I would not detract from anyone winning a race and winning it regularly; but time (whether it be a record time or not) is an absolute. Hence why in cycling, time trialling is known as "the race of truth". A position within a race is relative to the others that are racing.
I think it was Eddy Merckx as a junior, whenever he went home and told his father that he'd won a race, his father's reply was always the same, "But who was second?"