Dowsett wins Sarthe time trial, takes overall lead

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For the second time since 2014, Alex Dowsett won the short individual time trial of the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire in Angers as he rode eight seconds faster than his Movistar teammate Jonathan Castroviejo. Dowsett earned the overall race lead for his efforts.

It was almost a triple crown for Movistar, but Daniele Bennati, who won that time trial six years ago, was two hundredths of a second short on the excellent time of Arthur Vichot (FDJ). Movistar and FDJ captured the top six places and the French champion for road racing is only two seconds down on Dowsett.

"It was good," the Englishman said. "The six kilometers time trials, I’m good at them but the problem is that a lot of guys are good at them, so it’s always really close. But I like the circuit here. It’s difficult to pace. Straight out the blocks on the climb you’ve got to push hard there but coming back, even if it’s downhill it is not easy. It’s a difficult one to manage, but I don’t think I could have gone any faster today."

The same course has been used for the time trial of the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire in Angers since 2010, but this time around the starting ramp was located 200 metres ahead of the usual point, making it difficult to compare the times through the years. Dowsett bettered his personal performance of 2015 (second to Adriano Malori) by eighteen seconds with 200m less to cover.

"I think speedwise, it’s similar to what Malori did a couple of years ago," he said. "Obviously he’s having a hard time currently [since his life threatening accident in January 2016]. Back then he was phenomenal. It’s encouraging. I wish he was here as well."

Movistar didn’t expect Vichot to ride so well against the clock. As he finished second in stage 1 and collected time bonus on the way twice, the French champion is only two seconds adrift on GC.

"Vichot, that’s gonna be a problem," Dowsett admitted. “"omorrow is the D-day. It’s gonna be difficult. But we have Castroviejo, who is super close on GC. We have options for tomorrow. It’s a difficult circuit. I guess we’ll go with the idea of myself, Castro or Bennati to try the overall. FDJ really only has the Vichot card. We’ve got three riders."

Dowsett has the experience of losing the yellow jersey of the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire on the same queen stage to Pré-en-Pail three years ago, with the Mont des Avaloirs – the highest peak of western France, altitude 417m – to be climbed a few times.

"I’m a little bit stronger and lighter than in 2014," Dowsett noted. "Last time I didn’t really eat enough before and I was a bit flat. I’m definitely in a better shape than last time and I’m wiser as well. The plan for me will be to just try and hang up. We’ve got a great team to help look after us. Six-man team makes it a bit more difficult. There are very good teams here, like FDJ, but we have a very good chance in managing it."

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