Cycling-Britain's Lowden breaks women's Hour record

British rider Joss Lowden smashed the UCI women's Hour record as she covered 48.405km at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen on Thursday -- easily surpassing Vittoria Bussi's previous mark.

British rider Joss Lowden smashed the UCI women's Hour record as she covered 48.405km at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen on Thursday -- easily surpassing Vittoria Bussi's previous mark. Hugging the black line on the banked wooden 250m oval, the 33-year-old Lowden was quickly ahead of the required pace and churned out lap after lap in metronomic fashion.

Pushing a gear about the size of a dinner plate, the strain began to show a little as the clock ticked down but with the record in sight there was no stopping Lowden. Lowden, a road cyclist with the Drops-Le Col team who competed in last week's road world championships, completed 193 laps to beat Bussi's 48.007km set at altitude in Mexico in 2018.

No fans were in the velodrome, although Lowden was cheered home by friends and family and partner Dan Bigham, a world class cyclist and aerodynamics technician who designed several of the components on Lowden's bike.