Dowsett on the rise after national TT win

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After an injury-hit season, Alex Dowsett (Team Sky) produced a winning ride in last weekend’s British national time trial championships to retain the title he won in 2011. With his first win in 2012 under his belt Dowsett is looking forward to the remainder of the season with the Worlds in LImburg, Netherlands, featuring highly on his list of targets.

The Sky rider broke an elbow in March during Dreidaagse Van West-Vlaanderen and struggled to regain his form and fitness through the spring and early summer. After missing the opportunity to also ride at the Olympic Games he refocused on the time trial championships.

“It was a pretty hard course and 55km but it’s nice to retain the title. It was longest time trial since I did a 50 miler when I was 14,” Dowsett told Cyclingnews.

“I had my two months off so when I have a bad day it’s really bad and it’s shown me how important winter miles are. It’s just been up and down. At Eneco I was set for top twenty but then I had a ceased pedal.”

Dowsett has been included in Great Britain’s long list for both the time trial and the road race in Limburg, although he will still have to wait for the final selections for both events, as well as the trade team time trial.

“I’d be happy with anything in terms of selection. Then I’m doing the Canadian WorldTour races and the Duo Normandy with Luke Rowe and the Tour of Beijing. It should be a nice end to the season.”

“The worlds, if I do the road race then I’ll certainly be there to help out someone else which I’m cool with. Then it would be great to be part of the Sky team time trial. We’ve got a pretty good chance of doing well so if I can be on the podium at the Worlds it would be a massive shock after how the season has gone but to retain the national title, that was a big goal, so I do feel like I’ve salvaged something.”