History
Henri Desgrange, the bicycle racer and sports journalist who organized the Tour de France in its earliest years, set the first official hour record at 35.325 km on the Vélodrome Buffalo in Paris in 1893. Two months later, a Mlle de Saint-Saveur set the women’s record at 26.012 km on the same track.
1 Her first name seems to be lost to history.
Eight decades later, Eddy Merckx would break the men’s record by riding 49.431 km. Merckx was by that time undisputedly the greatest cylist of all time, but despite taking advantage of the lower aerodynamic drag offered by Mexico City’s high altitude, he described it as the hardest ride of his life. Maria Cressari broke the women’s record with a 41.471 km ride on the same track a month later.
The 1980s and 90s were a period of controversy for the hour record. A series of improvements on the records of Merckx and Cressari were achieved, but many attributed these to more aerodynamic equipment and riding postures. The battle over the hour record between the unconventional cyclist Graeme Obree and the UCI was dramatized in the 2006 film The Flying Scotsman. The ultimate result was a decision split the hour record into two categories: one requiring the use of equipment similar to what was available to Merckx and Cressari in the early 70s, and another allowing basically anything that was arguably a bicycle. This change was retroactive, so the official men’s hour record was reverted to Merckx’s.
2 Professional cycling’s regulatory body.
While Cressari’s record had been improved upon five times by the early 2000s, the men’s record was just barely broken by Chris Boardman and then by Ondřej Sosenka. The former had the advantage of shoes which locked into the pedals and the latter was probably doping at the time he the broke record. There followed a decade of disinterest in the hour record.
3 By a margin of only 10 m!
The UCI revived the hour record in 2014 by changing the rules again. Going forward, the hour record would use the same equipment as Olympic track cycling races. The result was a burst of new hour record attempts including several successes. The current record holders are Filippo Ganna and Ellen van Dijk with 56.792 km and 49.254 km respectively.
