How far a cyclist can ride in one hour on a track—that’s the Hour Record, and today German cyclist Jens Voigt set a new one. One day after his 43rd birthday, the athlete who has competed in 17 consecutive years of the Tour de France managed to ride 51.115 kilometers in the hour, which surpassed the previous world record by more than .4 kilometers.

The previous record of 49.7 kilometers was set by Czech Ondrej Sosenka in Moscow in 2005. Voigt’s record was set in the Vélodrome Suisse in Grenchen, Switzerland. According to the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the Hour Record is one of the most prestigious competitions in the cycling world. It was first set by the founder of the Tour de France, Henri Desgrange in 1893 with 35.325 kilometers.

“I’m so happy,” he said, according to Eurosport. “Maybe I started a little too fast and so I had to slow down a bit after 20 minutes. But 20 minutes from the end, I decided to accelerate and keep pushing because I was within my comfort zone. I knew it was the last chance in my life to really push things, and so it was easy to turn myself inside out. I knew I could stay on my limit and dig deeper.

“To be up there in the history books alongside the likes of Merckx, Boardman and [Miguel] Indurain is amazing. No on will take that away from me—it’s a dream come true and one of the highlights of my career.”

If you’re the kind of person who would be interested in watching the hour-long record attempt, it’s included below. Spoiler, he rides in circles—many times.

Image courtesy of XIIIfromTOKYO/Wikimedia Commons