Bussi breaks women's Hour Record by 27 metres

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Italy’s Vittoria Bussi has set a new women’s Hour Record of 48.007km on the Aguascalientes velodrome in Mexico, beating the 2016 record of Evelyn Stevens by a slim 27 metres.

Bussi made a first attempt at the record on Wednesday but eased up after 44 minutes. She headed back to the Aguascalientes velodrome on Thursday when weather conditions were more suited to the Hour Record and produced a far better effort.

Bussi is the fifth rider to take on women’s Hour Record since the UCI updated the rules in 2014. Bradley Wiggins holds the men’s Hour Record with a distance of 54.526km.

Bussi is a former athlete and triathlete and won a bronze medal in the 2014 Italian national time trial.

It was the 31-year-old’s third attempt at the Hour Record. In October 2017 she was 404 metres behind Steven, struggling with pain in her diaphragm for the final 10 minutes.

This time Bussi stuck to her planned schedule. She rode a consistent pace of 18.7 seconds per lap for 40 minutes and was then able to pick up the pace. She was 2.3 seconds ahead after 45 minutes and four seconds up on her schedule with 10 minutes left to ride. She suffered in the final minutes but held on to better the women’s Hour Record by 27 metres and set a distance of 48.007km.

Bussi is the first women to break the 48km barrier.