Tour of Britain: Alex Dowsett talks Time Trials

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Fifth in the time trial stage of the Tour of Britain was British Champion Alex Dowsett who despite illness lately, is still right up there at the top in races against the watch

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“I went out as hard and as fast as I usually do in a time trial of that distance” he told VeloUK tonight. “I’m reasonably well practiced at the ten time trial but unfortunately I simply wasn’t able to hold it, the power out put that I would normally use. I was about 30 watts down on normal which is a shame so I am disappointed basically not surprised.”

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“I haven’t been well lately and because I carried on racing, it put me in a bigger hole and I ended up having more or less 12 days off the bike up until Tuesday just gone. I wasn’t as bad as I thought I was going to be though.”

“It could have been a lot worse and I don’t think what I am lacking would have made up that minute to Wiggins. That was an absolutely incredible ride given the conditions and the course. To go sub 20 was quite something.”

“It was a technical course because it was wet. If it had been dry, you could have nailed all the corners flat out almost. Suddenly, because it’s wet, 90 degree bends become really slow and that drops the average speed quite a lot. You also have to accelerate harder and are not able to carry the speed.”

“It wasn’t a quick course but if it had been dry, we would have seen probably 45 seconds knocked off that. The crowd was fantastic as well. The Tour of Britain is growing every single year and cycling is one of those unique sports where the fans get up close with the riders which is great and it’s a sport they can relate to.”

Asked how the top time trial riders in Britain would have fared on the stage, Alex said the course in the wet was much more of a roadman’s one and that Bottrill has shown this year he can compete with the pros in a time trial. “In the British champs he over turned Swifty and Luke and although I had a crash, he was only 20 seconds behind me so I think the local guys would have been knocking on the door of top 10. On a proper drag strip course, they would have given the top five a real run for their money.”

“It is a very specialist thing that they do but they are extremely good at it.”

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Asked how his form is so good after very little racing, Alex replied “I have been training well. I have mixed up my training a bit and am confident now I cannot race and then turn up to a race in good enough shape. I just think smart training is now as good, if not better, than racing.”

Chatting about the first three days of the Tour, Alex says “I just get a buzz doing the Tour of Britain, and I think form wise, I’m 90 per cent there and not a million miles off. I think if I had been 100 per cent today, I could have been on the podium so to speak. On the first few days, the hills were tough and the one yesterday, Honister was pretty grim. I wasn’t expecting that!”

Alex has been selected for the Road Worlds and the Time Trial. Asked if the Tour of Britain will be a key event for him preparing for the Worlds, he says “I am enjoying racing and glad I can be competitive but it is also a really good training block ahead of the world titles.”

“Now I am fifth on GC, I not sure what will happen in terms of the World team time trial championship (for Movistar) because I have permission to leave the race and go to that so I guess depending on how things go over the next couple of days, there is a chance I could make it to London.”

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I had to ask about Angel Madrazo who has been really great to see on the podium getting his King of the Mountains Yeti… a real breathe of fresh air. Asked what he knows about this Spanish climber, Alex says “he’s getting the nickname of McLovin out of the movie Superbad and he’s a really funny guy!”

“He has a classic sense of humour. I don’t understand half of what he says all the time but you do get the gist of what he is saying is quite amusing. He’s a gusty rider too like all of them on the team. No-one is scared of having a go. We saw that on stage 2 when we had three different riders off the front out of the five left in the race”.

Finally, I asked Alex about the World TT Titles and he says “I will have to pull something huge out of the bag to get on the podium and if I ride like today, it will not put me anywhere near it. I think from Wiggins perspective though, I do wonder whether Fabian (Cancellera) or Tony (Martin) can match that…”

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