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Dame Sarah Storey misses out on UCI Hour Record

British rider falls two laps short of distance needed at Lee Valley VeloPark

Dame Sarah Storey has missed out on setting a new women's UCI Hour Record at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London, riding 45.502 kilometres, a little over two laps shy of the distance she needed to overhaul. She does gain the British record.

Riding on the same track where in 2012 she won two of her 12 Paralympic gold medals, Storey was the first woman to attempt the record since the UCI's rule change last year.

A third of the way in, at 20 minutes, whe was three and a half seconds ahead of the split time achieved by the current record holder, Leontien van Moorsel of the Netherlands, set at altitude in Mexico City 12 years ago when she rode 46.065 kilometres.

By the halfway point, she was neck and neck with van Moorsel's record but then started to fall behind, despite the efforts of the crowd - including several of the British riders who won Olympic gold here in 2012 such as Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott - to help her turn it around.

Storey's attempt is the second furthest distance ever covered by a woman in an hour and the effort left her spent, but she quickly recovered for a lap of honour.

Afterwards, she said: "It was definitely the hardest hour of my life.

"I came in here hoping to go further than 46km, but to break the British record, I'm really chuffed.

"It's not as far as Leontien but to miss out to her is no bad thing."

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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6 comments

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Fixedwheelnut | 9 years ago
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Fantastic effort, well done  41

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bdsl | 9 years ago
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The video is on the UCI youtube channel.

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Eebijeebi | 9 years ago
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Hands still sore from clapping. What an horrendous task to take on - full on respect. Crowd were fab.

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SteppenHerring | 9 years ago
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I was there. The first 20 minutes looked good but she did fade. Still an awesome ride from a great rider.

I think Jo Rowsell should have a go. I've seen what she can do in a 25

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paddyirish | 9 years ago
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no disgrace there to be within 0.5km of an all time great. Will she do an Obree and try again?

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Jeroen0110 | 9 years ago
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Good effort!

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