{"id":474811,"date":"2026-03-14T07:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T07:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/474811\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T07:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T07:05:13","slug":"it-was-pretty-wild-jessica-disley-smashes-womens-uci-derny-hour-record-by-8km-with-mammoth-60-16km-ride-and-even-beats-magnus-backstedts-motor-paced-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/474811\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt was pretty wild\u201d: Jessica Disley smashes women\u2019s UCI Derny Hour Record by 8km with mammoth 60.16km ride \u2013 and even beats Magnus B\u00e4ckstedt\u2019s motor paced mark – Cycling News | Bike Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The long, illustrious tradition of British cyclists and riding in circles as fast as possible for 60 minutes continued on Friday afternoon at Newport Velodrome, where Jessica Bisley set a new women\u2019s UCI Derny Hour record of 60.160km \u2013 almost eight kilometres further than the previous benchmark.<\/p>\n

Disley\u2019s distance was also two kilometres greater than that achieved by Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus B\u00e4ckstedt when he attempted, and failed, to set the men\u2019s derny-paced world record in the same velodrome in 2005, just over a year after his triumph at the Hell of the North.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty wild,\u201d the 35-year-old told road.cc shortly after record-breaking attempt. \u201cIt was massively overstimulating behind the derny, there\u2019s loads of noise, the fumes, and wind, because it\u2019s going so fast. It was just really cool, and I\u2019m really happy I did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JessicaJessica Disley breaks the UCI Derny Hour Record, 2026 (Image Credit: Emily Tillet)<\/p>\n

Unlike the traditional Hour Record<\/a>, currently held by Italians Filippo Ganna and Vittoria Bussi, the derny-paced record sees riders led for the entire 60 minutes by, naturally, a derny pilot, using the small motorised bikes commonly seen in keirin and six-day racing on the track.<\/p>\n

And while non-motor paced Hour Record bids can once again be carried out, since the UCI changed the rules in 2014, on aero-focused bikes with time trial bars, aerobars and front disc wheels are not permitted in the derny-paced version.<\/p>\n

Instead, riders are required to use a standard endurance setup with drop handlebars, with Disley riding a 56cm Cerv\u00e9lo frame, AeroCoach Aeox Estoc clincher wheels, and a crank length of 165mm. She also opted for a 55\u00d712 gear.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Cerv\u00e9lo Jessica Disley used to break the UCI Derny Hour Record, 2026 (Image Credit: Emily Tillett)<\/p>\n

Disley, a five-time Gran Fondo time trial world champion, winning the event in 2017, and every year between 2021 and 2024, was paced by experienced derny pilot Tony Cassidy, whose clothing and equipment choices were also governed by the UCI\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n

During her attempt in the Geraint Thomas national velodrome in Newport, overseen by British Cycling commissaires, Disley completed the hour in 60.160km, covering 240 laps of the track and easily breaking the 52.406km benchmark set in 2016 by Adelia Neethling.<\/p>\n

Speaking to road.cc after celebrating with her family, Disley said: \u201c60km was the best-case scenario. I thought \u2018go after 60km and see what happens\u2019, because I thought I would regret it if I didn\u2019t try for it at least.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I was helped by all noise and all the people here watching, so when I hit 240 laps, I was like, yes, I\u2019ve done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe derny Jessica Disley used to break the UCI Derny Hour Record, 2026 (Image Credit: AeroCoach)<\/p>\n

So, how do you prepare for sitting behind a derny for an hour at 60kph? Lots of sitting still and push-ups, apparently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a good few Derny sessions here, building up the distance at 60km,\u201d she said when asked about her preparations for her attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also did a lot of weight stuff \u2013 the most painful being the arms \u2013 and I did quite a lot of press-ups, tricep dips, all that jazz.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I did a lot of rides, one hour, outside, where I tried not to shuffle on the saddle, just to get used to sitting on the saddle for an hour straight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JessicaJessica Disley breaks the UCI Derny Hour Record, 2026 (Image Credit: AeroCoach)<\/p>\n

As noted above, Disley is not the first person to have attempted to break the UCI Derny Record at Newport Velodrome, following Magnus B\u00e4ckstedt\u2019s ill-fated bid to surpass Matthe Pronk\u2019s 66.114km men\u2019s record in October 2005.<\/p>\n

The Tour de France stage winner, then riding for Liquigas, seemingly suffered as a result of the heat in the Welsh velodrome and struggled to get on top of his huge 60\u00d712 gear, but still battled on to the finish, covering a distance of 58.25km.<\/p>\n

Which also means that Disley now holds the record for the greatest distance covered in an hour in Newport velodrome, along with her newly-minted women\u2019s Derny Hour record. Not too shabby, at all.<\/p>\n

The current men\u2019s derny-paced record currently stands at a whopping 66.639km, set by Dutchman Maas van Beek, who holds the three fastest times for the event, all set between 2009 and 2012, when the cancer survivor was in his 50s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The long, illustrious tradition of British cyclists and riding in circles as fast as possible for 60 minutes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-474811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}