Feature – Alex Dowsett sets new 10 Record

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With a weekend spare, what else was Alex Dowsett to do but head to a local ’10’ and smash the comp record with a 17.20 ride!

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Feature – Alex Dowsett sets new 10 Record

British time trial champion, a winner of a TT stage in the Giro in 2013, Alex Dowsett went out on the E210 course today and saw that his form is pretty good ahead of a eight day stage race, the Tour de Suisse where he hopes to clinch a place in the Tour de France.

Speaking to Alex after he’d ridden 50 miles home post record breaking ride and he was full of praise for the Canyon TT bike he has, his training bike no less, and the Endura speed suit he wore for the race against the clock.

“It’s no coincidence that we move onto Canyon and Endura and everyone’s time trialling in the team has improved. The Canyon is German engineering at its finest I think. You look at the bike and it’s simple but effective. The adjustability on it is massive as well.”

Asked how he felt breaking the record, Alex replied he replied “I have to pinch myself that I have broken it by that much. I’d done an 18.18 and know the comp record is like the holy grail. Hutch and Wiggins were battling over it a while back and that was cool to watch”.

“I’ve been tired all week after a big training block in Majorca so I wasn’t sure how my form was going to be. I knew it was a quick course but a lot of people said it wasn’t as quick as the Hull course. Conditions were good though but then they say that in September/October, its faster because the air pressure is lower.”

“I’d had a look on the forums and everyone was talking about it and most were saying I wouldn’t be able to do it so I was like I’ll bloody well show you!”

“I am a lot happier about my form than I was this morning!”

Asked how it felt going to such an event after racing WorldTour events, he replied “I used to do these every single weekend when I was younger and nothing has changed. I saw a lot of the same faces and it’s nice to go back to my roots”.

2013 Giro winner's podium Dowsett

Last year in May, Alex was winning time trials in the Giro – now he wants that Tour de France spot.

For the record breaking ride, Alex rode a 55 chain ring and would have used a 56 had he been able to get one and he says he spent 80 per cent of the time in 55 x 11. “The 55 was adequate but I could have done with a 56 but the Campag ones are in short supply. I have got one on my race bike but this is my training bike”.

The Canyon, with rear disc and fast front wheel had nothing out of the ordinary other than the experienced setup from Alex having done many many years of doing such time trials. Over the years, with tweaks here and there to training and bike, Alex is now one of the World’s best to such an extent that when he went into a wind tunnel expecting big changes, in the end, they were small ones because he already had the set up pretty well nailed down.

Today, wearing his British champion’s skinsuit made in Scotland by Endura and developed in the drag2zero wind tunnel, Alex says he’s seeing subtle changes in the make up of the skinsuits from his team sponsor. They fit, he says, beautifully and are not restrictive with not many seams kicking around in them.”

“Endura and Drag2Zero are putting in a lot of effort to make the fastest suits possible and I think the results are showing from that work.”
Speaking about the merits of which record and events are the blue ribbon one (10 vs 25), Alex explained “I think more people have a crack at the 10 and I think it’s a laziness thing as the 25 is a long way to go flat out!”

Alex went on to explain that he’d spoken to one of the most experienced riders in the country, Andy Lyons who told him that back in the day, a lot of riders would have a crack at the 10 and even roadman would be competitive whereas with the 25, it was more the testers who’d go for that event.

AlexDowsett_TeamphotoAsked how he came to be at the ECCA 10, Alex replied “I saw a gap in my race calendar, and know the national 10 is at the end of the year and if I’m free, I’d like to have a crack at it. I haven’t done an Open 10 in a few years so I thought I’d do a 10 to get a qualifying time which will give me an option of doing the national 10 or not. I saw the E2 was on and thought I might as well go to a fast course”.

Right: Alex in TT mode – Picture: http://movistarteam.com/

The race took part on the E2/10 course in the East of the country which Alex says is quite an ‘even’ course. Ie, one that doesn’t have freak sections that make it fast like a downhill section that you don’t have to go up for example.

“It’s a fast course where I think I climbed 72 metres and descended 72 metres. So it’s a spot on course with everything you want for a fast one. The tarmac is smooth, the road is pretty flat and pretty much five miles out and five back and I don’t think I went below 30mph round the turn, a big wide roundabout”.

“It was a nice course to be able to sit on that speed for a long time. There didn’t seem to be any wind and I paced the race well. I was quite pleased with that. I knew in the back of my mind that 54k an hour was comp record so I got to the turn and I was at 55k an hour and thinking it was going to be bloody difficult coming home”.

“I finished with 55.8kph”.

“I didn’t come out of the blocks too hard because I know I can be good at cooking myself straight away. I tried not to go over 600 or 700 watts in getting up to speed which is easy to do when you are feeling fresh. If I had a pound for every time I have gone out of the blocks and thought I was superman and realising quite quickly I’m not, I’d be a millionaire so I have to be disciplined there”.

With a qualifying time and comp record in the bag, Alex can continue to focus on two things – the British TT Champs and making the Movistar team for the Tour de France. Alex says he is on the long list for the Tour and things are going in the right direction as he heads for the eight day Tour du Suisse before returning home.

Then it’s the national championships where Alex is quite keen to hang on to the champion’s jumper for a fourth time, a record apparently, and then hopefully the Tour de France which not only starts in Yorkshire but has a stage in his home county on the way to London from Cambridge.

Good luck to Alex and thanks for the chat.

 

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