Tour of Britain: Alex Dowsett (Movistar)

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Former yellow jersey in the Tour of Britain and winner of a time trial stage in the race, British TT Champion Alex Dowsett was out on the TT bike this morning. VeloUK managed to get a few words

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Tour of Britain: Alex Dowsett (Movistar)

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As I walked back to the Lotto Soudal hotel to catch up with James Shaw heading out with his team for a little leg spin, I caught up with Alex Dowsett, at the Movistar truck getting some adjustments to his Time Trial bike.

Whilst that was done, Alex agreed to quick chat before heading out on a ride with a young Scottish rider as his guide. “It’s always nice to be back at the Tour of Britain” he started with. “It’s a long week where I get to act as translator for my team!”

“It is good to be back and see lots of friendly faces and the crowd support on this race and just pleased to see a time trial back in the Tour of Britain this year.”

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Asked what his goals were, Alex replied, “after stages two and three, I’ll know if I can GC or not especially stage 3 where we are going over Cat and Fiddle and Brickworks. If I can, great and I’ll continue to stay in the hunt until the time trial. If I can’t, then I’ll look after who ever from our team, mostly likely Gorka Izaguirrewho will be running for GC, and I’ll focus on getting myself the stage win in the Time Trial.”

“That will be difficult with the calibre of the riders here. It is exciting to see all these top guys here for it though and it’s a nice course for me, a bit up and down, a bit technical; it suits me and always nice to represent the country in the stripes.”
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Asked what it’s like to stay up there in the hunt for the GC, Alex simply replied, I don’t know as I have never done it! The only time I got to go for GC was when I got in a break and threw myself back into the mix. With the nature of the roads here, it’s super draggy and every day is a bit of a classic lstaying on the power all the time and keeping focused to stay in the mix all the time.”

“Anything can happen in this race though right up until the end. Like if we got a wet London stage, that circuit could be decisive.”

Alex then showed me his time trial bike from Canyon. “It’s one of the new ones that I used in Switzerland and crashed it straight away but it’s alright. It’s the same bike I won on in Poland so it’s good.”

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58 chainring … all the top riders are using them it seems, or bigger!

“It’s the new Speedmax which is a good improvement over the last one. One of the biggest improvements are the brakes. They are as good as those on a road bike and that was noticeable in Switzerland in that I could brake a lot later into corners”.

“Its’ got Campag wheels and the disc was used by the GB Rio track team and whatever equipment they are using when they are spoilt for choice, will be fast and this is quick”.

At which point, that same bike and wheels were put on the bike rack ready for his ride so a quick picture and off he went. Good luck to Alex in the Tour of Britain!

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Brakes, says Alex, are much better and hidden away as well.

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Lovely clean lines and no cables out on show

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Electronic gears for the bike with Campagnolo Super Record

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