Talkingshop: Crash fails to stop Alex Dowsett

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Despite a crash on the first of two laps, Alex Dowsett (Movistar) fights back to win his third British Time Trial title

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After winning a Time Trial in the Tour of Italy in May, Alex Dowsett’s profile in the world of cycling sky rocketed fully justifying his self-belief he had to leave Team Sky and join Spanish team Movistar. He came to the British 2013 TT Champs the overwhelming favourite and despite a few non-starters, the field still had some team Sky riders as well as the top British pros.

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It was though a case of how much he would win by rather than whether he would win especially after the withdrawal of the likes of Steve Cummings and Ian Stannard. What Alex didn’t reckon on however was a crash and afterwards seeing him shake with shock put into context what he had achieved in beating the likes of Bottrill, Swift, Dewey and others.

The winning margin was only 21 seconds to the 2nd & 3rd riders but considering the pain he was in and the time he lost with the bike change, it had been an awesome ride by the Essex WorldTour professional. After the podium presentation, Alex explained to a big scrum of reporters he wasn’t entirely sure what happened with the crash.

“We’ll have to go back and have a look as it appears to be a front tyre problem. It was definitely stuck on properly so maybe there was a flaw with the tyre (tub and tape coming apart).”

Alex then went on to explain how it was a pretty quick bike change and that he knew as long as he managed to get settled again, he could still do a good job. “The change was quick; really quick. A new bike was under me before I knew it so it was definitely quicker than Wiggos change in the Giro!”

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Alex then did a good job of coming back to win against the odds. He explained how he had a young man to thank for that. “I was contacted by a young lad called Callum on Facebook and he agreed to give me a time check which he did a good job with and once I knew I was five seconds up halfway round, I thought I can definitely still do this”.

“I was just settling into the race when I took the tumble and I’d not crashed in a time trial before so suddenly everything was kind of new. I had no idea how I was going as the SRM wasn’t paired up so had no idea of what speed I was doing, what watts I was doing or anything. I was riding blind. The only indication I had was that I was pushing good gears.”

“I was on the 55×11 to 14 most of the time so I knew I was getting on top of the gears well. That was the only indication I had that I was still going well. I could have been haemorrhaging time, or putting chunks of time into the other guys , I didn’t have a clue!”

“On the second lap, I managed to settle in and pull that gap out a bit though.”

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Of his injuries, Alex says it was his hands that troubled him the most. “I couldn’t grip the bars properly and my elbow too on the arm rest was sore but I just had to grin and bear it.”

On whether the win capped off a good month for him, Alex replied “for sure. I had an unbelievable Giro and to come away with a stage win in that was beyond my wildest dreams and I have Movistar to thank for that for giving me so many opportunities. They have had more faith in me than I have and it’s been amazing to deliver for them so early into my time with them.”

On defending the right to wear the Champion’s jersey, Alex recalled Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins saying to him ‘“whoever takes this, I’m only lending it to them because it’s my jersey really’.” Alex then added “I’ve had it for three years now and I’m becoming quite attached to it!”

“Next year I’m hoping to ride the Tour de France so we’ll have to see how preparations go for that and for sure I’d like to come back again and defend the title. I’m pushing my team and coaches to incorporate the race into the run up to the Tour.”

2013 Giro winner's podium Dowsett

Considering the race was quite a way outside of Glasgow, the support from the locals was incredible says Alex. “I wasn’t sure what to expect because although we’re near Glasgow, it’s in the middle of nowhere a little bit and it was great to see so many people out. It felt like we had closed roads as well which made it a really nice event.”

“The course was good but the roads really draggy. There was only one or two points each lap where you had to come off the tri bars whereas in the Giro time trial you were in and out a lot but that was very technical for a time trial whereas this was nice.”

“I rode the women’s circuit yesterday and quite liked that one with a few more corners but this suited me today!”

 

 

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