Vittoria Bussi breaks 50km barrier as she reclaims UCI Hour Record

Vittoria Bussi became the first woman to ever break the 50km barrier as she smashed the previous UCI Hour Record to set a new benchmark of 50.267km.

The Italian surpassed the existing record of 49.254km set by Ellen van Dijk in 2022 by over one kilometre at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes in Mexico on Friday evening.

It’s the second time Bussi has taken the record, having set a mark of 48.007km in 2018. That record stood for three years before Joscelin Lowden briefly took it over in 2021 and Van Dijk added nearly a kilometre to the distance a year later, taking it past the 49km for the first time.

“I’m thrilled to have beaten the UCI Hour Record by Tissot for the second time in my career, covering the distance of 50.267km on the same velodrome where I previously broke it in 2018,” Bussi said to the UCI after setting the record.

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

The record was achieved as a part of Bussi’s ‘Road2Record’ campaign which pulled together multiple sponsors and expertise from the worlds of aerodynamics and nutrition, with the intended aim of breaking the 50km barrier. Alongside cycling, Bussi also holds a PhD in Pure Mathematics from the University of Oxford and actively contributed towards the aerodynamic planning for the effort.

As a part of that campaign Bussi also launched a GoFundMe page in an attempt to raise funds for what is an expensive undertaking. It proved to be a big success, smashing the €10,000 target with €12,064 raised at the time of writing.

“I am deeply grateful to all the people for the support and to those who helped make this attempt a real one. I would also like to thank all the sponsors that believed and supported me during these tough months,” Bussi said on social media when the effort was first announced on September 28.

Originally, Bussi was due to attempt the record on October 11 but that had to be postponed due to suboptimal conditions in the velodrome, with lower temperatures than expected.

That led to a short delay but less than 48 hours later Bussi had completed her target, becoming the first female rider to attempt the record more than once and breaking the 50km barrier in the process.