Ellen’s finest hour

Head down and heart pounding, Ellen van Dijk is up against the clock racing to beat the UCI Hour Record at 5pm Central European Time (10am US Central) on 23 May, 2022. With a UCI Champion rainbow jersey in the bag, Ellen’s not ready to slow down as she aims to race past the previous world record of 48.405km in sixty minutes and solidify her status as a cycling legend. Watch live as she holds the line lap after lap at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland, in her attempt to crush huge miles in mere minutes, and shatter the world record.

Dressed to impress, Ellen’s custom painted Speed Concept is adorned with the Split concept, drawing a line down the center of the bike to offer two separate tones, and representing the time it takes to complete a race. The non-drive side is richly colored in Cote d’Azur blue while the drive side shines bright in Finish Line white with an eye-catching luster. Telling time themselves, the TT wheels offer a graphic clock with details to the millisecond— a nod to the importance of every fraction of a second during Ellen’s UCI Hour Record attempt.

What is the Hour Record?

Since 1876, cyclists from all walks of life have challenged themselves and their rivals to chase the Hour Record— the longest distance cycled in one hour from a stationary start. From meager beginnings atop penny-farthings to elite events on the lightest aerodynamic carbon bikes, the title of Hour Record has been held by unknown amateurs and top professional athletes alike, making it one of the most compelling rides to watch year after year. Though it may have started with few rules and regulations, the standards have now been set by UCI, and all hour record attempts are chased down in a velodrome with every minute detail monitored, and time counted to the smallest fraction of a second.