Vittoria Bussi breaks UCI Hour Record for third time, dedicates it to her two cats

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.