Italian smashes women's round-the-world record

If the record is for the fastest time from start to finish (as the new rules state) then Juliana can rest easy knowing that her time has not been beaten. The world of sport is full of hard luck stories, crashes can ruin a record attempt after 30 seconds, 30 mins or 30 days; the way a true sportsman deals with the failures is as much a measure of them as how they claim the victories.

Call me old school, but having a support crew following you, carrying all your gear, a vehicle you can draft and a place of rest and respite is frankly cheating. The RTW race should be done solo and unsupported with a tracker to record progress. And taking 8 months off for what ever reason should mean you go back to the start.

Obviously not But the distance can be made up elsewhere. Instead of flying over India and the middle east how is it with cycling across Africa?

I follow Juliana Buhring on fb, and her response to this claim of a "record" was to say "I am flattered it took a former Olympic athlete who trained for 3 years, with a support crew, campervan and a wealth of resources to beat a woman who had never cycled, travelling alone with her bags...by just a week." Not to discount the fact that Giannotti skipped India and posted pics drafting behind her campervan. Her total time was over 8 months, since the clock no longer stops according to the Guinness rules. How was this "smashing" a record? What a joke.

This makes no sense to me, if the circumference of the earth is 24,900 miles why is the minimum distance to be cycled only 18,000?

I was on a PB for a 100 2 years ago but did a Jonny Hoogerland (and yes the barbed wire fence did come of best). After I crossed the line if I'd have asked the event organiser to remove the 22 lost minutes (while I had been patched up, given spare unripped kit to wear and my bike repaired) from my time I reckon the answer would have been.....you guessed it. I would have to re-visit my attempt when recovered and start from....you guessed it again, the start line, so called because that is where you start from. Good effort though Paolo, it must have been heart breaking to injure yourself and have to pull out, but, when all's said and done, you know what you should have done, start again...from the start.

Yes, top effort particularly given that she had to recover from such a nasty injury and presumably the gap meant she would have lost some riding fitness too.

It does seem bizarre though that the record makes no distinction between supported and unsupported attempts - having backup must take a hell of a lot of stress out of the whole thing and also significantly lighten your bike.

I think it's very reasonable. But is it within the rules?

I think having recovery time because you've broken your back is reasonable - most people would have given up.

These Juventus fans get everywhere

Bit confusing. Wiki states that the "old rule" whereby you discounted time spent flying etc doesn't count anymore, so, by extension, it does seem weird that you can stop the clock while you recover.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_world_cycling_record

Still, top effort mind.

Does that mean for the next "Hour" Record attempt that it can be done in 2x30 Minute sessions over a period of months too?