Ellen van Dijk sets new women’s Hour Record of 49.254
Ellen van Dijk sets new women's Hour Record of 49.254 km
Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) is the new world hour record holder. Van Dijk, who is the current world time trial champion, broke the record in Grenchen, Switzerland on Monday afternoon as her family, her boyfriend, and some of her Trek-Segafredo teammates and staff looked on.
The 35-year-old is a specialist in time trials and has previously said of the discipline: “I love with all my heart.”
Previous record holder, Joss Lowden, who now rides for Uno-x Pro Cycling, successfully attempted her record on the same track last October with a distance of 48.405 km. Before her own attempt, Van Dijk was seen discussing the record with Lowden during a road race and voiced her respect for the British rider.
“When I started I saw a black line and I saw that for 190-something laps I think,” joked Van Dijk when asked about her experience after she finished.
“In the beginning, I was a bit nervous but I was good and in control, I think. I did exactly what we wanted to do. If I would feel great I wanted to accelerate in the second part but instead of that I slowed down a little bit and then I started to think I’m really really slow I have to say.”
Despite claiming the record by a significant margin, the Dutch rider claims that she did not feel at her best throughout the hour: “At 45 minutes I thought ok I need to accelerate and I thought was accelerating but I think I was only slowing down — so that meant that this was it for today and I’m very happy that I broke the record,” she said.
“I knew the first half an hour I was well under the pace I needed to ride so I thought if don’t slow down too much…then I should have it. I couldn’t hear everything and everything came a bit blurry, especially at the the end.”
“I was just so happy when I heard it was over.”
Van Dijk went on to thank her team for their support in putting the attempt together saying, “this whole project has been so amazing for me, just the whole build up it was such great experience and I couldn’t wish for any more support of Trek it was really the best I ever had.”
“I also thought about the whole team during the ride I thought everybody put so much time and energy into this I need to give them all for all their work and all their time and everything they put into it”
Clearly on a high after breaking the record Van Dijk’s parting words were: “In the end, all I can say is: ride bikes, have fun, feel good.”
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