Van Dijk smashes hour world record

Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) broke the women's hour record, ending the hour with 49.254 kilometres covered.

Ellen van Dijk sets a new women's hour record in Switzerland.

Ellen van Dijk is the new women’s hour record holder after a strong ride in Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland to better pervious record holder Joscelin Lowden’s mark by 849 metres.

"I'm very happy I broke the record," Van Dijk said. "In the beginning I was a bit nervous but I was under control, I did what we wanted to do. If I would feel great I would accelerate in the second part but instead I slowed down a little bit."

"At 45 minutes, I thought OK, I need to accelerate. I thought I was accelerating but I was slowing down. That meant this was it for today."

The most distance covered in an hour on a bike in a velodrome now stands at 49.254 kilometres, with van Dijk also flagging a potential future tilt at the record, maybe making a trip to the velodrome in Aguacalientes, which has been the scene of a number of records with the reduced air pressure at altitude conducive to good times.

With van Dijk signalling that in ideal circumstances she could have gone faster that second attempt seems to be more of a reality, especially if other stars of the sport like Annemiek van Vleuten make their own runs at setting the record. Van Dijk saw room to improve on her own performance.

"I knew the first half hour was around laps 81-82, and it was under the pace I needed to ride,” said van Dijk. “I thought if I don't slow down too much, if I don't go over five (18.5-second laps) I should have it. I think I was almost never over five but I couldn't hear everything.

“Everything became a little blurry and especially at the end I was not riding so straight. I was just happy when I heard it was over.

"This whole project has been so amazing for me. The whole build-up, it was such a great experience. I couldn't wish for any more support from Trek. It was really the best I ever had.

“I also thought about the whole team during the ride, I thought everyone put so much time and effort into this I need to give them my all for all their work and their time and everything they put into it."