Will Bjergfelt has set a new C5 UCI Hour Record of 51.471km, beating the previous record by over 3km and becoming the first para-cyclist to break the 50km barrier.
The previous record of 47.569km was set by Italy’s Andrea Tarlao in 2014. Britain’s Bjergfelt beat Tarlao’s record by employing a negative split strategy, averaging around 49kph on the early laps before increasing his lap speed to over 51km.
Bjergfelt was the first of three British riders to undertake world record attempts today at the Konya Velodrome in Turkey. Charlie Tanfield attempted to set a new Hour Record record but with a distance of 53.967km he failed to beat Filippo Ganna’s 2022 record of 56.791km.
Matthew Richardson will attempt to set a new 200m flying start record this afternoon onboard his custom Hope track bike.
Bjergfelt was an elite mountain biker before he began para-cycling after a car crash in 2015 left him with life-threatening injuries. The severity of the injury to his right leg meant he was eligible for para-cycling in the C5 category. He was C5 world road race champion in 2023 and in 2024. In 2021, he rode the Tour of Britain.
Bjergfelt said he had the “best equipment” for his record attempt. He used the Hope HB.T track bike with handlebar extensions from Renishaw and Princeton CarbonWorks wheels. He also had a custom ALe skin suit and had special support from his employers GKN Aerospace.
Speaking after his Hour Record ride, the 46-year-old said: ““[I feel] amazing, this is something I’ve worked for, for a long time. When we talked about world records at the start of the year it’s something I was very passionate about right from the get-go.”
“I’ve wanted this for so long… today is just the reward for the hard work I’ve put in and its thanks to everyone behind the scenes at the Great Britain Cycling Team who have put all the hard work into putting me on the best equipment to do the best performance I could do today.”
Bjergfelt said the last 20 minutes of his ride was “unchartered territory” because he had never done the full hour on a track before.
Speaking just after setting the new record, he said he felt amazing. “[I]t’s not quite sunk in yet really. Whilst I was going round the track and everyone was cheering at the end there, it started to hit home. I don’t think it’s quite hit home yet that I’ve smashed the world record on the track and that’s a dream come true.”
