Women's UCI Hour Record holder Vittoria Bussi has announced that she will come out of retirement to attempt to beat her own record in Mexico on May 9, before also attempting to break the women's 4km individual pursuit record.
Bussi set the current record for the furthest distance ridden in an hour in October 2023, simultaneously becoming the first woman to cross the 50km mark by completing a distance of 50.627km. She beat the previous record set by Ellen van Dijk in 2022.
The Italian will attempt the Hour again at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico, next week, and has the chance of breaking the record for a third time, after also setting a new record in 2018, which stood until Joss Lowden's attempt in 2021.
She attempted to break the 3km individual pursuit record held by Chloé Dygert back in September 2024 but fell short, and had announced at the time that that would be the end of her career, but she's returning to the bike for one final Hour Record attempt.
"I am over the moon thinking that I will have the chance to attempt to break the UCI Hour Record presented by Tissot again in my life," Bussi said. "I can say that I started my real cycling career with this record, so it will be the perfect dream to finish it with another record."
The 38-year-old mathematician came to cycling late in life after a career as a runner, and has largely focused on time trials and individual efforts on the track after struggling to adjust to racing on the road.
In recent years, the Hour and IP records have been her focus, even moving to Aigle in Switzerland in order to train at the velodrome at the UCI headquarters.
After expressing a feeling of "bitterness" after not breaking the record in September – "happy ending movies are kinda boring, right?" she wrote on Instagram at the time – Bussi is returning once again to the event that has been the core of her cycling career.
"To me, this record has meant much more than just a sport performance, it actually helped me in the darkest period of my life, so I am deeply and sincerely thankful to all the people who supported me during all these years, as an athlete but most of all as a person," she said.
As well as the Hour Record, Bussi plans to try to beat the women's 4km individual pursuit world record. The women's official IP distance was increased from 3km to 4km in 2025, and the record is currently held by Great Britain's Anna Morris, set at the National Track Championships in February. It currently stands at 4:24.060.
The double attempt represents an added challenge but also a potentially even more special achievement.
"It will be the most challenging Hour of my career as it has been prepared together with the individual pursuit, my other (very different!) love," she said. "I think it would be a beautiful historical moment for women’s cycling to be able to hold both the records at the same time, so I am honored to try!"
Bussi has broken the Hour Record twice before, but attempted it several times, including an abandoned attempt in 2017, and another in 2017 that fell short of the record held by the USA's Evelyn Stevens.
A long-standing concept, the Hour Record was modernised in both men's and women's cycling in 2014 by new rules from the UCI, and has since seen several attempts, with Filippo Ganna currently holding the men's record. The women's record has been broken seven times since 2014, twice by Bussi.
