Bridie O'Donnell after setting the women's UCI Hour Record in January 2016 (Getty) (Getty Images)

Bridie O'Donnell after setting the women's UCI Hour Record in January 2016 (Getty) (Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

Australian Bridie O'Donnell has produced a pacing masterpiece to break the women's cycling world hour record.

The 41-year-old covered 46.882km on Friday night at Adelaide's Superdrome.

That comfortably broke the mark of 46.273km, set last September by American Molly Shaffer Van Houweling.

"I can't believe I broke a world record," an emotional O'Donnell said.

She is the second Australian to eclipse the world hour mark since 2014, when world governing body the UCI standardised the rules surrounding one of cycling's most-iconic records.

Rohan Dennis also was the men's record holder last year for three months.

Anna Wilson also briefly held the women's world hour mark in 2000, riding 43.501km, but that was under the previous confusing system where there were effectively two standards for the record.

With UCI president Brian Cookson watching, O'Donnell was always on target and consistency was obviously the key.

Her pacing needed to be around 19.45 seconds per 250m lap and the 2008 Australian road time trial champion was like a metronome, always hovering around 19.1 to 19.3.

O'Donnell looked remarkably fresh after the ride, given the physical hell she put herself through.

"A lot of it is trying to not think about how you're feeling and focusing on what you're doing, that helps to distract you," she said.

"How you feel is kind of irrelevant, you just have to have confidence in the plan.

"Yesterday, I had no confidence; I was really nervous. But today I felt a lot more calm and ready."

O'Donnell's support staff helped focus her on Friday by discussing pacing, particularly the rides by Dennis and the man who took his record, British rider Alex Dowsett.