Cyclist Ellen van Dijk smashes world hour record | cycling

The 35-year-old Dutch, reigning world time trial champion, hit a distance of 49,254 kilometers. That was more than enough to break Joscelin Lowden’s record. Last year, the British drove a 48.405 kilometers on the same track in an hour.

On a time trial bike specially made for her by her team sponsor Trek-Segafredo and in a special time trial suit, Van Dijk rode head down for an hour in an aerodynamic position. She completed 197 laps on the Swiss track in an hour.

With the record, Van Dijk follows in the footsteps of Keetie van Oosten-Hage and Leontien van Moorsel, who previously held the world hour record. Van Oosten-Hage captured the record in 1978 in Munich. She then came to 43,082 kilometers. Van Moorsel came in 2003 in Mexico City to 46,065 kilometers. That record stood for 12 years.

For Van Dijk it is a new big prize on her already long list of achievements. Last year she won the world time trial title for the second time. In 2013, she became world time trial champion for the first time. She also won gold in the road race at the European Championships last year. In the years before that, she had already won the European title in the time trial four times.