American rider Evelyn Stevens sets cycling's hour record

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 2:05 p.m. ET

foxsports

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) Evelyn Stevens of the U.S. shattered one of cycling's most revered marks - the hour record - by riding just under 30 miles Saturday at the Olympic Training Center Velodrome.

Wearing the skinsuit of her Boels-Dolmans trade team, Stevens covered 47.98 kilometers and more than 143 laps on the 333-meter track. She passed the unified mark of 46.833 kilometers set by Bridie O'Donnell last month with more than a minute left and nearly eclipsed Jeannie Longo's mark of 48.149 set in 1996.

Longo's distance, referred to as the ''best human effort,'' was set using a ''superwoman'' position no longer allowed under current hour-record rules laid down by cycling's governing body two years ago.

Stevens was a member of the 2012 London Olympic team and will now turn her attention to her road cycling season. She's hoping to make the U.S. team for the Rio Olympics in August.