Who set the women's UCI Hour Record in 2023?

Vittoria Bussi set the women’s UCI Hour Record in 2023.

The Italian rider covered 50.267 kilometres at the Aguascalientes Bicentenary Velodrome in Mexico on 13 October 2023. She reclaimed the record from Ellen van Dijk, who had ridden 49.254 kilometres in 2022. Bussi’s ride also made her the first woman to break the 50-kilometre barrier in the modern UCI Hour Record.

The achievement was a remarkable return to the top. Bussi had first set the record in 2018 with 48.007 kilometres, but Joss Lowden surpassed that mark in 2021 and van Dijk improved it again the following year. Bussi’s 2023 attempt therefore combined a world record with a successful comeback.

The Hour Record measures the distance a cyclist can ride in exactly one hour on a velodrome under UCI rules. It is not the same as a single-lap speed record, and riders cannot receive help from drafting teammates. Bussi later improved her own mark to 50.455 kilometres in 2025.