Bayern Rundfahrt: Dowsett wins stage 4 individual time trial

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Alex Dowsett (Movistar) won the stage 4 individual time trail at the Bayern Rundfahrt on Saturday. The Hour Record holder rode the 26.1km course in a best time of 31:33 minutes. His winning performance was enough to move into the overall race lead ahead of the finale stage 5 on Sunday.

“I’m happy to have won this one because I wasn’t sure I could even make it - it was my first real, proper time trial since last year,” Dowsett said. “Obviously, everything was about training for the Hour Record since the start of the season, and the longest TT I did on the road was a 10km one in the Circuit de la Sarthe in April. Plus, I wasn’t comfortable on the bike, and that made it not the best TT I could - the saddle wasn’t on the ‘right’ place, because it’s different to ride on a time trial on the road than on the track. My power wasn’t the best, so I had to ride a clever TT: focusing on when to put the power down and to take some rest was the key. I was really pedalling more with my head than my legs today.”

Rounding out the podium in the day’s time trial were Tiago Machado (Team Katusha), who finished the distance only one second slower than Dowsett, while Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18) was third 16 back.

Dowsett, who broke the Hour Record just two weeks ago, is now leading the overall classification by two seconds head of Machado and 17 seconds ahead of Barta.

“After the Hour Record I had some rest, didn’t do a lot of training up towards this and wasn’t sure how I’d feel - that’s why I’m so happy with this yellow jersey. Bonus seconds might possibly become crucial tomorrow - we just need to make sure that the right breakaway goes, and hopefully I can sprint a bit stronger than Machado. As long as he doesn’t get many seconds and we can control the breaks, I feel we can keep it tomorrow.”

The 2015 Bayern Rundfahrt will conclude with a 197.8km race from Habfurt to Nürenberg.

Full Results