Last week the American racer Evelyn Stevens broke the women's hour record, beating the time set by Bridie O'Donnell just over a month ago. On her Specialized bike with a standard Shiv frame the Boels Dolmans rider covered 47.98km in 60 minutes around the 7-Eleven Velodrome in Colorado Springs. So who is Evie Stevens?
Apart from being the third woman to break the World Hour Record under the revised UCI rules after Molly Shaffer Van Houweling and Bridie O'Donnell, and being the team-mate of World Road Race Champion Lizzie Armitstead here are a few more fast facts.
1. Evelyn's first ever bike race was at a cyclo cross event in 2007. She didn't win and crashed loads of times.
2. Evelyn got into road cycling when she attended a local women's cycle training session in Central Park, New York in 2008 after her sister suggested it.
3. She only turned professional in 2010 aged almost 27, two years after taking up road racing seriously, and after a career working in investment banking.
4. Evelyn is an ambassador for World Bike Relief, a charity that aims to improve the lives of underprivileged people around the world by providing bicycles.
5. Her coach is Neal Henderson, who also coached BMC's Rohan Dennis - another rider to break the World Hour Record.
6. Evelyn is good friends with another BMC team rider, Taylor Phinney and she stayed with his parents in Colorado while there to make her world hour attempt.
7. Her husband, Brett works for Twitter.
8. Other professional racers who are interested in the hour record are waiting until after the Rio Olympics, but Evelyn has used her world hour record ride as a way to help her hopefully in the Olympics, by way of improving her power on the flat.
9. The track at Colorado Springs was 333.3m, which is shallower than the Olympic tracks, but better adapted for Evelyn's riding style as a non-track rider.
10. During her hour record different parts of her bike, including the bottom bracket had the grease removed in order to make more marginal gains on her speed when riding.
Congratulations!
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