American Molly Shaffer Van Houweling (Metromint) set a new women’s UCI hour record Saturday night in Aguascalientes, Mexico. She rode 46.273 kilometers in 60 minutes on the high-altitude track.
“I just feel really fortunate,” said Van Houweling, 42. “You never know if everything is going to come together on race day. You just have to control everything you can control. Everything seemed to come together today.”
Van Houweling rode steady laps throughout the record-setting ride, and even delivered a few negative splits in the closing laps. With this ride, she beat a 12-year-old record held by Dutchwoman Leontien Van Moorsel, 46.065 kilometers. For that 2003 attempt, Van Moorsel was riding a “Merckx-style” bike, in compliance with the regulations at that time. The UCI changed its rules in 2014 to allow pursuit bikes for hour record attempts