Ellen van Dijk smashes hour record
Trek-Segafredo rider beats the distance by more than 800 m
Trek Seganfredo rider Ellen van Dijk smashed the UCI hour record for women on Monday. Beating the distance set by Joss Lowden of 48.405 kilometers by 800 meters, a full minute quicker, to set a new record of 49.254 kilometers.
? @ellenvdijk ?
There's a NEW women's #UCIHourRecord! ⏱️
Ellen established a mark of 49.254 Km, improving the old one by 849 metres ?
— UCI Track Cycling (@UCI_Track) May 23, 2022
The Dutch rider wrote her name into the history books after an incredible ride at the the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen, Switzerland. Van Dijk started the ride ahead of schedule, and kept putting in time.
49.254km/hour! HUGE congrats @ellenvdijk new world hour record holder. So much respect! Must have been so hard to keep riding on the black line with the head down in that aero position. Also congrats to whole @TrekSegafredo support team and special shout out to @BenjaminBruijn pic.twitter.com/gQ7ZFxKruj
— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) May 23, 2022
“In the beginning, I was a bit nervous, but under control I think,” she said. “I did exactly what we wanted to do. In the first half-hour, I was around 18.1-18.2 seconds per lap and that was well under the pace I knew I needed to ride, so I thought if I don’t slow down too much and don’t go over 18.5 seconds then I should have it. I don’t think I was ever over five , maybe sometimes, but I couldn’t hear everything.”
Well, that was a far more enjoyable hour record attempt than the last one I experienced.
Massive congratulations to Ellen on the successful attempt. Very well executed ? #EllensHour
— Alex Dowsett (@alexdowsett) May 23, 2022
The hour record is one of the most difficult events in cycling, as the van Dijk knew going in. “Everything became a little blurry, especially at the end, and I was not so straight anymore,” Van Dijk said. “I was just so happy when I heard that it was over. This was all I had for today and I am very happy I broke the record!”
