Alex Dowsett
 Dowsett at the 2015 Tour de France | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Alex Edward Albert Dowsett |
| Born |
3 October 1988 Maldon, Essex, England[1] |
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb; 11.8 st) |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Movistar Team |
| Discipline | Road and track |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Time trialist |
| Amateur team(s) | |
| 2009 | 100% Me |
| Professional team(s) | |
| 2010 | Trek–Livestrong |
| 2011–2012 | Team Sky |
| 2013– | Movistar Team |
| Major wins | |
World Hour record
| |
Alex Edward Albert Dowsett (born 3 October 1988) is a British professional road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTeam Movistar Team. He is known as an excellent time trialist.
In 2015, he broke track cycling's world hour record by 446 m, with a distance of 52.937 km.
Early life
The son of former British Touring Car Championship driver Phil Dowsett,[2] Dowsett was educated at Elm Green Preparatory School in Little Baddow, followed by King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford. He initially took up swimming as a sport before starting cycling on a mountain bike along with his father.[3]
Career
Early career
Dowsett began his career at the Maldon and District Cycling Club in the City of Chelmsford.[4] soon recognised his talent, and Alex became part of the British Olympic Academy development team. He won the under-23 version of the British Time Trial Championships in 2008 and 2009. In 2010 he rode for American Trek-LiveStrong and won the under-23 European time trial championship.[5] He also won a silver medal in the Time Trial at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Team Sky (2011–12)
Dowsett signed for British-based Team Sky as a neo-pro for the 2011 season. His first victory for Sky came in the London Nocturne event. Dowsett finished fifth overall in Danmark Rundt, helping team-mate Simon Gerrans to overall victory. He won the fifth stage of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes to finish second overall. In September, he became the British National Time Trial Champion. Dowsett won the time trial Stage 8a of the 2011 Tour of Britain.
In March 2012, Dowsett suffered a broken elbow in the Three Days of De Panne and as a result missed the classics season. Dowsett recovered to finish second in the National Road Race Championships, and later retained his National Time Trial Champion title. Later in September, Dowsett competed at the UCI World Road Race Championships in all three men's elite events, with a best placing of eighth in the individual time trial.
In October 2012, he expressed an opinion on the Lance Armstrong-USADA doping affair by stating to the BBC: "I don't think it matters. He is still a legend of the sport. A guy who had cancer came back and won the Tour de France. I think it's not really important and I really don't think it matters."[6] He clarified later that day saying he was too vague and his comments were in reference to the fact the sport was different back then compared to now and also to the charity work seen in the form of Livestrong. He said "I do think what Lance has done is completely unacceptable."[7]
Movistar (2013–present)
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On 30 October 2012, Dowsett signed with the Spanish Movistar Team for the 2013 season hoping to gain a ride on a Grand Tour.[8] After competing in the Classics season for Movistar Team, Dowsett was selected to ride the Giro d'Italia, his first Grand Tour appearance. Dowsett helped Movistar Team take second place in the team time trial on stage two. On stage eight, a 54.8 km (34.1 mi) individual time trial, Dowsett set the fastest time to record his biggest career victory to date, setting a time ten seconds faster than the second placed Bradley Wiggins.[9] In June, Dowsett won the British National Time Trial Championships for the third year in a row despite crashing early on in the course.[10]
In May 2014 Dowsett set a new British 10-mile time trial record in Cambridgeshire, clocking in at 17 minutes 20 seconds and beating Michael Hutchinson's previous record by 25 seconds.[11]
Competing for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Dowsett won gold in the Individual Time Trial.[12] After a long breakaway, Dowsett took the lead of the Tour of Britain on the sixth stage[13] but lost it before the end of the stage race to Dylan van Baarle and finished eighth overall.[14] His team announced that Dowsett had signed a three year contract extension with them in September.[15]
In December 2014, Dowsett announced he would attempt to break the UCI Hour Record at the Lee Valley VeloPark on 27 February 2015.[16] However, he was forced to postpone the attempt after breaking his collarbone in a training accident.[17] The attempt instead took place at the Manchester Velodrome on 2 May 2015[18] where Dowsett set a new world record of 52.937 kilometres, beating Rohan Dennis' previous record by almost half a kilometre.[19] Two weeks later, Dowsett won his first ever stage race, the 2015 Bayern-Rundfahrt, where he claimed the overall victory a day after winning the Stage 4 individual time-trial. In June 2015 Dowsett clinched his fourth national time trial title, equalling the record of Stuart Dangerfield.[20]
He was named in the start list for the 2015 Tour de France.[21]
Personal life
Dowsett suffers from haemophilia.[22] Speaking on ITV's Cycle Show in July 2013, Dowsett cited this medical condition as being a key factor in his choosing competitive cycling in his youth, above other sports, because contact games such as football and rugby were considered too risky. He is believed to be the only able-bodied elite sportsman or woman with the condition.[3] As a result he has a special exemption from the Union Cycliste Internationale's no needles policy, introduced in 2011,[23] to inject himself with the clotting protein Factor VIII every 48 hours. Dowsett runs the charitable foundation Little Bleeders to raise awareness of haemophilia.[3]
Palmares
- 2006
- 1st National Junior Road Race Championships
- National Junior Time Trial Championships
- 1st 10-mile
- 1st 25-mile
- 1st Tour of Switzerland 7.7 km Time Trial
- 1st European Junior Team Pursuit Championships
- 2007
- 1st Perfs Pedal Road Race
- 1st Overall British Premier Calendar Under-23 Champion
- 1st Rudy Project Time Trial Series
- National Time Trial Championships
- 3rd 10-mile
- 4th 25-mile
- 2008
- 1st Team Time Trial Tour d'Alsace
- 1st
National Under-23 Time Trial Championships - 3rd Abergavenny International Criterium
- 3rd National 10-mile Time Trial Championships
- 4th National Under-23 Road Race Championships
- 2009
- 1st Richmond Grand Prix
- 1st National Under-23 Time Trial Championships
- 7th World Under-23 Time Trial Championships
- 2010
- 1st
European Under-23 Time Trial Championships - 1st Stage 5 Cascade Cycling Classic
- 1st Chrono des Nations U23
- 8th Tour of the Battenkill
- 2nd
Commonwealth Games Time Trial - 2011
- 1st National Time Trial Championships
- 1st Stage 8a (ITT) Tour of Britain
- 1st London Nocturne
- 2nd Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
- 1st Stage 5
- 3rd Chrono des Nations
- 5th Overall Danmark Rundt
- 6th Overall Ster ZLM Toer
- 2012
- 1st National Time Trial Championships
- 1st Vita Cycles Ten Minutes of Hell Time Trial Mersey Tunnel Time Trial
- 2nd National Road Race Championships
- 2nd Duo Normand (with Luke Rowe)
- 8th UCI World Time Trial Championships
- 2013
- 1st National Time Trial Championships
- 1st Stage 8 (ITT) Giro d'Italia
- 2nd London Nocturne
- 2014
- 1st
Commonwealth Games Time Trial - 1st Stage 3 (ITT) Circuit de la Sarthe
- 2nd National Madison Championships (with Joe Holt)[24]
- 3rd National Time Trial Championships[25]
- 7th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes[26]
- 8th Overall Tour of Britain
- 2015
- World Hour record: 52.937 km
- 1st
Overall Bayern-Rundfahrt
- 1st Stage 4 (ITT)
- 1st National Time Trial Championships
- 3rd
World Team Time Trial Championships
References
- ↑ "Alex Dowsett Biography". Team Sky. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
- ↑ "A family affair for Airwaves Racing at Dunton shakedown". Airwaves Racing (Motorbase Performance). 29 September 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
- 1 2 3 "Alex Dowsett: Haemophilia no barrier to cyclist's hour record bid". bbc.co.uk. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
- ↑ Archived 23 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Lionel Birnie (6 November 2009). "Dowsett signs with Trek-LiveStrong". Cycling Weekly (IPC Media Sports & Leisure network). Retrieved 12 October 2012.
- ↑ Shane Stokes (11 October 2012). "Armstrong case: Yates insists he saw nothing suspicious as rider or directeur sportif". VeloNation (VeloNation LLC). Retrieved 12 October 2012.
- ↑ Shane Stokes (11 October 2012). "Alex Dowsett clarifies earlier comments about Armstrong". VeloNation (VeloNation LLC). Retrieved 12 October 2012.
- ↑ Wynn, Nigel (30 October 2012). "Dowsett signs to Movistar team for 2013". Cycling Weekly (IPC Media Limited). Retrieved 30 October 2012.
- ↑ Wynn, Nigel; Brown, Gregor (11 May 2013). "Alex Dowsett wins Giro d'Italia stage eight time trial". Cycling Weekly (IPC Media). Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ↑ "Dowsett claims third straight British time trial title". Cyclingnews.com (Future plc). 20 June 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
- ↑ Wynn, Nigel (31 May 2014). "Alex Dowsett sets new British 10-mile time trial record". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
- ↑ "Alex Dowsett wins men's time trial gold". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-07-31.
- ↑ "Brändle claims second successive win at Tour of Britain". Cyclingnews.com (Future plc). 12 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
- ↑ "Dylan van Baarle wins 2014 Tour of Britain". VeloNews (Competitor Group, Inc.). 14 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ↑ "Great Britain’s Alex Dowsett signs new three-year contract with Movistar". The Guardian (2014 Guardian News and Media Limited). 22 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ↑ http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/alex-dowsett-announces-hour-record-attempt-february-27-150124
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/30946525
- ↑ Clarke, Stuart (27 April 2015). "Storey shares Hour Record advice as Dowsett’s attempt draws near". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ↑ "Alex Dowsett sets new Hour Record of 52.937km". cyclingnews.com. 2 May 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ↑ Allen, Eddie (25 June 2015). "Dowsett, Simmonds and Davies take British time trial titles". British Cycling. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
- ↑ "2015 Tour de France start list". Velo News. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
- ↑ Ellis Bacon (22 March 2010). "Dowsett delivers for Trek-Livestrong". Cycling News (Future Publishing Limited). Retrieved 12 October 2012.
- ↑ Farrand, Stephen (2 February 2015). "UCI approves no needle policy". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
- ↑ "Tennant and Wood win British Madison title at Revolution Series in London". British Cycling. 25 October 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
- ↑ Griffiths, Gareth (27 June 2014). "National Championships 2014: Sir Bradley Wiggins wins British time trial title at Celtic Manor ahead of Team Sky colleague Geraint Thomas". WalesOnline. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
- ↑ "Chavanel wins Tour du Poitou-Charentes". cyclingnews.com. 29 August 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alex Dowsett. |
- Official website
- Alex Dowsett profile at Cycling Archives
- Alex Dowsett in Conversation with Cycling Shorts.
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Rohan Dennis |
UCI hour record (52.937 km) 2 May 2015 – 7 June 2015 |
Succeeded by Bradley Wiggins |