Joss Lowden sets new UCI Women's Hour cycling record of 48.405km in Switzerland
Last Updated: 30/09/21 7:41pm
Britain's Joss Lowden is the new UCI Women's Hour record holder after covering 48.405km during her effort in Grenchen, Switzerland.
Lowden covered nearly 400m more than the previous record-holder, Italy's Vittoria Bussi, who had set her mark of 48.007km in Mexico three years ago.
She was up on Bussi's distance for just about the entire hour, having previously broken the record during a training ride earlier in 2021 and gaining confidence from that effort.
Lowden's effort also bettered the "absolute record" of 48.159km which was set by the legendary Jeannie Longo back in 1996 using an aerodynamic position banned by the UCI.
"I'm relieved," Lowden said. "I think I'd made it a bit dramatic really, really worrying and getting nervous with a lot of self doubt, and actually it wasn't that bad.
"I knew the record split of (18.7 seconds per lap) I could do comfortably, it was just trusting in that.
"I played it safe. It was definitely a controlled effort.
"Maybe I'll look back and say I should have tried harder, but looking back at the preparations, riding the World Championships and the fact there's the Women's Tour next week, I rode it the way I wanted to ride it and I can't be unhappy with how it went."
Lowden's partner Dan Bigham, also her aerodynamicist and a multiple British champion on the track, will attempt to break the British hour record of 54.526km held by Sir Bradley Wiggins in the same velodrome on Friday.
Bigham is not eligible to beat the UCI world mark, held by Belgium's Victor Campenaerts at 55.089km, as he is not in the governing body's World Anti-Doping Agency testing pool.
