounds like your dream, and you think you are actually capable of smashing a time, then head to WattShop, or email info@shopforwatts.co.uk.

Just remember to pack your skinsuit.

Filippo Ganna is a serial world record collector. The Italian currently holds three; the team pursuit, the Hour Record and his latest exploit, the individual pursuit, which he claimed in show-stopping style at last week’s Track World Championships. 

Ganna’s IP time of 3-59.636 made him just the second person in history to go under four minutes, bettering the benchmark set by American Ashton Lambie last year by three tenths of a second. 

Though some suspect Ganna has now shelved his records for many years, a new UCI rule, due to be introduced next year, could see them topple a lot sooner. 

As of 1 January 2023, a technical specification will allow taller riders extra reach on their handlebar extensions. 

The new rule, filed under subsection 1.3.023 of the UCI Regulations, separates riders into three height categories, with each one allowed a different distance between the middle of their forearm support and the end of their handlebar extensions. 

For riders under 180cm, the maximum distance will be 100mm. Those between 180cm and 190cm will be allowed 120mm, while riders over 190cm will be permitted a reach of up to 140mm.

Until now, the distance has been regulated at 100mm across all height categories, with riders over 190cm able to request special dispensation to move forward either the peak of their saddle or handlebar extensions. 

Speaking to Cycling Weekly, GB track endurance coach Ben Greenwood said the taller riders will "gain most" from the rule change.

“You can potentially get your head a bit more behind your hands, which is more aerodynamic,” Greenwood explained. “That will change a few riders’ positions.”

One rider who is likely to benefit from the new regulations will be Ganna himself, who measures 192cm and already favours an aggressive, praying mantis-like position.  

According to aerodynamics consultant Xavier Disley, Ganna will be able to achieve “a much steeper angle” with his arms under the new rule. 

Referring specifically to the Hour Record, Disley said: “Even if he saves nothing off his CdA, the difference between [his distance of 56.792km] and 57km is about four and a half watts. And four and a half watts at that speed is just the tiniest of changes.

“I would suspect if he goes again [after the rule change], he’ll go faster,” Disley added. 

The same applies to both the team and individual pursuits, two events where substantial gains can be found in minor positional changes. 

Potential Hour Record contenders on the UCI's 190cm or taller list include Stefan Küng, Jonathan Milan and Wout van Aert, while Remco Evenepoel is classed below 180cm. 

Still, if the changes end up benefiting Ganna, don't be surprised to see the Italian send his records even further into untouchable territory.

Having just set the furthest ever distance officially recorded for the Hour Record on Saturday, a massive 56.792km, Filippo Ganna is in no rush to try and go even further.

The Italian Ineos Grenadier rider not only smashed his colleague Dan Bigham's record distance by 1.244km but managed to better the 56.375km mark set by Chris Boardman in 1996, the Human Best Effort performance.

It seems plausible that the record is now out of reach for a generation, such is the distance that the powerhouse rider has set.

Speaking to the media following his successful attempt, the result of months of work and research, the 26-year-old said: "I think I'll never do [it] again."

“If I do it in the future [it will be] before going to retire like Wiggins, but I don't think before.”

Bradley Wiggins set a distance of 54.526 km in 2015, just after he had left Team Sky and was essentially winding down his road career. Considering Ganna is just 26, it might be a while before he has another tilt at the Hour Record, if he does at all.

The Italian said that his attempt had begun as planned, naturally, before ramping up in the closing minutes.

“In the start, nothing,” he said when asked what he was thinking during his laps of the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland. “Just the normal protocol - to take the position and follow the line.”

However, as his speed was clearly up, and he was able to think about beating Boardman's record, he started to consider breaking 57km. “After 35 minutes, I say okay maybe I can do the 57k," he said. "But then I start suffering a lot for the position for my balls.”

It was in the closing ten minutes that he was forced to re-evaluate and aim for breaking the record rather than getting to the magical 57km. He said he was aiming to “not lose time, because the job is just to arrive, and we are doing an amazing job, all together.”

Ganna did not support the theory that other riders, like a Remco Evenepoel, could beat the record, especially without the support of Ineos. He rode a special 3D-printed Pinarello Bolide and wore a custom skinsuit worth thousands of pounds.

“If they do I’m happy… but I think I have the best team for trying to do this,” Ganna said. “Maybe if they joined the team they can try.

"I think Ineos followed well what I wanted to do,” he added. “I think this result is not just because of my legs or my performance, but is more one effort of Team Ineos.”

Boardman, the man who set the previous benchmark for best overall effort, unrestricted, tweeted: "Congratulations @gannafilippo haven’t watched one in quarter of a century, glad I tuned in, a beautiful thing to witness."

Bigham, the previous Hour Record holder, said: “A massive kudos to Filippo for that historic ride. I know the commitment, determination and work that’s needed to put in a performance like that. It’s fantastic that this ambitious project came together on the night. Having my record beaten by Filippo was always part of the plan and it’s great to have such a deserving teammate as the new record holder.”

Filippo Ganna has broken the UCI World Hour Record with a distance of 56.792km at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland. 

The Italian, an Olympic gold medallist in the team pursuit, went 1,244m further than his aerodynamicist Dan Bigham, who set the previous record of 55.548km back in August. 

With such a dominant ride, the two-time world time trial champion also surpassed a 26-year-old ‘best human effort’ held by Chris Boardman. The Brit’s distance of 56.375km, recorded in 1996, was later chalked off by the UCI for his use of a banned ‘superman’ position, but stood as a benchmark of human ability.

Speaking after his successful attempt, Ganna said: "This result is amazing and now we think to the recovery and maybe try to celebrate all together.

"I think next time maybe I try in another part of [the] season, maybe with more fresh legs and we can go more high again."

Though he had predicted a slow start, the Italian's first lap saw him go immediately two seconds up on Bigham. He didn’t let the adrenaline get the better of him, though. Easing into his effort, Ganna stuck to his plan of a negative split and soon fell below the target time. By lap 32, he was riding at a three-second deficit on his 3D-printed Pinarello Bolide.

Ganna then began clawing back the lost time and hit record pace with just 18.75km covered. By that point, the sails were well and truly open, and the Ineos Grenadiers rider was rifling around the track, edging closer to Boardman’s best human effort. 

His 143rd lap was ridden at an average speed of 58.03km/h, exceeding the fastest lap ever clocked in an Hour Record attempt. The Italian then bettered it, and bettered it again. 

With over a minute to go, the record belonged to Ganna. He powered on to complete 227 laps of the velodrome, five more than Bigham managed two months ago. 

As he pedalled his bike to a halt, a giant grin took over the Italian's face. Ganna finished his evening by dancing along to the music blasting into the track centre, before being doused in champagne by his support team.

Double time trial world champion Filippo Ganna said he will have to do “the biggest effort of my life” if he is to break the UCI World Hour Record on Saturday evening. 

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the event, the 26-year-old said he is hoping to clock between 16 and 15.8-second laps on the velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland.

The latter would see him achieve a distance of around 57km, almost 1,500m further than the current benchmark set by his aerodynamicist Dan Bigham. 

“We tried the pacing before the Worlds with a more conservative pace,” the Italian said. “We’ll see [if] I can do a little bit more hard, more strong than they think.”

On Thursday, Belgian publication Het Nieuwsblad reported that Ganna had done a 35-minute trial run in Montichiari, in which he averaged over 56km/h. 

When asked about the trial, Ganna said: “Tomorrow is 60 minutes, it changes a little bit. Maybe at 35 minutes tomorrow I’ll say it’s really easy, at 36 I want to die. We will see tomorrow.”

“Realistic, [my hope] is to do one metre more than Dan,” the Italian joked. “The dream is to do the record of the record.” 

"Tomorrow I need to do the biggest effort of my life and we will see if [my condition] is fine or not."

Ganna will take to the track centre on a custom, 3D-printed Pinarello Bolide, complete with the colours of his national flag. “It’s more heavy than a normal bike, but it’s faster,” Ganna said. “Maybe Pinarello has put inside a lot of love and [that’s why] it’s heavy.

“The first three or four laps, you don’t feel super fast. But after five minutes she flies on the track,” he added. 

Ganna also gave details of his set-up, revealing the gear ratio he’s likely to run on the day. “Today and Monday I tried with a 65 [tooth chainring] and I have the idea to use the 66,” he said, “but I prefer to maybe stay a little bit more with the high cadence.

“In the track, normally we stay around 170, 120rpm. Tomorrow it’s more close to a road race, around 96rpm.”

The Italian will run a 14T cog at the rear. 

In order to claim the record, Ganna will have to go further than the 55.548km set by Bigham on the same velodrome in August. Even if he does do it, he explained, it still won’t trump the gold medal he won in the team pursuit in the Olympics last year. 

“The Olympics for me is I think the most important event I do,” he said. “One team effort with the guys and winning together is more important than winning alone. It’s like life. All together we can do the difference.” 

Ganna's UCI World Hour Record attempt will begin at 19:00 BST (20:00 CET) on 8 October. 

This weekend, former world time trial champion Filippo Ganna will take a hotly anticipated stab at the UCI World Hour Record. 

The current distance the Italian will have to beat is 55.548km, set by his Ineos Grenadiers colleague, Dan Bigham, at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland, this August. 

On Saturday, Ganna will take to the same track centre to see if his physical limits can take him further. The 26-year-old will race a custom, 3D-printed bike in his effort, which he expects to constitute "an hour of pure suffering". 

Ganna will begin his Hour Record attempt at 19:00 BST (20:00 CET) on Saturday 8 October. You can find out how to watch the event wherever you are with our handy guide and with ExpressVPN.

It is a busy weekend of racing, with Ganna's tilt at the Hour Record taking place alongside Il Lombardia, the Gravel World Championships and Paris-Tours. All of the action across those events will be shown on GCN+ worldwide. 

Watch Filippo Ganna's Hour Record attempt worldwide

Ganna's Hour Record attempt will be broadcast live around the world, with GCN+, Discovery+ and Eurosport's online platform all showing the action. 

Coverage of the event will begin at 18:45 BST (19:45 CET / 10:45 PT / 13:45 ET).

To gain access to Discovery+ and Eurosport coverage, you can subscribe for £59.99 a year, or £6.99 per month. Alternatively, access to GCN+ costs £39.99 a year, or £6.99 per month.

If you’re not in the country for the Hour Record attempt, no problem – you can just download and install a VPN and use a location inside the United Kingdom to watch the broadcast live as if you were back home. 

Setting up a VPN is simple – just download, install, open the app and select your location. 

Try out Express VPN for its speed, security and simplicity to use. It is also compatible with a range of devices and streaming services (e.g. Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox, PS4, etc.), giving you the option to watch wherever you want.

There are other great options out there, of course, but Express VPN gives you the added benefit of a 30-day money back guarantee and three months free with a yearly plan.

Filippo Ganna is set to target the Hour Record next month, it was announced by his Ineos Grenadiers team on Friday morning.

The Italian two-time time trial world champion will attempt to break the 55.548km distance set by Dan Bigham at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland, on 8 October, at 8pm local time.

The Hour Record has been a long-rumoured goal for the Italian, who has dominated time trials in recent years, winning 20 events on the road in his career so far. He has also won multiple medals on the track, and holds the record for both the individual and team pursuits.

In the statement released on Friday, Ganna said that the attempt is an "important step" in his career.

 “I’m looking forward to the challenge, even though it’s going to be an hour of pure suffering," the 26-year-old said. "It will be interesting to see how my body holds up, and just how far I can go - it’s a chance to really test your physical and mental limits. To undertake a prestigious event like this is an important step in my career.”

The record was broken in August by Bigham, who works as a performance engineer for Ineos Grenadiers at the same velodrome. It was an endeavour that was seemingly a test ahead of Ganna's go at the record, although he did beat the previous record, set by Victor Campenaerts, by almost 500m.

At the time Bigham described his record-breaking ride as "bit mind blowing" and "pretty epic".

Ganna spoke of his excitement of using the new equipment developed specially for the Hour Record attempts.

"I have been training on the new Pinarello bike and it’s super-fast – I love it," he said. It’s another step on from the already high level we have with our equipment. 

"The team puts so much energy and effort into these projects, and our partners, from Pinarello and the new prototype bike, to a fully customised skinsuit made by Bioracer - they’ve done their part so now it’s my turn. I’m going to feel really good stepping into that velodrome. Mentally that’ll already give me some extra metres.”

Rod Ellingworth, Ineos' deputy team principal, said that nothing has been left to chance in the run up to Ganna's bid at the Hour Record.

“We have been building towards this exciting event during the last year," he said. "There have been so many layers of thought gone into the planning of this event so we can ensure Filippo arrives at the start line in Switzerland with the best equipment for the greatest chance of success. 

"When it comes to taking on events like this we leave nothing to chance - constantly refining what and how we do things is part of the genetic makeup of the Ineos Grenadiers team. It’s inspiring to work alongside some of the best brains in the business. It’s that kind of care and consideration that shows our athletes how much we want them to do well.” 

Dan Bigham described his Hour Record breaking ride as "bit mind blowing" and "pretty epic" after he went 55.548km in 60 minutes on Friday afternoon.

The British rider set the new record at the Tissot Veoldrome in Grenchen, Switzerland, putting almost 500 metres on top of Victor Campenaerts' previous record distance.

Speaking straight after his attempt, Bigham said: "Actually, it was really good. My best paced hour by far. I was a bit ahead of the split for the first half. It was quite daunting, because I’ve never ridden that pace for an hour before. It’s a bit mind blowing, pretty epic."

He always seemed in control of his effort, but revealed that he had a bit of a wobble partway through the attempt, as the reality of the speed needed to break the record became clear.

"You’ve not got it until you’ve actually ridden the laps," he explained. "That’s the scary thing. You’ve got the pace, but you don’t have the distance. I actually had a bit of a wobbly in my head, just after half way. How am I going to ride 16.0s in the next half an hour, that’s nuts. It never bit. It was easy, in control. In my head, I was like just get to twenty minutes to go then push on a bit."

Unlike his previous semi-official Hour Record attempt, which saw him post 54.723km and take the British record with it, this time he had the backing of a super-team to help him. Bigham works for Ineos Grenadiers as a performance engineer, and therefore the British squad backed his effort.

"An ungodly amount of support from Ineos, that is what has been the step change," he explained. "Not just the equipment, and the CDA. It’s all the execution, the physiology. All the thermal, nutrition, training interventions. It has absolutely stepped it up, and the support I’ve had around me is second to none. 

"It has made life a whole lot easier just coming here and performing. Even this week, not worrying about my bike, mechanics, timing, the livestream, nothing. I’ve just sat at home, not even cooked dinner. I wake up, I don’t even have to put my stuff in the dishwasher. It is everything you’d expect from this level of team."

Bigham knew that he had time to spare in the second half of his attempt, as he was going faster than Campenaerts. However, he still took a bit of a safety-first approach.

"Early on the line was really good," he said. "You start to worry about if you clip a pad and go down or puncture, there’s no time to respond, so you play a bit safe. It’s probably the wise thing to do. It was actually really enjoyable. It’s quite nice when you’ve got that safety net. In my head I wanted 55.5, so to put another 48 metres onto that I’m pretty happy.

"I had five minute splits, and I knew I had to be certain time gaps down and ahead. Then you start to do the maths… every lap is a half second in your pocket, and it gives you some confidence."

55.548km is therefore the new distance to beat for any would-be challengers, which might include Bigham's colleague Filippo Ganna in the not too distant future.

Dan Bigham has broken the Hour Record with a distance of 55.548km. It means he beat Victor Campernaerts' record by almost 500m, or two whole laps of the track.

The British rider, who previously held the national Hour Record, with 54.723km, works for Ineos Grenadiers as a performance engineer. The team have supported Bigham in his efforts to push the boundaries of performance on the track.

He made the record-breaking attempt at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland on Friday afternoon, supported by close friends and family and staff from Ineos.

While it is always difficult to gauge an Hour Record attempt, Bigham looked smooth throughout, and by halfway through was up on the time set by Campernaerts in 2019. He started off with a negative split, but pushed on, passing the record in the end with more than half a minute to spare.

Bigham explained after the event that the three things he could control were his head position, breathing, and staying on the lower black line on the track, which were all things that he did through the attempt.

On the YouTube livestream, Campernaerts was commenting along with others, saying "crazy lap times", and congratulating Bigham.

It was revealed that he lost 2.3 kilograms in sweat during the attempt, proving the amount of effort that he put in; he was weighed straight after the event.

His partner Joss Lowden previously held the women's Hour Record, she set that last year, before that was broken by Ellen van Dijk in May.

On Friday morning, his team announced the kit that the Englishman would employed in his attempt. Along with a prototype Pinarello frame, there is a host of Ineos sponsor correct gear to go with it; the support of the super-team surely gave him an advantage of his last try.

He used a MOST Custom 3D basebar and extension, Princeton Track Special wheels, Continental GP5000TT tyres, WattShop Cratus aero crank & chainring 64T, WattShop Cratus cog 14T and a Izumi KAI chain.

As for his clothing, he was dressed in a specially made Bioracer Katana skinsuit, with Bioracer Epic overshoes. On his head was a KASK Mistral, and he used Nimbl EXPECT shoes.

Dan Bigham is attempting to break the Hour Record this afternoon, riding once again at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland at 13:25 BST

The British rider, who currently holds the national Hour Record, works for Ineos Grenadiers as a performance engineer. The squad announced the news of Bigham's second attempt in a press release last Friday morning. The record is currently held by Victor Campenaerts, who rode 55.089km in 2019. 

Last year, Bigham said: "In power terms, I only need seven extra watts. I can put seven watts more in, or save seven watts with better drag, improved aerodynamics and efficiency. Or I could do three-and-a-half watts each.

He first attempted the Hour Record last October, at Grenchen, where he set a new British record of 54.723km, nearly 200m further than Bradley Wiggins' 54.526km from June 2015 in London.

The Englishman tweeted last week: "I just can’t get enough of riding full gas in a circle for an hour. This time I’m all in and targeting Victor Campenaerts' world hour record of 55.089km.

"Having the full support of Ineos Grenadiers and their awesome partners has made this possible, so a huge thanks to them for everything they’ve done to enable my attempt on such a prestigious record."

Earlier this week, Cycling Weekly's aero expert said that it was "likely" that Bigham would beat the record on Friday.

The record attempt will be broadcast on Ineos Grenadiers' YouTube and Facebook pages on Friday afternoon, starting at 13:25 BST, which means 14:25 local time in Switzerland.

On Friday morning, his team announced the kit that Bigham would employ in his attempt. Along with a prototype Pinarello frame, there is a host of Ineos sponsor correct gear to go with it; the support of the super-team will surely give him an advantage over his last try.

He will use a MOST Custom 3D basebar and extension, Princeton Track Special wheels, Continental GP5000TT tyres, WattShop Cratus aero crank & chainring 64T, WattShop Cratus cog 14T and a Izumi KAI chain.

As for his clothing, he will be dressed in a specially made Bioracer Katana skinsuit, with Bioracer Epic overshoes. On his head will be a KASK Mistral, and he will be using Nimbl EXPECT shoes.

Tune in to find out if Bigham can break the record - 55.089km is the magic number.

Dan Bigham is to attempt to break the Hour Record next week, it has been announced. He will ride again at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland next Friday, 19 August.

The British rider, who currently holds the national Hour Record, also works for Ineos Grenadiers as a performance engineer. The squad announced the news of Bigham's second attempt in a press release on Friday morning.

He first attempted the Hour Record last October, at Grenchen, where he set a new British record of 54.723km, nearly 200m further than Bradley Wiggins' 54.526km from June 2015 in London.

However, this fell short of the 55.089km set by Victor Campenaerts in 2019. Last year, Bigham said: "In power terms, I only need seven extra watts. I can put seven watts more in, or save seven watts with better drag, improved aerodynamics and efficiency. Or I could do three-and-a-half watts each.

“How I split those seven watts doesn’t matter. I have an idea where I can make those gains, but it’s not easy."

The 30-year-old has spent 2022 helping evolving and optimising Ineos' time trial performance, working alongside two-time time trial world champion Filippo Ganna; the Italian is also rumoured to be attempting an Hour Record at some point in the near future.

Bigham said that being part of the team had helped him prepare for a second attempt within a year.

"The Hour Record has been massive thing in my life for the past few years, since I first attempted one as a student in 2014," he said in a statement. "I’m excited about the prospect of seeing what I can do against the clock again, with the support of the team behind me.
 
“Physically I’ve moved on since becoming a part of the INEOS Grenadiers. As much as my workload is high, it’s been nice to have everything I do consolidated within one place. It means I can be so much more organised in how and when I can train, while having the full support of the team - not just in allowing me to train, but enabling me to train efficiently. It’s been great to bounce ideas off so many fantastic people within the team and I’ve been welcomed with open arms.
 
“And having access to all of the team’s partners has been massive for me. The amount of support that Pinarello have put into this project by bringing a new, incredibly high-level bike to the table in such a short space of time is pretty astronomical. We’ve done a huge amount of skin suit testing with Bioracer over the past six months too. 

"It’s been really impressive and I feel like I’m in a really good position on that front. Some of the ideas that we’ve implemented across the whole package have been left field but wholly adopted. It’s been such a progressive project to be involved in."

The team's deputy principal Rod Ellingworth said that Ineos were looking forward to using what Bigham learned from his run in future racing.

"From the moment Dan joined the team we’ve been all in to support his attempts to break the Hour Record," he said. "His work both on and off the bike has been hugely beneficial to the team’s performance across 2022 and we’re excited to see how the lessons learned from this attempt can help us further push the boundaries of our performances.”

Ellen van Dijk has set the new women's Hour Record, achieving a distance of 49.254km at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland. 

The world time trial champion started the challenge knowing she needed to break Joss Lowden's record of 48.405km set at the same velodrome in September 2021, and a strong getaway from the standing start provided her with the perfect foundation to build upon. 

Lap times of 18.5 seconds would have sufficed for Van Dijk around the velodrome to break the record, which would have given her a speed of over 48.5kmh. However, the Dutchwoman maintained a consistent pace of more than 49kmh for the majority of the event, as every single lap proved quicker than the average speed she needed to break Lowden's record.

Using an unnatural, but more efficient head position, she powered around the black line of the velodrome, staring at the floor in order to maintain optimal aerodynamics. The 35-year-old completed 197 laps of the velodrome in a stunning effort, setting a new world record in the process. 

The Dutchwoman reached a top speed of 50.3kmh during the event, but soon dialled that back in as she quickly realised it wasn't a sustainable speed. Apart from the first lap, where she began from the traditional standing start, every lap Van Dijk completed was ridden quicker than the average speed Lowden set during her record.

Despite her pace dropping off slightly heading into the final 20 minutes, Van Dijk looked comfortable as it seemed certain she would break the record. With her Trek-Segafredo teammate Lizzie Deignan watching on in the commentary box, she pounded the pedals with a steely focus right up until the bell rang, signalling the conclusion of the hour.

Van Dijk becomes the fifth new women's Hour Record holder, with her attempt beating Joss Lowden by more than 800 metres. Van Dijk came into today hoping her efforts would inspire more riders in the peloton to attempt the Hour Record, but her phenomenal ride makes it look difficult for another rider to better. 

Van Dijk's Hour Record bike was a Trek Speed Concept TT bike, adapted for the track. The track adaptations allowed her to use a bike she has spent countless hours riding on the road.

The Dutch rider opted for a 58x14 combination - equating to a gear inch of 116, smaller than the 119 of Lowden's effort. This required a cadence between 93 to 97 revolutions per minute to bear the record, having surpassed it, her RPM must have been faster. 

Ellen van Dijk has highlighted how hard breaking Joss Lowden's UCI Hour Record will be as she attempts the challenge later on Monday.

Joss Lowden currently holds the women's Hour Record with a distance of 48.405km, set in September 2021 at the same Swiss velodrome where Van Dijk will be riding later today.

The 35-year-old's attempt gets underway at 4pm BST from the Velodrome Suisse, in Grenchen, Switzerland. While she is confident of breaking the record, Van Dijk also revealed she is unsure of her true capabilities and will simply ride to surpass Lowden's distance. 

“I don't know exactly what is possible for me yet," Van Dijk told WielerFlits. "Of course I know a little how it goes, but a full hour is something else. I'm going to start to get under the record schedule as soon as possible.

"Don't get me wrong, the current record is a really high standard. Not many people will know Joss Lowden's name because she's not super famous. But what she has done is really very special. It's really not easy to just ride that record off the books. Let me try to break that first.”

Despite being the current world time trial champion, Van Dijk admits there aren't many similarities between the Hour Record attempt and a time trial event. The Dutchwoman suggests staying as aerodynamic as possible is both crucial and difficult for the full hour.

"It is not comparable to a normal time trial," she said. "I really see this as a totally different discipline. I am not an inexperienced time trialist, but I had to learn a lot for this hour record. Yes, despite my track record. 

"I have never worked so long on my position like this; now I need to be as aerodynamic as possible. And then I have to keep driving on the black line as best I can, without seeing where I'm riding."

For Van Dijk, an hour of solid riding on the limit isn't anything she has ever done before. Alluding to the mental game she will have to contend with at the velodrome, Van Dijk highlights how her World Time Trial Championship ride took just over half the length of time it will take her to complete the Hour Record. 

“I've never had to concentrate for so long in my life. That might also be one of the hardest things during the hour. I've done time trials, but we don't have that many long time trials in a year. 

"The World Time Trial Championships in Leuven, for example, was one, but it lasted 36 minutes. That was the longest I ever did, I think. Then you're only halfway there, which also plays a role.

"In a normal time trial you can still work towards bends, a climb or descent. You have to focus very differently on the road than here.”

Ellen van Dijk has announced she will attempt the UCI Hour Record on May 23, at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland.

Trek-Segafredo released a social media video on Wednesday morning of Van Dijk announcing the challenge, with the team subsequently releasing further details on her attempt at the record. 

Since joining Trek-Segafredo in 2019, Van Dijk has floated the idea of possibly attempting the Hour Record to the team. However, it wasn't until she became the time trial world champion when she seriously considered working towards the challenge, with planning taking place in December 2021.

“This has been a dream of mine for a very long time," Van Dijk said. "The hour record is something that I have always said I wanted to do one day and now that day is finally here. I get butterflies in my stomach when I think about doing it, a mix of excitement and nerves which is normal. You are always just on the edge with big challenges, and this is a huge challenge, so it is going to be exciting and frightening at the same time. 

“We started talking about the hour record when I first joined Trek-Segafredo, but I knew it wasn’t the right time. I was still overcoming injuries and knew I wouldn’t be at my best. Now, however, I know I am ready to really challenge the current benchmark."

Joss Lowden is the current holder of the women's Hour Record, setting a distance of 48.405km in September 2021 at the same venue where Van Dijk will attempt the challenge herself. Explaining the reasoning behind this decision, Van Dijk suggested staying in Europe ensures optimal preparation, while also expressing her admiration for Lowden's record.

“As we haven’t tested the full set up yet, I don’t know exactly what kind of watts I will need to achieve but the aim will just be to try to go as fast as I can for the full sixty minutes," Van Dijk added. 

"I don’t have a set distance in mind, I just want to break it in the first instance. Of course, it won’t be an easy task because I have a lot of respect for the record set by Joss. She did a really great job and set a high benchmark to reach, 48.4km, so it’s certainly going to be a very very tough hour.

“Joss also did it in Grenchen and that’s where I will attempt my hour record too. We chose the Velodrome Suisse as it is a very fast track and although attempting it in Mexico, at altitude, might have been even faster it would have required a completely different preparation.”

For the time being, though, the 35-year-old is still focussing on the Spring Classics. Paris-Roubaix Femmes, La Flèche Wallonne Féminine and Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes all remain on the Women's WorldTour calendar, and Van Dijk clarified she isn't fully turning her attention to the Hour Record until those races are complete. 

“We are still in the process of getting everything prepared for the big day and, of course, I want to continue racing well through all the remaining Spring Classics. This means my focus has not been exclusively on the hour record but that will change by May.

“What I am doing already is trying to train more and more on my time trial bike because I will need to hold my position for a very long time. I was at the wind tunnel on Monday and we’ve also done some track testing but the majority of that is still to be done in the coming weeks."

Fred Meredith set the new junior British Hour Record at the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome in Newport, Wales, on Monday 14 March, with the 17-year-old from Welshpool covering 49.184km.

While the UCI doesn't recognise or has never ratified the junior world hour record, British Cycling agreed to recognise the British junior record. British Cycling officiated the attempt, with Meredith beating the previous record of 48.5km. 

Despite suffering a puncture on the second lap of the challenge, Meredith restarted his attempt to set the junior record, which he hopes will motivate others to get riding and emulate his success. 

“I’m so glad to have achieved this record," said Fred, "and after such a fantastic build-up I couldn’t be happier. I hope my efforts have inspired others to get on a bike and get involved in the sport.

“I must say a huge thank you to everyone who got behind me and lent me their skills, knowledge, experience, and also their gear.”

Meredith is the Welsh Junior Time Trial Champion and races for Holohan Coaching Race Team in Shrewsbury, and had Dan Bigham on hand to offer support and guidance throughout the day. 

Bigham also lent Meredith the track bike he used to claim his own British Hour Record in October 2021, where he achieved a distance of 54.723km. The 30-year-old praised Meredith for his efforts on the same track he won a sixth national title in the British National Track Championships individual pursuit just a week-and-a-half before. 

“Very well done to Fred," Bigham said, "it’s been a pleasure to support and advise his ambition to set a new junior hour record. He put a solid and ambitious plan in place and has worked hard to put himself in the best position to achieve his goal. Congratulations.”

Liam Holohan, Meredith's coach at Holohan Coaching Race Team, also expressed his delight at seeing the young rider complete a record-breaking 49.184km.

‘I am very happy to see Fred achieve his goal," said Holohan. "We had a process in place which he very diligently followed despite also studying for his A-Levels at the same time. His attention to detail is excellent and his enthusiasm and love for the sport makes him a pleasure to coach. Many congratulations to him."

Filippo Ganna isn't lacking motivation heading into 2022. While he confirmed he will attempt the Hour Record, should the circumstances be right, he also has his sights set on success at Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour de France. 

Speaking at the Giro d'Onore, the Italian cycling federation's annual awards ceremony, Ganna revealed he plans to attempt the oft-discussed Hour Record. The Italian rider has often suggested he will challenge Victor Campenaerts' 55.089km Hour Record, but he explained everything will have to fall perfectly into place in order to do so. 

Ganna said: “We have to see if we can arrange everything exactly as I would like. I'm thinking about it and we're working on it with the team. Because if you do, we shouldn't leave anything to chance.

"In any case, I'm not going to make the attempt at height, as many advise to do. I will then attack the world Hour Record at sea level. When I do it that way, it's different and that gives me more satisfaction.”

Starting his season in Argentina at the Vuelta a San Juan at the end of January, the 25-year-old also said he is targeting both Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix next season, before expressing his desire to wear the Yellow Jersey at the Tour de France. 

He said: “I dream of the yellow jersey. I would love to wear it, even if it won't be easy as it's a tough race. The first chance presents itself on the first day, in the opening time trial. Then we have to see how it goes, but I'm sure of one thing: it will be tough every day."

Ganna also delved into a highly successful 2021 season, which he is hoping to replicate somewhat with his aforementioned ambitions. 

He understandably cited the Olympics and the World Championships as a highlight. In Tokyo, he picked up the team pursuit gold medal, before finishing first in the same event at the Track World Championships. He also came third in the individual pursuit at the Worlds.

The Road World Championships also presented success for Ganna, who secured first in the time trial and a third-place finish in the team relay. Add his two ITT stage wins on the Giro d'Italia, and Ganna clearly enjoyed an exceptional 2021. 

“Is the Hour Record achievable? If you have good control over pacing and positioning, then the entire thing is within your control and grasp.”

Dan Bigham would know. The 30-year-old recently became the British Hour Record holder setting a distance of 54.723km, and is planning on going for the World distance in 2022, needing to register a minimum of 366 metres more than his first ride.

As Alex Dowsett found out last month, though, setting your sights on beating the record and undergoing meticulous preparation doesn’t always result in the dream becoming a reality.  

So how will Bigham - or anyone else for that matter - beat Victor Campenaerts’ record of 55.089? How can any other female better Joss Lowden’s mark of 48.405km?

The answer lies somewhere between two crucial components: physical power and science. “If Dan Bigham can beat Bradley Wiggins’ time - and I’m going to guess Wiggins would have 70-80 watts more than Dan - then it proves that you can clearly overcome horsepower with technology,” says Michael Hutchinson, Dowsett’s coach for his ride in Mexico.

It is a simple task in theory. Ride around a velodrome for one hour and see you far you go. That's it.

But there's so much more, so many factors to weigh up. Altitude or sea-level? Opting for the former can give a rider an estimated additional advantage up to 1.5km, but push the entire attempt towards a total fee of between £70,000 - £100,000. There’s also the role of air density and humidity. 

“You need a lot of time on the track to prepare, minimum two or three times a week," adds Hutchinson. "But most of it is about finding the budget, the team support, the time to do it. You need a substantial break off racing in order to do that.”

The problem for most riders is that being permitted a significant amount of time away from the racing calendar does not appeal to most teams. “It’s a really hard for a WorldTour pro,” says Hutchinson. “If your teams wants you at Flanders, the Giro, the Tour and the Worlds, you can’t take six months off to ride around the velodrome. 

“And that, I feel, limits what is possible, because you have to test the clothing, the riding position, and you can’t really do that terribly effectively if the athlete isn’t there. You can use manikins in a tunnel but that has its limitations.

"It’s not uncommon to find that a skinsuit will gain or lose you five or six watts depending on how you put it on. It’s a technical challenge just to wear the clothing.”

Testing, testing, testing - Bigham epitomised this in his preparation. “There wasn’t anything we really learned from the Hour itself because we had done so many practise hours that we made the mistakes before the ride and learned from them," Bigham says.

“In different 35 minute blocks we tried stuff and some worked, some didn’t. It was an extensive process of learning and it meant that we knew what the pitfalls were to avoid, how to hydrate, what the physical and mental strategy should be. Stuff like positioning was all pre-agreed.

“The main thing I did learn from the attempt was that the models to predict performance held true - there was no glaring error afterwards. That’s a good sign as it means all you need to do then is go out and execute it.”

Hutchinson made two unsuccessful attempts of his own at the Hour, while on the road he won more Cycling Time Trials titles than any other man in history. He therefore has a deep understanding of the importance of aerodynamics - and how pivotal smooth airflow is to a rider.

“In a standard road time trial, the chunks between the riders are 15 seconds, 30 seconds and so on," he explains. "In that context, you wouldn’t say that taping over a hole in the handlebar set-up would make a difference.

“During Alex’s record he was five seconds up at one point and the schedule was to break the record by six seconds. So putting bits of tape on the handlebars bolts start to count towards a measurable difference in the overall result in an Hour Record.”

An engineer by trade, Bigham talks about the role of CdA (coefficient of aerodynamic drag). “If you haven’t got the power or the aero, it’s all about watts to CdA, and as long as if you can ride the line, you’ve just got to be able to produce the power and maintain the position. 

“But actually the biggest thing is not losing the head. When the heads fall off and you don’t feel in control, it can start to fall apart quickly. It’s about keeping everything within your control.”

“One thing that is underestimated is being able to hold a particular position,” Hutchinson adds. “It’s not easy to do. Alex delivered what he had to do pretty well. It’s demanding for someone to hold that position under stress for an hour.”

Rumours are rife that Ineos Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna will attempt to break the record in late 2022, with many assuming that he will set a benchmark that won't be breached. It’s why Bigham is attempting his second go at the challenge within the next six to nine months.

But Hutchinson cautioned against excessive expectations. “Historically it’s never been on the shelf. Everyone said that [Miguel] Indurain had set a distance that no one would ever break and then 18 months later Tony Rominger broke it by two kilometres. People said Wiggins had put it on the shelf, but that wasn’t the case.

“Whichever side of the balance - power or aero - you choose to look at, you still have to address the full package and have the skillset. There’s no right or wrong way to break the Hour Record.”

The question is, who will take Campenaerts' title?

Nico Anelli, a Scottish cyclist who set up his own racing team to promote awareness of a chronic illness that he suffers from, is to attempt to reset the Scottish Hour Record distance in Glasgow at the end of November.

The 23-year-old was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) aged 17 that causes complications in the gut. He featured in a Cycling Weekly article on gut issues earlier this year, revealing that IBD has led him to suffer severe weight loss, anaemia and nutritional deficiencies. 2019 Tour of Flanders winner Alberto Bettiol suffers from the same condition.

Now, in his continued efforts to educate people around the condition, Anelli is aiming to break a 25-year-old record at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow on Sunday, November 28 (10.30am start).

In 1996, Jim Gladwell set a distance of 46.650km, and though Anelli, from Dundee, is wanting to keep his targeted distance close to his chest, he revealed that he isn’t “going out there to break the record by a couple of metres. I want a good, honest record.”

Anelli will be speaking with Alex Dowsett before his attempt, the fellow Briton having fallen just short of beating the world distance in Mexico a few weeks ago, while Anelli has been learning lessons from Dan Bigham’s ride on October 1 when he reset the British record with a distance of 54.723km. 

“I’ve taken a lot from Bigham,” Anelli said. “I’ve watched some of his stuff where he talks about how he approached it mentally. There was one quote where he said it’s about racing it on his terms.

“He did a very harsh negative split and them ramped it up in the last half and I like that as an approach rather than to flat-line the hour.

“I’m still playing about with my strategy, but I think I prefer that to a sustained pace for an hour.”

Two years ago, Anelli - who is an accomplished time traillist, winning the Fife Time Trial Series this season - founded Real Guts Racing, and although he is the team’s only rider so far, he has plans to expand and enter stage races with riders competing under the team’s banner.

The principal objective of the team and his Hour attempt, though, is to promote awareness of IBD. “I want to put the message out there of what can be done, that it is possible to go out and do something like this,” he said.

“Just because you might have IBD or another gut issue, it doesn’t limit you. It shouldn’t be the end of your sporting hopes.”

Anelli will begin tapering for the attempt in around a week’s time, adding that IBD has restricted his diet somewhat.

“The principles are the same: I need carbs for fuel and protein to recover, but one of the main inflammatories for me is gluten,” he said.

>>> We need to talk about gut problems: A projected one-in-ten suffer from IBS, but how does it affect one's cycling?

“I’m not celiac, but I’ve cut gluten from my diet completely. I really have to watch what I eat, and with the Hour everything is counted and I have to know what’s in everything otherwise I risk a flare-up.

“I struggle with absorbing all of the calories I put into my body, so it’s a game of making sure the numbers are big enough so I don’t lose weight.”

People can watch the event in person, while the attempt will be live streamed via the Real Gut Racing’s social media platforms.

Anelli is raising money for Crohn's and Colitis UK, and you can donate here. 

Alex Dowsett walks away from his Hour Record attempt from the Aguascalientes velodrome in Mexico without any regrets, having raised over £45,000 so far for Haemophilia Society and his own charity, Little Bleeders. 

Dowsett, who suffers from rare blood disease haemophilia, rode independently from his team Israel Start-Up Nation in order to raise awareness and money for the two aforementioned charities.

Speaking in the latest YouTube video documenting his Hour Record, Dowsett explained his emotions towards the donations 24 hours on.

"The response since has been quite overwhelming," Dowsett said. "The JustGiving page is now at over £40,000, which is far beyond anything we ever expected, it really is. That’s quite phenomenal."

Despite falling 534 metres short of Victor Campenaerts' record of 55.089 kilometres in the Hour Record, Dowsett seemed content that he managed 54.555 kilometres himself. While he failed to break the record, he Briton is confident that he left everything he had on the track, and couldn't have done anything differently.

"I’m confident that was everything I had, and that was the important thing," Dowsett said.

"I am satisfied with the outcome. I’m not walking way with the World Record but I am walking away with the satisfactory feeling that I had the World Record and that I’ve also shown the Hour Record what I can do. We’re good."

The video also captures Alex sitting down with his coach, Michael Hutchinson. The pair analyse his attempt, describing how tactical changes still wouldn't have propelled himself further than Campenaerts managed.

"The goal to start with was to get the first five to ten minutes right, not getting too excited and settling on pace," Dowsett explained. "After that, from 15 to 20 minutes I had a bit of a rough patch but settled down again, then at 30 minutes I was like ‘I can do this, I’m in control'.

"But then at 35 minutes I started to be in somewhat less control. The lap times just started slipping away. I was five seconds up and thinking ‘ok, I’ve got five seconds of a buffer, hopefully I can lose that, regroup, and go again, but try as I might, I just couldn’t get back on top of it."

At that point in the challenge, the 33-year-old's lap times crept up towards the 17-second mark, 0.7 seconds slower than he needed to challenge Campenaerts' distance. However, both Dowsett and Hutchinson seemed content that the Briton's efforts couldn't be faulted. 

Hutchinson told Dowsett: "I thought it was a really good attempt, and you should be really proud of it because the margins are really tight."

Victor Campenaerts sill holds the Hour Record with a distance of 55.089 km, after Alex Dowsett's attempt on Wednesday night came up short by 500m.

The Belgian set the record in April 2019 at the Aguascalientes Velodrome in Mexico, the same venue in which Dowsett attempted the challenge. Following the news that he retains the title of holding the Hour Record, Campenaerts offered his condolences to Dowsett. 

Campenaerts told Het Nieuwsblad: “He feels the pain of the effort and the pain of the disappointment, although I think he can be proud of his achievement.

"I'm going to message him soon: respect that you fought to the end. Respect for riding on trying to break my record and not playing it safe. Because I know he can go faster than 54.555km. Had he played it safe, he would have been stranded somewhere around 54.8km anyway."

Before Dowsett's attempt, Campenaerts gave the Briton a '50 per cent chance' of breaking the record. The 30-year-old also claimed that he wouldn't try and win the title back if Dowsett's attempt had been successful, with his priorities changing over the last few years. 

However, the soon-to-be Lotto-Soudal rider is also proud that his record still stands. Five riders have now tried to break Campenaerts' 55.089km record since 2019, with all them unsuccessful. 

"I'm glad the record is still in my possession, but records are simply there to be broken," Campenaerts said. 

“It's also not that I get a bonus from the UCI for every day I hold the record. The only thing I got from them in those two and a half years was the opportunity to fly in business class to China for the UCI closing gala.”

Previously, Italian rider Filippo Ganna has suggested that he will attempt the Hour Record in the near future, and Campenaerts fully expects the two-time world time trial champion to smash the record. 

He said: “We will not have to ask ourselves whether Ganna will improve the world Hour Record, but with how many kilometres he will do that. But the more riders that bite their teeth on my Hour Record in the meantime, the more prestige it gets.

"This proves that I'm a good rider, doesn't it?“

Alex Dowsett did not manage to beat Victor Campenaerts World Hour Record at the Aguascalientes Velodrome in Mexico but did send out a powerful message to people carrying Haemophilia.

Dowsett, who did the record attempt for the second time in his career after first breaking the record back in May of 2015 with a distance of 52.937km, managed a ride of 54.555km, still behind Campenaerts' 55.089km set in April 2019.

But the ride was about so much more than just the record, with Dowsett adding that the money and awareness raised for a condition of which he is a carrier was one of the main targets along with trying to set a new record.

>>> Alex Dowsett falls short of Hour Record in Mexico

Speaking after the effort, a visibly exhausted and emotional Dowsett said that missing the record was not a failure, adding there was an equally important goal: "The biggest failure today would have been to have never tried and that's the message to send out you know, is I spent a childhood of being told what I couldn't do. 

"And you know, we, my mum, my dad, we knew what we couldn't do, like football, rugby, boxing. So we set about finding what we could do. We turned a negative into an absolute positive and I've been able to carve a massive career out, carve it from adversity.

"And that that should be the message, life can give you at a bad hand at times. And it's how you, it's what you make of it."

The six-time national time trial champion later posted to his Instagram where he thanked everyone involved in his effort from his family, including his partner Chanel and young daughter Juliette, to the coaches like Michael Hutchinson as well as the sponsors Pfizer, Israel Start-Up Nation, and the rest.

"We had three objectives for the attempt and we succeeded at two of them," Dowsett wrote. 

"54.555km is a distance I’m proud of, it’s everything I had/have and that’s the first success, I shot for the record, I was ok for 30mins and there was nothing more I could do to hang onto it.

"The second, and most important, is the awareness we’ve bought to a rare condition who my family have not only turned such a negative into a such a positive, but really making the absolute best of it.

"Mum, Dad, Lois, Chanel and Juliette were on my sleeve throughout today and kept me going even when I knew it was slipping away. Today was not a failure but the message from trying and missing the record is perhaps more poignant than that of succeeding, it would’ve been incredibly easy to not have attempted this."

Haemophilia, of which Dowsett, his mother and his daughter are carriers, is a rare and often inherited bleeding disorder where the blood does not clot properly. This means that a carrier could suffer from spontaneous bleeding as well as continued bleeding after an injury or surgery. 

It is not known whether Dowsett will ever try to go for the record again, but with growing rumours that world time trial champion and team pursuit world record holder Filippo Ganna is looking at an attempt, that may be unlikely.

To donate to Dowsett's cause, just follow his Just Giving link.

Alex Dowsett has fallen short of setting a new UCI World Hour Record at the Aguascalientes Velodrome in Mexico.

The Briton missed out on Victor Campenaerts' record of 55.089km set at the same velodrome in 2019, riding to a distance of 54.555km.

Dowsett has held the Hour Record previously, having set a new distance in May 2015 in Manchester before Bradley Wiggins beat his distance just a month later.

The 33-year-old set off on his record attempt at 16.00 local time in Aguascalientes, which sits at almost 1900m in altitude.

In the first 10 laps Dowsett was riding up on the time of Campenaerts's record, but his time in front of the Belgian was short-lived.

With around 20 minutes of the effort gone Dowsett had dropped to around three seconds behind the record, having completed 18.250km.

While he sustained that gap for a time, by halfway the cracks were beginning to show as the time slipped to four seconds and continued to go up.

Ahead of the record Dowsett said he’d be looking to do 16.3-second laps at the 30km mark, but he was still riding 16.4-second laps at that point.

With 40 minutes gone it was really not looking good for the former British time trial champion, who looked to be struggling as the gap escalated to over seven seconds.

He was still riding at over 54.8kmh with 46 minutes ridden, but at well over 12 seconds down the record looked to be gone.

That was all but confirmed when at 52 minutes in Dowsett sat up from the skis on his bars due to discomfort, before settling back in and battling on with his effort despite being at 21 seconds behind the Hour Record.

Dowsett continued on to complete the Hour Record attempt, but fell short by over 500m, or two laps of the velodrome. He also missed out on Dan Bigham's British record of 54.723km, which was set in Grenchen, Switzerland in October.

"The biggest failure today would have been to have never tried and that's the message I want to send out," Dowsett, who rode the record to raise awareness and money for haemophilia charities, said after the finish.

"[I] came up short. And I just want to take it to say another well done to Victor [Campenaerts] and to Dan Bigham because there was a British record up for grabs today and I was a bit shy. Hats off to both of them are both incredible athletes."

Alex Dowsett attempts the Hour Record tonight at 10pm GMT, at the Aguascalientes Velodrome in Mexico. 

He is livestreaming the event on his YouTube channel, while BBC iPlayer is also broadcasting the event. 

Dowsett is looking to break world record holder Victor Campenaerts' 2019 distance of 55.089km. The 33-year-old is attempting to break the record at the same velodrome that Campenaerts used for his record in 2019, suggesting that his performance will benefit from being 1,900 metres above sea level.  

The Briton previously set the Hour Record in May 2015 in Manchester with a distance of 52.937km, before Bradley Wiggins beat him just a month later. Dowsett hasn't attempted the challenge since, cancelling an effort in December 2020 after contracting Covid-19. 

Four riders have officially attempted the Hour Record since Campenaerts' record-breaking distance in 2019, with all of them unsuccessful in their efforts.

>>> 'I think it’s a 50-50': Victor Campenaerts unsure if Alex Dowsett will break his Hour Record

Dan Bigham's distance of 54.723km is currently the British record, however, it isn't officially recognised by the UCI, because the organisation's rules require an athlete to participate in its anti-doping system, including having a biological passport.

Regardless, Bigham's distance is also another record Dowsett is looking to beat tonight.

Dowsett has organised the event independent of his Israel Start-Up Nation team, because he is attempting the Hour Record to raise awareness for his charity Little Bleeders, as well as the work of the Haemophilia Society.

As a result, he has sourced his own equipment for the attempt. This includes a Factor Hanzo time trial bike (track version), Aerocoach Aten chainring, and a custom Vorteq skinsuit. 

Victor Campenaerts has revealed that he would be happy for Alex Dowsett to break his UCI Hour Record, as Dowsett prepares for the challenge in Mexico on Wednesday.  

Campenaerts holds the current hour record with a distance of 55.089km, which he set in April 2019 after breaking the benchmark set by Bradley Wiggins four years prior. Wiggins beat Dowsett on that occasion, just a month after the latter had set the new record.

Dowsett will attempt the Hour Record for the second time in his career on Wednesday at the Aguascalientes Velodrome in Mexico, 1800m above sea level and at the same venue where Campenaerts produced a performance that hasn't been beaten since. 

Speaking on his YouTube channel, the Belgian wished Alex the best of luck, highlighting that he would congratulate him if he managed to ride farther than 55.089km. If it is broken though, Campenaerts revealed that he doesn't expect to have any plans to try and wrestle the record back.

>>> How to watch Alex Dowsett's Hour Record attempt: Live stream the event from Mexico

“If he breaks it, I’m happy for him," Campenaerts said. "Records are there to be broken, and Alex is a nice guy. I also know what it would mean to him to break the record, so I would be happy for him."

“I don’t think I’d go back after him - not on short notice anyway - because of changes in my career. I think I lost a lot of my time trial abilities. It would be already hard to break my own record, so if Alex breaks it, I will just cheer hard for him, congratulate him, and not go back after him.”

During the video, Campenaerts also spoke about Dowsett's chances of breaking his record, and what it'll take for him to be successful.

"I think it’s a 50-50 per cent chance that he can break my record," Campenaerts said. "I think the biggest benefit Alex has over me is that he already had the Hour Record before. He already did an attempt and the full preparation.

"I prepared for the Hour Record very well but by doing it all I learned some things that I would do differently. That’s a big advantage Alex has – that he has the experience."

Also in Dowsett's favour, Campenaerts suggests, is the benefit he has in selecting the best equipment and technology that provides him with as much speed as possible. With the Briton attempting the challenge independent of his Israel Start-Up Nation team, he has the ability to choose whatever he wants to use and wear, regardless of sponsors. 

"Technology hasn’t been standing still. Everything goes forward," Campenaerts said. "Tyres are getting faster, frames are getting more aero, suits are getting faster, you have faster chainrings, raster chain lubes. All marginal gains but those margins are all very important in the end if you want to break an Hour Record.

"There are also new rules. Alex can ride with aero shoe covers, which I wasn’t allowed, though that’s only a small advantage.

"All marginal gains, but all very important if you want to break the hour record."

Alex Dowsett will attempt to break the Hour Record in Mexico next month. 

British time trial specialist and WorldTour pro Dowsett had planned to take on the prestigious track record in December 2020, but was forced to cancel the attempt after he contracted coronavirus. 

After initially planning to take on the Hour at the Manchester velodrome last year, Dowsett has now moved the event to the velodrome in Aguascalientes, Mexico, the high-altitude track where Victor Campenaerts set the existing Hour Record. 

Dowsett’s attempt will take place on November 3 at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Mexico, as the 32-year-old attempts to topple the 55.089km set by Belgium’s Campenaerts in April 2019. 

The Essex-born rider previously held the record for just a month in 2015, before his distance was beaten 36 days later by Sir Bradley Wiggins, 

Israel Start-Up Nation pro Dowsett said: “When I took the record in 2015, we rode enough to break the record but I knew I had more in the tank at the end which was frustrating given the work put in by everyone. Last year’s attempt was derailed when I contracted Covid-19 but the same reasons for wanting to do it are all still there. I want to see what I’m capable of and it’s an event I just really love and feel privileged to have the opportunity to take on again.

“In terms of difficulty I know the bar has been set extremely high by Victor. It’s going to be a very big ask but I think I’m capable. The biggest hurdle this time with it being in Mexico will be the altitude. Being at altitude the power output required will be lower than at sea level because of the thin air, but it’s not all plain sailing as the thin air also brings a tougher environment for breathing. We think in the end it should be more beneficial than detrimental to be at altitude.” 

The Hour Record, which sees riders cover as much ground as possible in 60 minutes on the track, has been back in focus this year, as Joss Lowden smashed the women’s Hour Record during her attempt in Switzerland last month. 

Her partner Dan Bigham also tackled the British Hour Record, as he builds towards an attempt on the World Hour Record next year. 

>>> Strava data reveals huge performances from Fausto Masnada, Alejandro Valverde, and Mike Woods in Il Lombardia 2021

But the race to break the Campenaerts record is now on, as time trial world champion and Olympic gold medallist on the track Filippo Ganna is eyeing up his own attempt, and based on previous form he could smash the existing record.  

In a recent 30-minute test, Ganna averaged 57.5km/h, covering 115 laps of a track - if he had continued to ride the full hour at that pace he would have beaten Campenaerts’ distance but around 2km. 

Filippo Ganna told La Gazzette dello Sport at the Trento Festival of Sport that he is contemplating attempting the Hour Record, after he finished a 30-minute test on the track with 115 laps - which is an average speed of 57.5km/h.

Currently, the Hour Record is held by Victor Campenaerts, after he cycled 55.089km in 2019 at the Aguascalientes Bicentenary Velodrome in Mexico. Four riders have officially attempted the challenge since the Belgian set the record, but they all failed to ride further. 

While Ganna's 30-minute test came in an unofficial setting, the stats highlight that he would've broken the Hour Record if he had continued at the same pace for double the time. Consequently, the Italian is now considering if he will set his sights on the goal, giving an idea as to when he'll attempt the challenge at the Trento Festival of Sport. 

"I'll think about it in January," Ganna said. "Maybe next summer.

“I tried in Montichiari after a period of altitude after the Giro, but it only lasted 30 minutes, and it was really tiring. I understand that everything must be planned well, it is something that requires an incredible effort. We will see in the future, we will talk about it later. Let's hope one day to uncork a good bottle of rosé to celebrate…"

Ganna, who won the team pursuit gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, completed the 115 laps in 30 minutes after winning two stages at the Giro this summer. The 25-year-old won the first stage, a time trial, after achieving an average speed of 58.8 km/h, and is a clear candidate to break the Hour Record set by Campenaerts.

Ganna also spoke of the inspiration that fellow countryman Elia Viviani provided him after the latter won gold at the Rio Olympics. 

"He paved the way for us, he helped people rediscover the pleasure of watching from this specialty on TV, thrilling us with the Rio gold that has changed many things. He showed us that we could grow and do something important .

"The track has something special. When you understand it, you won't give it up."

However, his dedication won't come at a detriment to his enjoyment, as the Ineos Grenadiers rider's perception of cycling has changed since when he was a child. 

"This sport, cycling, represents me and gives me joy. And to think that as a child I said: I don't like it, too much effort."

Dan Bigham has set a new British Hour Record, beating Bradley Wiggins' previous furthest distance.

The 29-year-old set a new record of 54.723km, nearly 200m further than Wiggins' 54.526km from June 2015 in London.

Bigham used the velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland, for his effort, a day after partner Joss Lowden set the new women's Hour Record and a few days before the European Track Championships take place in the same venue.

"Actually really enjoyable," Bigham told The Cycling Dane YouTube channel, which livestreamed the event, of how he found the hour. "I'm sure I had a few people scared early on because of the pacing but that was the plan. It's quite scary when you've got to ride it because you know you've got to pick it up. 

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"I felt I was on a good one on the warm-up on the track. I knew exactly the time gaps I needed, actually in my target I was supposed to be 27 seconds back at halfway but I was only 18/19. Then I was chipping away and it was really good and I thought this is going to bite me. Then the last few minutes it started to hurt."

Bigham held on though, and achieves a record he'd been thinking about taking on since 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic delayed proceedings, but the Brit used the lockdown period to really hone his training and preparation.

"I had a good mental strategy, chunking it out in time gaps and splits I need to be doing," he explained of the mind games deployed to aid the physical effort. "I'm good at holding my position naturally, it was more taking a good line and staying in control of my breathing, because we found when that goes, my head goes. 

"I didn't think about it too much, in practice hours I've had music on seeing if distraction would be a good thing, but to be honest I kept mentally aware for a good 45 minutes, I knew where I was, what was going on, knew what was happening, and that's a really good thing, keeping control of your head."

Bigham could only take on the British record, not the pan-national one currently held by Victor Campenaerts of 55.089km, the Belgian present watching on the livestream alongside fellow riders Charlie and Harry Tanfield, because he's not in the UCI testing pool. His status as a Continental rider means he would have to pay to be in the testing pool himself. Whether he'll now try and go for Campenaerts' record? We'll have to wait and see.

Joss Lowden said she may look back on her Hour Record attempt and wished she’d pushed harder, but was was still “relieved" to have taken the title.

The 33-year-old Brit put down a phenomenal ride at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland, beating the previous record by more than 300m. 

Lowden set a new world record of 48.405km covered in 60 minutes, smashing the previous effort put down by Vittoria Bussi of Italy in 2018 by almost two full laps. 

The new record is made even more impressive as Lowden set her distance at just 400m above sea level, compared to Bussi’s ride in Aguascalientes, Mexico, more than 1,800m up.

Speaking after her record-breaking ride, Drops-Le Col rider Lowden said: “I’m relieved but also I think I was a bit dramatic. It was really worrying and nerves were to the extreme, a lot of self doubt but actually it wasn’t that bad. 

“It’s so easy to say it in hindsight, but I started and I knew I could ride the record split comfortably in theory, so I just had to trust that, I knew that if I sat below that I would be okay.”

On whether she would have done anything differently, Lowden added: “Go faster, ride harder. It was conservative. I played it safe, I was in control the whole time. The last few minutes were uncomfortable but it was definitely a controlled effort.  Maybe I’ll look back and think I should have tried harder,  but I think given the preparation, the run into it, the World Championships, the fact I’ve got the Women’s Tour next week, I rode it the way I wanted to ride it, so I can’t be unhappy with that.”

There was also a cause behind Lowden’s ride to add to her motivation, as she hoped to close the gap between the men’s and women’s sides of elite cycling. 

She said: “I just want to demonstrate the women’s side of the sport is the same as the men’s.  We’re up there, competing at the same level, doing the same sort of things and putting on the same entertaining races. Doing something like this, we’re trying to close that gap to the number of men that are trying the men’s world record, doing anything to close that gap.”

>>> ‘I hope to not touch Wiggins’ power for even a second’: Can Dan Bigham’s aero gains overcome wattage in Hour Record attempt? 

But would Lowden consider another attempt, maybe at high altitude, to see how far she could really go in 60 minutes? 

“If I got a free trip to Mexico I’d probably go for it because that would be good fun,” she said. 

“But otherwise I’ll probably leave it there for now.”   

Lowden will now be joining her partner Dan Bigham in his own Hour Record attempt at the same velodrome on Friday, as he takes on the British record currently held by Sir Bradley Wiggins. 

Hello cycling fans and welcome to live coverage from Joss Lowden's Hour Record attempt at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland.  

Start time: 4pm 

>>> Joss Lowden's Hour record kit
>>> Joss Lowden hopes Hour Record try will encourage more female attempts but 'give me a moment with it first, if I get it'
>>> ‘I hope to not touch Wiggins’ power for even a second’: Can Dan Bigham’s aero gains overcome wattage in Hour Record attempt?

Check below for live updates: 

Afternoon folks! 

Alex Ballinger here, digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com, bringing you the live updates from Joss Lowden's Hour Record attempt. 

Lowden is set to push off at 4pm! 

The record Lowden is aiming for is 48.007km, which she set at altitude on the Aguascalientes velodrome in Mexico back in 2016. 

For the kit nerds out there, we also have the full list of equipment Lowden will be using, including the now famous POC Tempor helmet. 

Here is the breakdown: 

Frame: Argon 18 Electron Pro
Wheels & Tyres: FFWD Disc-T SL, Vittoria Pista Speed 2.0 23c
Pedals: Speedplay Aero
Chainset: Wattshop Cratus with Izumi KAI chain
Gearing: 64x15
Bar: Wattshop Pentaxia Olympic with Wattshop Anemoi extensions
Kit: Custom made Le Col x McLaren Project Aero Skinsuit
Helmet: POC Tempor 

Lowden's partner and aero expert Dan Bigham has just walked out onto track with Lowden's bike. 

Dan will be taking on his own Hour Record tomorrow, as he tries to break the British record.

But today is all about Lowden, who is hoping to make history. 

Our writer Jonny Long spoke to Lowden during the World Championships earlier this month, where Lowden spoke about the record. 

Here's what she had to say: "I'm a bit daunted, you kind of start to think 'ah that's quite a big statement', like when you go for an Hour Record you're sort of saying 'I'm better than any other female that's come before me that's tried that' and sometimes I think is that really a statement I want to make? My style is more to kind of slip under the radar and just go and do things quietly and then afterwards go 'that was really good'. 

"But you kind of realise that people want to see it because it's exciting and it's a good thing for women's cycling...there's so much hype around the men doing it. There's not really enough about the women so I'm hoping that it will make other women do it. I mean if you sent Ellen [Van Dijk - the new women's time trial world champion] out to do that record it would be amazing, I mean give me a moment with it first...if I get it." 

Lowden is out in the track centre and is just putting together the last touches of her preparation. 

She's fully kitted up, bit of chalk on her hands and she's onto the track.

The first lap of an Hour Record is a really tough balance, as you need to lay down the power to get up to speed as quick as possible, but without exerting yourself too much so you suffer later in the ride. 

It's the highest power you'll hit on the whole ride, but how much is the perfect amount? Lowden will have spent hours perfecting every detail of this ride.  

She's in the start gate now, looking tense but ready to go. 

10 seconds and counting. 

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and we're away.

60 minutes alone with the track, this is such a brutal challenge. 

Lowden is up to speed and in position, 32.3km/h average for that first lap.

She's ramping up the pace now, up to 38.6km/h. 

Onto the fourth lap and Lowden is ever so slightly up on the target, .3 of a second.

But with such a long way to go that is no indicator of how this right might go. She's covered 1.5km in the first two minutes. 

14 laps down now for Lowden, 3.5km covered in 4-49.

She's just .139 faster than the record at the moment. It seems like Lowden is trying to ride as close to the record as possible in the opening section, before she then ups the power later in the rider to try and gain extra time. 

Lowden is averaging 47.193km/h so far after 25 laps, she's .7 of a second up on the current world record pace, so she's ramping up the speed now.  

Eight minutes out of the 60 done so far. 

She just clipped the curb there slightly on the inside of the track, a sketchy moment but she seems to have recovered and is still on good pace.

Ramping up the speed now, she's 1.4 seconds up on record pace and looking comfortable. 

A reminder that the current record is just over 48km covered in 60 minutes.

That record was also set at altitude in Aguascalientes, whereas Lowden is nowhere near as high above sea level, which shows how strong she must be. 

Here's a video of Lowden's start: 

11km into the ride, 14 minutes have gone! That's 45 laps of this track in Switzerland. 

Lowden is really powering up now, she's 3.4 seconds ahead of World Record pace, so she could be on target to smash the existing record if she keeps this up. 

Lowden needs to beat 48.007km to take the record.  

Wow so far this has been an outstanding ride. 

We've just hit the 15km mark, 61 laps. 

Lowden is five seconds ahead of world record pace, averaging 47.9km/h so far, as she continues to gradually increase the pace. 

That's 24 minutes covered, Lowden has done 19km so far with an average speed of 48.092km/h.

She's seven seconds ahead of the record pace, this is looking like a phenomenal ride as she continues to up the speeds.  

Lowden has just hit the half way mark! 30 minutes covered and she's done 24km so far, average speed is 48.1km/h. 

She needs to average just over 48km/h to break the record and she's 11 seconds up on WR pace. 

Still looking so steady and smooth on the bike as she continues to up the effort. This really is a phenomenal ride. 

We've just passed the 100 lap mark, amazing stuff from Lowden. 

Lowden is still tearing this track up.

34km covered in the first 42 minutes, and she's 20 seconds up on record pace.  

48.3km/h average speed for the first 137 laps. 

This looks like a record breaking pace. 18 minutes remaining.  

Down to the final 12 minutes now and Lowden is at 39km. She's still comfortably within the world record pace, now 25 seconds up on the pace she needs to beat the record. 

158 laps covered in 48 minutes. 

Inside the final 10 minutes! This is where it really hurts. Nine minutes this deep into the ride is going to feel like forever, but Lowden looks like she's about to break the world record. 

41km covered in 52 minutes, average speed of 48.399km.

She needs to break through 48.007km, but she's 26 seconds up on that pace she needs to take the record.  

Just five minutes left! 44km covered, she has just 4km to cover. 

Lowden has put in a flawless ride here, 27 seconds up on the record. 

177 laps of the Velodrome Suisse so far.  

45km covered! four minutes to cover 3km now. 

Fantastic stuff. She's starting to suffer now as she veers across the track and rocks left and right in the saddle.  

She's done 184 of the 192 laps she needs to take the Hour Record. 

Just two minutes left, now the finish is in sight but she's 28 seconds ahead of pace.  

Just 1,008m left to break the record! Final 90 seconds! 

Two more laps is all she needs to cover in the next minute. 

One lap left! less than a minute left to ride.  

SHE'S DONE IT! Joss Lowden has broken the Hour Record 

Final 20 seconds and she smashed through the record 

48.4km! She has beaten the record by about 400 metres. Absolutely phenomenal ride.  

Joss Lowden is the new women's Hour Record holder, having just gone two laps further than Vittoria Bussi's previous record. 

Absolutely stunning stuff on the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen.  

Here's what Lowden had to say after breaking the women's Hour Record:

Relieved but also I think I was a bit dramatic. It was really worrying and nerves were to the extreme, a lot of self doubt but actually it wasn’t that bad. 

When i came back from altitude at the beginning of September, I just remember thinking ‘oh gosh’ you start to question your preparation, I started to question why I did it off the back off three races at the World Championships. A lot of people said that’s not good preparation for the Hour and they weren’t wrong, it wasn’t. But it was enough to do what I wanted to do and what I needed to do. I’m pleased with how it went. I’m pleased I pushed through with my plan. 

It’s so easy to say it in hindsight, but I started and I knew I could ride the record split comfortably in theory, so I just had to trust that,  I knew that if I sat below that I would be okay.

There was a point where Dan told me to push on and you can put this on the shelf. I thought ‘do I go for that or do I play it safe?’ I went somewhere in the middle. In terms of game face there’s been highs and lows. I definitely can be quite calm on some days. I have had a really good team supporting me into this with Dand and my parents, my coach Sean, Le Col, all my friends.  

Lowden set a new record of 48.406km in 60 minutes, breaking the previous record by almost 400m. 

Check out the full story about Lowden's ride here: 

Joss Lowden smashes Hour Record

Dan Bigham has no illusions heading into his Hour Record. 

The aerodynamics expert, time trial specialist and Ribble-Weldtite rider is pitting himself against some of the biggest and best racers against the clock, as he tries to set the furthest possible distance in 60 minutes on the track this week. 

While Bigham has future plans to take on the World Hour Record, currently held by Belgium’s Victor Campenaerts, it’s the British record currently held by Sir Bradley Wiggins that’s first on the hit list. 

This Friday, Bigham plans to beat Wiggins’ record of 54.526km, as he takes on the Hour at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland, but his approach could not be more different that Wiggins’.

“I’m not anywhere near Wiggins’ power,” he told Cycling Weekly two days before his attempt. “If you exclude lap one, I hope to not even tough Wiggins’ average power for even a second.” 

Wiggins, Olympic gold medallist and Tour de France winner, is believed to have pushed somewhere in the region of 420 to 450 watts for his hour long ride at the Lee Valley velodrome in London back in 2015. 

Bigham on the other hand, one of the driving forces behind aerodynamic advancements in cycling in recent years, hopes to be in the region of 355-360w but still hopes to take the British record. 

“It’s just technological development,” he said.

“Your mind gets blown because you deal in this small little step changes that accumulate over time, then you make one big change back to what you were using years before and you realise ‘there’s 15w’.”

Bigham had such a realisation not long before his Hour Record attempt, when he tested some of his old skinsuits to compare to the newer equipment, and it made clear just how fast aerodynamics is progressing in cycling.  

While there is always a lot of pressure building behind the scenes of an Hour Record attempt, Bigham has cause for confidence. 

Earlier this year, Bigham laid down a benchmark during a simulation ride in Denmark, where he works with the Danish Olympic team, and with a rolling start he managed 54.7km in the hour. 

With the flying start giving him around a 200 metre head start when compared with the standing start he’ll need to perform on the day of his record, that still puts him level with Wiggins’ record, even on a velodrome he believes is slower than the Velodrome Suisse.

He said: “To beat Wiggins at sea level is hard. Wiggins is genuinely a world-class, outrageously good athlete, as his palmarès shows with Grand Tour wins. 

“I don’t have those to my name, so I’m doing the best I can by optimising everything outside of the power, because I don’t have a 400w-plus threshold.”

But does Bigham also think he could accidentally break the the world record, 55.089km, set by Campenaerts at altitude in Mexico in 2019?

“A few people have brought it up and there’s some doping troll on Twitter going off about it, but genuinely I think it’s highly unlikely. 

“I’d never say never, but it would be impressive if I managed to accidentally break the world record.”  

Joss Lowden hopes her forthcoming Hour Record attempt will inspire more women to take on the feat, but not before she's had some time with it, before adding the quick caveat "if I get it".

The 33-year-old Brit will attempt to beat the 48.007km set by Italy's Vittoria Bussi in September 2018 on September 30th at the Velodome Suisse in Switzerland, and will be broadcast live on Eurosport and YouTube.

"I'm a bit daunted, you kind of start to think 'ah that's quite a big statement', like when you go for an Hour Record you're sort of saying 'I'm better than any other female that's come before me that's tried that' and sometimes I think is that really a statement I want to make? My style is more to kind of slip under the radar and just go and do things quietly and then afterwards go 'that was really good'. 

But you kind of realise that people want to see it because it's exciting and it's a good thing for women's cycling...there's so much hype around the men doing it. There's not really enough about the women so I'm hoping that it will make other women do it. I mean if you sent Ellen [Van Dijk - the new women's time trial world champion] out to do that record it would be amazing, I mean give me a moment with it first...if I get it."

>>> Dan Bigham is definitely NOT the bad boy of British Cycling

Lowden finished eighth in the elite women's time trial at the Flanders World Championships, a result she was pleased with, as she rides herself into peak form ahead of the Hour Record with the mixed team relay and women's road race still on her Flanders menu for the rest of this week, a week she hopes to enjoy, which she says can be as important as having the right preparation.

"There were moments when I thought 'if you're finding these few minute intervals hard work just think about the hour!'" Lowden said.

"[We're] enjoying ourselves out here and racing. I mean, coming to Worlds and having a nice time and I think being happy and in a good place is worth a lot of watts."

"I think I'm not quite where I was hoping to be [form-wise] but I don't think I'm a million miles away so hopefully it's enough."

Her partner, Dan Bigham, who rode the men's time trial and will also lead the mixed team relay on Wednesday, will try to beat Bradley Wiggins' British Hour Record the day after Lowden's attempt.

“I wouldn’t go for it if I didn’t think it was possible,” he said.

"The test run was good because there was zero pressure, I could just turn up and ride, and did a big negative split. It’s a different ball game when you pick a date and time and have to go for it. I’m confident but it won’t be easy."

Bigham will first try and beat Wiggins' 54.5km, as to be eligible for the full UCI Hour Record, held by Victor Campenaerts (55.089km), you need to be in the UCI's registered testing pool, "which is £8,000 pounds a year," Bigham explains. "Then there are all the other organisational costs, so you’re talking in the region of £25,000.

"Joss has gone through that and had full support from Drops Le Col, which is nothing short of epic. For me, my team don't have £25k floating around, that’s a good chunk of their annual budget. I’m basically having to fund it off my own back. That’s not a bad thing, there’s less pressure and stress when it’s coming out of my pocket than someone else’s. But hopefully it’s a stepping stone. If I can get close or break it maybe people will invest in it and I can stand here in 12 months’ time saying I’m about to have a go at Campenaerts’ record."

Joss Lowden has announced an official Hour Record attempt, after she smashed the previous record in training earlier this year.

The British pro, who races for Drops-Le Col s/b Tempur on the road, will head to Switzerland to try and break the prestigious women’s world record on the track, in the hopes of beating the current record set in 2018. 

Lowden will need to ride 48.008km in 60 minutes to break the current Hour Record, set by Victoria Bussi. 

The record attempt will take place at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen between September 30 and October 1.  

Lowden, 33, has reason to be confident about her attempt after she unofficially broke the existing record during a training simulation in February. 

Her coach Sean Yates and British time trial specialist Dan Bigham both announced that Lowden had beaten the record, riding a distance of 48.160km - 153m further than the current distance. 

The current record was set by Italian Vittoria Bussi in September 2018, at the high-altitude Aguascalientes velodrome in Mexico. Bussi’s record was 27 metres further than the previous record. 

The Hour Record is a historic achievement in cycling, dating back to 1876 when Frank Dodds rode 26km on a penny-farthing.

Since that initial attempt, the record has been held by some of the biggest names in cycling.

In 2014, the rules for record attempts were revised, as the UCI now only accepts records set on approved track pursuit bikes.

Since the rule change, only seven attempts have been made to break the women’s record. 

>>> Giro d’Italia was Remco Evenepoel’s ‘first defeat,’ says Patrick Lefevere

The current men’s record is held by Belgium’s Victor Campenaerts, who rode to 55.089km in April 2019 at Aguascalientes. 

More details on the broadcast and timings will be confirmed soon.  

Alex Dowsett has been forced to postpone his Hour Record attempt.

The Israel Start-Up Nation rider had planned an assault on the prestigious record at the Manchester Velodrome on December 12, but the event has been halted after Dowsett contracted coronavirus.

Dowsett said he is "really disappointed" by the news, but said he will focus on his isolation and recovery, with his attempt now postponed until next year.

The 32-year-old pro from Essex said: "I am really disappointed the attempt can’t go ahead as planned but my health is first and foremost the priority.

"I’d like to thank everyone, the event organisers, event sponsors, my team, the UCI and above all the public for their support and very much look forward to attacking the record in 2021 with the same intent.

"We’re looking to announce a 2021 date as soon as possible.”

Dowsett added on Twitter: "Really disappointed to have to postpone the Hour Record attempt. Shortly after we announced the attempt I had some symptoms of Covid and a test result came back positive.

"My focus now is recovery, isolation & my health. Thanks to everyone for their support, we’ll be back stronger."

Dowsett had planned to take back the prestigious title, which he briefly held in 2015 before Sir Bradley Wiggins beat his distance a month later.

The current record is held by Belgium's Victor Campenaerts, who set a staggering 55.089km benchmark in 60 minutes in April 2019.

NTT Pro Cycling rider Campenaerts set his record at 1,800 metres above sea level at the Aguascalientes velodrome in Mexico.

Dowsett had been training hard to prepare for his record attempt, putting up some big distances around his home county Essex in November.

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Camenpaerts says Dowsett has a 50 per cent chance of breaking his record and added that he would try to retake the title if Dowsett is successful.

A new date for Dowsett's attempt has not yet been set.

Despite a stressful and chaotic year the work is not done for Britain’s Alex Dowsett, as he prepares for an assault on the prestigious Hour Record.

Time trial specialist Dowsett, who races for Israel Start-Up Nation on the road, plans to reclaim the title having held it for just over a month in 2015.

The current Hour Record holder is Belgium’s Victor Campenaerts, who rode 55.089km in 60 minutes at the Aguascalientes Velodrome, Mexico, in April 2019. 

While other pros are enjoying their off-season and preparing for 2021, Dowsett is training hard late into the year, and his Strava stats offer up some insight. 

After finishing the Giro d’Italia in late October, Dowsett took an easier week with 132.7km, before ramping up the distances again from November 2.

That week, the 32-year-old rode 618km on the roads around his home area Essex, with his long ride being a 165km tour starting from Chelmsford, past South Woodham Ferrers, then out to Bradwell Waterside. 

But it’s not all about the distance, as Dowsett’s power numbers on that ride were pretty huge, pushing a 20-minute maximum of 410 watts.

Then last week Dowsett rode another 640km, including a 176km run on November 12. 

The training is only likely to increase in intensity, with less than a month remaining until Dowsett’s attempt on December 12.

He will be trying to set the new record at the Manchester Velodrome, which could be a tall ask as Campenaerts had the benefit of riding at 1,800 metres above sea level in Mexico (Manchester is 38m). 

Camenpaerts says Dowsett has a 50 per cent chance of breaking his record and added that he would try to retake the title if Dowsett is successful.

>>> Tadej Pogačar: My life is the same as before after winning Tour de France 

The former Belgian national time trial champion says Dowsett (Israel Start-Up Nation) choosing Manchester maybe prove to be the wrong decision because of the air pressure. 

Victor Campenaerts, the current Hour Record holder, says he thinks Alex Dowsett has a 50 per cent chance of beating his record next month.

Campernaerts (NTT Pro Cycling) set a record of 55.089km last year at the Aguascalientes Bicentenary Velodrome in Mexico, beating Sir Bradley Wiggins record of 54.526km.

Dowsett has announced he will try to reclaim the prestigious title at the Manchester Velodrome on December 12.

The former Belgian national time trial champion says Dowsett (Israel Start-Up Nation) choosing Manchester maybe prove to be the wrong decision.

"The air pressure makes or breaks an hour record attempt," Campenaerts told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. 

"I am not a climatologist, but in Mexico the air pressure is almost constant every day.

"In Belgium or the United Kingdom, the temperature fluctuates day after day. If he has a breakdown on December 12 and there is high air pressure, I fear it will be an impossible attempt.

“I think he has a 50 per cent chance of breaking the record. I'm glad someone finally dares to do it.”

>>> Alex Dowsett will ride alongside Chris Froome as he extends contact at Israel Start-Up Nation 

Campenaerts recently beat Dowsett in all three time trials at the Giro d'Italia, with Dowsett putting in some disappointing rides against the clock but taking a stage win on the road.

NTT's star time trial rider Campenaerts says that he chatted about the record a lot with Dowsett at the Giro: "In the last Giro d'Italia we were still talking about the Hour Record. I get along well with Alex.

"I like him, but I can't give too many tips either. He is a competitor that can take away my greatest achievement as a cyclist. If he takes my record, I plan another attack in the short term."

The main advantage Dowsett has over the Belgian is that the British rider can choose his own equipment, which is something he has done in TTs in the European and World championships, riding a Specialized bike and wearing a POC helmet instead of his standard team equipment.

Campenaerts says this is a "big advantage" but it won't be easy for Dowsett. Campenaerts says he will be sad to lose it but he will have beaten fairly with the record not being obliterated: "That would be a bit painful [losing to Dowsett], but I honestly don't believe in that. Alex faces a tough challenge. It would be sad for me if it wasn't."

Alex Dowsett has announced he will attempt to break the Hour Record once again this year.

The British time trial specialist previously smashed the prestigious world record in 2015, but was beaten just 36 days later as Sir Bradley Wiggins set a new benchmark.

Now the UCI Hour Record is held by Belgium’s Victor Campenaerts, who rode a staggering 55.098 kilometres in 60 minutes, riding on the Aguascalientes velodrome in Mexico last April. 

But Dowsett, 32, has ambitions to take back the record in December. 

He said: “When I took the record in 2015, we rode enough to break the record but I knew I had more in the tank at the end, which was frustrating given the work put in by everyone. 

“I spotted an opportunity in December this year to have another go and obviously I want to try and break the record. I want to see what I’m capable of and it’s an event I just really love and feel privileged to have the opportunity to take on again.

“In terms of difficulty, this time around I know the bar has been set extremely high by Victor. It’s going to be a very big ask but I think I’m capable.” 

The attempt will take place on Saturday, December 12 at the Manchester Velodrome, with all the relevant Covid-19 regulations in place for the event.  

Dowsett returned to the UK after finishing the Giro d’Italia last month, where he raced for Israel Start-Up Nation, and has continued his intense training programme to prepare for the world record attempt. 

He has also undergone wind tunnel testing on his bike and skinsuit. 

It will be a tough ask to break the 55km record set by Campenaerts, who benefitted from decreased air density as he set his benchmark at 1,800 metres above sea level - Manchester is just 38m. 

Dowsett said: “The biggest hurdle to overcome in the Hour Record is actually wind. Put simply, the more efficiently you can cut through the air, the easier holding 55km/h-plus will be.

“The only variable outside of our control is atmospheric pressure so we’ll have our fingers crossed for preferable air pressure come December 12.” 

Dowsett, whose contract with Israel Start-Up Nation comes to an end this year but says he has found a new team, is also hoping to race awareness of haemophilia, a rare disease which causes the body to bleed excessively from any wound.

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The Essex-born rider is believed to be the only known elite athlete to compete in an able-bodied field with the condition - he will be taking on the challenge to support his own charity Little Bleeders and the Haemophilia Society. 

Filippo Ganna has already taken cycling by storm in the last 12 months, taking the Italian national championships, a track world title, and finishing on the podium of the World Championship time trial in Yorkshire, all by the age of 23.

But while under lockdown Ganna has found himself dwelling on a new challenge – taking on Victor Campenaerts’s Hour Record.

Team Ineos rider Ganna has set out his ambitions for the near future, with a run at the Hour Record near the top of his list.

In an interview with Italian cycling website TuttoBici, Ganna said: “I often get asked whether I shouldn't attempt a World Hour Record attempt. And during this quarantine I have already regularly thought about that.

“If there is more clarity about which races we can still ride this year, I will speak to the team. And if there is time, why not try it?”

Belgian time trial specialist Campenaerts took on the historic record in April 2019 at the high altitude velodrome in Aguascalientes, Mexico, breaking the 55km barrier to beat the previous record set by Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2015.

Ganna admits he hasn’t attempted the effort, but he is aware of the demands a longer time trial can have on the body, having finished second in the Worlds TT in Yorkshire last year, with a time of 1-07-00 behind Remco Evenepoel and winner Rohan Dennis.

But it has been on the track where Ganna has really made waves, winning a fourth consecutive individual pursuit world title in Berlin earlier this year, setting a new world record of 4-01.934.

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Breaking the almost superhuman four-minute barrier for the 4km individual pursuit is also high on Ganna’s priority list: “Before the end of the year I would also have liked to organise an event with the team to try to beat the four-minute barrier in the pursuit, looking for the ideal conditions.

“Just two years ago I thought that going under 4-10 was impossible, but one day I know that I will be able to go under four minutes.”

Victor Campenaerts claims the UCI blocked him undertaking another Hour Record attempt that was set to take place at the London Olympic velodrome during lockdown.

The Belgian says that when he realised upcoming races were likely to be postponed during Paris-Nice he turned his attention to another Hour Record attempt.

The attempt was discussed at a time when the coronavirus situation was still unfolding and different countries had varying limitations of lockdown in place. Campenaerts has said he understands and respects the decision of the UCI.

Campenaerts set a new longest distance of 55.089km in April 2019, beating Bradley Wiggins' record of 54.526km by 563m.

Campenaerts set his record at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico, which has an altitude of 1,888m, while Wiggins' was set at sea-level at the London Olympic velodrome in 2015.

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Campenaerts cites this reason, and the fact critics always bring it up, as the reason he wants another attempt to beat Wiggins' time once more but this time at sea-level.

"When it became clear during Paris-Nice that many races would be postponed, the idea of quarantining the London cycling track for three weeks was ripe for a new attempt," Campenaerts told Het Nieuwsblad.

"Since after my world Hour Record, some critics said I could only break Bradley Wiggins' record because it was at a high altitude, I wanted to beat his distance again at sea-level and on the same track."

Campenaerts left Lotto-Soudal for Team NTT at the end of the 2019 season and says his new boss Bjarne Riis was supportive of the plan. However, the two-time European time trial champion claims the UCI didn't allow the attempt as it "would not be good for the image of cycling".

"My team boss Bjarne Riis was completely behind it and we already had contact with the owners of the track. Everything would be done according to the rules of social distancing but ten days after our application the UCI did not give the green light. The reason? My attempt would not be good for the image of cycling," Campenaerts said.

London, like most of Europe, is currently in lockdown as countries attempt to combat the coronavirus pandemic. People are currently only allowed to leave their homes for "very limited purposes", public gatherings of two people have been banned and non-essential shops have been closed.

Two weeks ago Bradley Wiggins said he thought the coronavirus lockdown presented the perfect opportunity for riders, who usually had their schedules filled with road racing, to attempt the Hour Record.

“I thought for Geraint [Thomas] and guys like that, what a great time to do the Hour Record," Wiggins said in conversation with Mark Cavendish during an Instagram live Q&A. "What a bloody great opportunity to train for something and do it in a velodrome with two people."

Former Hour Record holder Matthias Brändle has said that he may try and beat Victor Campenaerts current record in the future.

Austrian Brändle set a world record distance of 51.852km in October 2014, but had his mark bettered by Rohan Dennis in February 2015.

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In April of this year, Belgian Campenaerts posted 55.089km at altitude in Mexico, beating Bradley Wiggins’ distance of 54.526km that had stood for almost four years.

Brändle, who will race in the WorldTour again next year for Isreal Cycling Academy, is not rated among the best time triallists in the peloton, but has enjoyed a relative degree of success in the discipline and is eyeing up a second attempt at the Hour.

“In my mind, one day I will give it another try,” the 29-year-old told Cycling Weekly. “I don’t think Victor’s record is unbreakable.

“My primary goal was only to break the record. I wasn’t racing for the most kilometres.

“When Wiggins rode his attempt, I then asked myself the question ‘how far can I go?’. I was fourth in the European Games time trial [in 2017, nine seconds shy of winner Campenaerts] and sent my numbers to my coach.

“He said that with a super-fast bike, with a good amount of time to prepare, in the right conditions, that I could break his [Wiggins’] record with the numbers that I was managing to do.”

Brändle, whose first experience of riding on the track came in the weeks before he set a new distance in 2014, believes that with a dedicated support crew helping him, and with half-a-season focused on superseding Campenaerts’ benchmark, he can claim the record once more.

“When I did it, it was a small project – three weeks in total,” he said.

“We adjusted the bike a bit, but if we want to break the record again, we would have to do serious preparation.

“You would have to spend six months preparing for it. It’s a big project. At the moment I don’t have a date, and I’m not sure if I ever will do it again, but it’s an idea.”

The five-time Austrian national time trial champion is aware that his current team or future employers may be reluctant to sacrifice his services in a quest to beat a record that he may not beat.

“If I do it, I’d have to take half the road season off and that’s a problem with the team,” he admitted. “Teams pay riders to race and I’d be taking three or four months off.

“It’s expensive, too. It’s not just about taking the bike and doing it, you have to look at every detail. I’ve not done any research yet but all the big results have come at altitude.

“Victor took every detail into account, and he decided Mexico was the best location. The first time I rode on the track was in Aigle [before he set the Record]. If I take the project on again I will take on specialists and hire them.”

John Lee, 90, has set a new hour record at Welwyn track, his 18.057 miles officially a greater distance than any man his age has ever recorded on an outdoor velodrome.

Lee, who is the president of the Icknield Road Club and has been racing since 1952, has ridden himself into the record books and out the other side: nobody in their eighties or older has ever even attempted an outdoor hour record. Lee has literally been in a league of his own he set the first of his four hour records aged 80 with a distance of 21.281 miles.

Lee’s hour records are ratified by the VTTA (Veterans Time Trials Association) but could theoretically also be world records since the UCI does not recognise outdoor track records.

Due to the crumbling surface of the Welwyn track, Lee rode drop handlebars rather than tri-bars. Resurfacing is due to take place at the end of the July and although Lee has no firm plans to improve on his distance so soon after setting it, he said: “Maybe I would get another mile out of it and I’m not boasting when I say I think I could top 20 miles on an indoor track.”

After postponing his attempt once due to windy conditions, Lee went for it on July 4, with the weather “absolutely spot on”.

He said: “I did a bit of turbo warming-up before I left, then had a half-hour drive so I hadn’t cooled down but that allowed me to get straight on and do a five-mile warm-up. And everything went fine.”

Lee rode a gear of 86.6 inches, an inch smaller than for his previous record three years ago. He used the same Planet X track frame but this time regular box-section spoked wheels rather than the disc that had belonged to Victoria Pendleton (her father is an old friend) for his previous record.

“I didn’t start as fast as I would in a ‘10’, that was the general idea, and it went fine. I started to feel it in the last 10 minutes, quarter of an hour, but one of the observers was amazed that I just got off the bike and went to have a chat whereas some people lie down gasping for breath. When you get off you always think ‘I could have gone a bit quicker’ but who knows.

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“My timekeeper, Gordon Hart, who also does RRA records, worked out the times for the 5K, 5 miles, 10K and 10 miles and they’re all records. I set five age records. Nobody has ever set any of those before.”

What motivates Lee to keep training and setting records? “A lot of people in life when they get to a certain age think well, that’s it, I’ve had it now, I can’t do anything. But you can if you’ve got the will to do it and of course the fitness.”

Lee puts his fitness down to training consistently: he didn't back off in between his records. Since he doesn’t feel safe on the open road any more, all his riding takes place on the turbo and on the track.

“I had never stopped training at all. I’m always on the turbo, four or five times a week, never on there more than half an hour or 40 minutes but it’s doing it regularly that counts. And I do two or three sessions on the track each week.

“After the record I was back on the turbo the next morning leg-clearing, then I took a day off and then I was back to normal again.”

How did Lee celebrate? “There were no flags or anything like that. I’m the sort of man who’s a bit low profile. I’m always thinking there might be someone round the corner who’s a little bit better.”