FILE PHOTO: Cycling - UCI Road World Championships - Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy - September 24, 2020 Italy's Vittoria Bussi in action during the Women's Elite Individual Time Trial REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini/File Photo
(Reuters) - Italy's Vittoria Bussi broke her own hour world record when she covered 50.455 km at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on Saturday, cycling's world governing body the UCI, said in a statement.
Bussi held the women's hour record from 2018-2021 and became the first woman to break the 50-km barrier in October 2023 when she reclaimed the record from Ellen van Dijk of the Netherlands, covering 50.267 km.
The 38-year-old mathematics PhD attempted to better her own record on Friday but stopped after the halfway mark, before achieving the feat in a fresh attempt the following day.
"This record has always been really special to me as an athlete and as a person," Bussi said in a statement released by the UCI.
"The hour taught me that one of the most important things in life is to understand the preciousness of time in every single instant of our life."
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
