Alex Dowsett

Alex Dowsett

Dowsett at the 2015 Tour de France
Personal information
Full name	Alex Edward Albert Dowsett
Born	(1988-10-03) 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
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia 1 individual stage (2013) Stage races Bayern-Rundfahrt (2015) One-day races and Classics National Time Trial Championships (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015) European Under-23 Time Trial Championships World Hour record 2 May 2015, 52.937 km
Medal record Competitor for  England Road bicycle racing Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow Time trial 2010 Delhi Time trial World Championships Competitor for Movistar Team 2015 Richmond Team Time Trial
Infobox last updated on 20 September 2015

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 at the 2011 Tour of Britain

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)

Dowsett at the 2014 Tour of Britain

Dowsett (centre) in the leading group of the 2015 Vattenfall Cyclassics

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

References

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.