Sky rider hopes for Worlds ride and strong season finish
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Alex Dowsett (Sky) was part of the day's four-man break.(Image credit: Sirotti)
The Elite men's podium Alex Dowsett (Team Sky), Ian Stannard (Team Sky) and Russell Hampton (Raleigh)(Image credit: Gerry McManus/www.splitsecondimages.co.uk)
Alex Dowsett pops out of the Team Sky bus(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
After an injury-hit season, Alex Dowsett (Team Sky) produced a winning ride in last weekend’s British national time trial championships to retain the title he won in 2011. With his first win in 2012 under his belt Dowsett is looking forward to the remainder of the season with the Worlds in LImburg, Netherlands, featuring highly on his list of targets.
The Sky rider broke an elbow in March during Dreidaagse Van West-Vlaanderen and struggled to regain his form and fitness through the spring and early summer. After missing the opportunity to also ride at the Olympic Games he refocused on the time trial championships.
“It was a pretty hard course and 55km but it’s nice to retain the title. It was longest time trial since I did a 50 miler when I was 14,” Dowsett told Cyclingnews.
“I had my two months off so when I have a bad day it’s really bad and it’s shown me how important winter miles are. It’s just been up and down. At Eneco I was set for top twenty but then I had a ceased pedal.”
Dowsett has been included in Great Britain’s long list for both the time trial and the road race in Limburg, although he will still have to wait for the final selections for both events, as well as the trade team time trial.
“I’d be happy with anything in terms of selection. Then I’m doing the Canadian WorldTour races and the Duo Normandy with Luke Rowe and the Tour of Beijing. It should be a nice end to the season.”
“The worlds, if I do the road race then I’ll certainly be there to help out someone else which I’m cool with. Then it would be great to be part of the Sky team time trial. We’ve got a pretty good chance of doing well so if I can be on the podium at the Worlds it would be a massive shock after how the season has gone but to retain the national title, that was a big goal, so I do feel like I’ve salvaged something.”
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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.
