Jos Roden believes her UCI Hour Record attempt will be a big moment for women's cycling.
The 33-year-old Briton announced her intention to go for the record earlier this year, and yesterday it was confirmed that the race will take place at the Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland, on September 30 at 5 pm local time.
The race will be televised and live streamed live and funded by Roden's team Drops LeCol. Partner and fellow pro Dan Bingham described the ride as "nothing short of spectacular."
"I think it's good for women's cycling to have something like this happen," Roden said after securing the top 10 in Monday's elite women's individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships. [The men's time trial was widely reported, but the women's time trial was less so.
Since the 2014 rule changes rekindled interest in the historic event, 23 attempts at the men's record have been approved, while the women's has only been attempted six times. The benchmark is currently 48.007 meters, set by Italy's Victoria Bussi in 2018 at Mexico's Aguascalientes Stadium.
It is already clear that Roden has been running greater distances than that in training, but she has yet to get ahead of herself.
"It's not quite where I expected to be, but it's not a million miles away, so I think it's enough," she said after the World Championship time trial. I thought, 'If you feel these few minutes of intervals are too much work, think about the hour! ' I thought,"
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"It's just the beginning. The form is not bad. I expect to peak as the week progresses," she added.
"The TT bike times have helped a lot. Overall, I'm looking to be in good shape physiologically as far as my cardiorespiratory fitness level. Also, being happy and in good shape deserves a lot of watts."Hours before Drops Le Col launched a dedicated page on its website introducing the endeavor, along with the announcement of live streaming, Roden admitted to feeling butterflies.
"I feel faint." I start thinking, "God, this is a pretty big statement. Going for the world record is like saying, "I am better than any woman who has tried this competition." Is that really what I am trying to claim?
"My style is more like, 'I'm going to go under the radar, do it quietly, and when I'm done, I'm going to be like, 'Oh, that was really good.'"
Roden looked up at the podium ceremony on the TV screen where Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) was presented with the rainbow jersey.
"Imagine what would happen if we sent Ellen with the Hour Record.
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