On Thursday, 13th September 2018, Vittoria Bussi broke the UCI Hour Record in Aguascalientes, Mexico with a distance of 48.007km, clinching the Women’s Hour Record by 27 metres.
In October 2017, the Italian, a doctor of pure mathematics, and formerly a member of the Servetto Footon UCI squad, came tantalisingly close to bettering the mark of 47.980km, established in 2016 by Evelyn Stevens. Having suffered from a bout of ill health in the lead up to the attempt made in Mexico on October 6, 2017, Vittoria was only short by 405 metres. Read the story of this inspirational athlete and her first hour record attempt here.
Vittoria has been working relentlessly ever since with the sole purpose of completing the task after this painful setback and as part of her preparation she has been working closely with Endura and its aerodynamics partner Drag2Zero to further develop Endura’s D2Z Encapsulator Suit and D2Z Aeroswitch helmet.
Vittoria set out to take the record on Wednesday in adverse conditions after cooler weather had set in. She abandoned after 40 minutes, sensing the record may not be possible in such low temperatures.
But, having secured a two day track booking and with echoes of Graeme Obree’s famous 1993 record attempt in Norway, Vittoria returned the following day and showed her mettle by breaking through the 48km barrier to set a new Women’s UCI Hour Record of 48,007m.
With two successful attempts at the Hour Record already on its palmares (Alex Dowsett’s #PerfectHour in May 2015, and Dr Bridie O’Donnell’s success in January 2016), the Livingston brand’s Encapsulator suit has already proven itself uniquely suited to the task. Both the Endura D2Z Encapsulator Suit and the D2Z Aeroswitch helmet are available to ambitious amateur cyclists, too, in Endura’s D2Z Aero Range which has been launched to the general public earlier in 2018.
Endura would like to send massive congratulations to Vittoria!