Alex Dowsett wears his special blood red Oakleys in support of World Haemophilia Day(Image credit: Rob Monk/Procycling)
Team Sky team mates Russell Downing and Alex Dowsett in Covent Garden at the Tour of Britain route launch(Image credit: Rob Lampard)
Alex Dowsett (Team Sky) will be looking to take his strong form into this weekend’s national time trial championships in Cambridgeshire, England. However, the former European under 23 time trial champion will face stiff competition from a host of names, including teammate Steve Cummings.
"We’re teammates and friends and I’m sure we’ll talk about it before the race. I’m not the type of person to shut off before a race. At the end of the day it’s important to keep the jersey within the team so from testing the course I’m sure we’ll share insight and opinion. It’s just going to come down to who is quicker on the day.”
Dowsett has had a solid start to life in the pro ranks, bouncing back from an Achilles injury early this season to record his first professional win last week in the final stage of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes.
During the French stage race, Dowsett finished fourth in the individual time trial, a result that would normally have pleased him. However, he believes that there is still more in the tank and that this weekend’s testing 29 mile course will bring the best out of him.
“Going into the event I’m feeling pretty good. Coming off the back of my last race I’ve shown I’m going well. At the time trial there I would have liked to have been closer to the win, and while I’m not one to make excuses I just woke up and knew that the day was going to hurt a little more than usual. All things being equal though, I should be able to turn in a good ride.”
Not having ridden the rolling Cambridgeshire course, the Essex born rider will ride reconnaissance in the coming days but his motivation is already high after watching his teammates Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome make headlines at the Vuelta a España. For Dowsett, the chance of wearing a national jersey, as Wiggins does as current road and time trial champion, is a major goal.
“I did some commentary for the Vuelta a few days ago for ITV4 and I was looking at Bradley Wiggins and thinking that if I win on Sunday then I could be racing in similar kit all of next year. There’s a hell of a lot up for grabs.”
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
