# Alex Dowsett

Alex Edward Albert Dowsett (born 3 October 1988) is a British former professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam Israel–Premier Tech. He was a time trial specialist, and in 2015, he broke track cycling's world hour record by 446 metres (1,463 feet), with a distance of 52.937 kilometres (32.894 miles).

## Early life

The son of former British Touring Car Championship driver Phil Dowsett, Dowsett was educated at Elm Green Preparatory School in Little Baddow, followed by King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford. He initially took up swimming as a sport, swimming up to five days a week, before starting cycling on a mountain bike along with his father.

## Career
### Early career

Dowsett began his career at the Maldon and District Cycling Club in the City of Chelmsford. His talent was soon recognised and Dowsett became part of the British Olympic Academy development team. He won the under-23 version of the British Time Trial Championships in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, he rode for American Trek–Livestrong team and won the under-23 European time trial championship. He also won a silver medal in the Time Trial at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

### Team Sky (2011–12)

Dowsett signed for British-based Team Sky as a neo-pro for the 2011 season. His first victory for Sky came in the London Nocturne event. Dowsett finished fifth overall in the Danmark Rundt, helping teammate Simon Gerrans to overall victory. He won the fifth stage of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes to finish second overall. In September, he won the British National Time Trial Championships. Dowsett won the Stage 8a time trial of the Tour of Britain.
In March 2012, Dowsett broke his elbow in the Three Days of De Panne and as a result missed the classics season. Dowsett recovered to finish second in the National Road Race Championships, and later retained his National Time Trial Championships title. Later in September, Dowsett competed at the UCI World Road Race Championships in all three men's elite events, with a best placing of eighth in the individual time trial.

### Movistar Team (2013–17)

On 30 October 2012, Dowsett signed with the Spanish Movistar Team for the 2013 season hoping to gain a ride at a Grand Tour. After competing in the Classics season for Movistar Team, Dowsett was selected to ride the Giro d'Italia, his first Grand Tour appearance. Dowsett helped Movistar Team take second place in the team time trial on stage two. On stage eight, a 54.8 km (34.1 mi) individual time trial, Dowsett set the fastest time to record his biggest career victory to date, setting a time ten seconds faster than the second placed Bradley Wiggins. In June, Dowsett won the British National Time Trial Championships for the third year in a row despite crashing early on in the course.
In May 2014 Dowsett set a new British 10-mile time trial record in Cambridgeshire, clocking in at 17 minutes 20 seconds and beating Michael Hutchinson's previous record by 25 seconds. Competing for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Dowsett won gold in the Individual Time Trial. After a long breakaway, Dowsett took the lead of the Tour of Britain on the sixth stage but lost it before the end of the race to Dylan van Baarle and finished eighth overall. His team announced that Dowsett had signed a three-year contract extension with them in September.
In December 2014, Dowsett announced he would attempt to break the UCI Hour Record at the Lee Valley VeloPark on 27 February 2015. However, he was forced to postpone the attempt after breaking his collarbone in a training accident. The attempt instead took place at the Manchester Velodrome on 2 May 2015 where Dowsett set a new world record of 52.937 kilometres (32.894 miles), beating Rohan Dennis' previous record by almost half a kilometre. Two weeks later, Dowsett won his first ever stage race, the Bayern Rundfahrt, where he claimed the overall victory a day after winning the Stage 4 individual time-trial. In June 2015 Dowsett clinched his fourth national time trial title. He was selected for the 2015 Tour de France but was forced abandon the race halfway round due to an injury.

### Team Katusha–Alpecin (2018–19)

In August 2017, it was announced that Dowsett would join Team Katusha–Alpecin for the 2018 season. Following the last minute break up of the team in 2019, he initially thought he would rest from professional cycling in 2020 and return to his local Maldon club, to focus on the Olympics and regaining the hour record.

### Israel Start-Up Nation (2020–22)

Instead of his initial sabbatical from professional cycling, Dowsett was part of the Team Katusha–Alpecin merger with Israel Cycling Academy, which became the new team Israel Start-Up Nation for 2020. He placed fourth in the time trial at the European Road Championships, and ninth in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships. Following this, Dowsett contested the Giro d'Italia and won the eighth stage from a six-rider breakaway, soloing to victory from 18 kilometres (11 miles) remaining. In November, he extended his contract with Israel Start-Up Nation for a further two years. Michael Hutchinson coaches Dowsett. In 2021, Dowsett attempted the UCI Hour Record, and completed a distance of 54.555 kilometres (33.899 miles), at the time the third furthest in the modern history of the Hour Record.
In August 2022, Dowsett announced that he would be retiring from professional cycling at the end of the season.

## Personal life

Dowsett has haemophilia and wears a necklace, detailing his medical needs, when out riding. Speaking on ITV's Cycle Show in July 2013, Dowsett cited this medical condition as being a key factor in his choosing competitive cycling in his youth, above other sports, because contact games such as football and rugby were considered too risky. His mother inserted knee and shoulder pads into his school uniform and he wore special trainers.
He is believed to be the only able-bodied elite sportsman or woman with the condition. As a result, he has a special exemption from the Union Cycliste Internationale's no needles policy, introduced in 2011, to inject himself with the clotting protein Factor VIII every 48 hours.
Dowsett started the charitable foundation Little Bleeders to raise awareness of haemophilia and to encourage and support young haemophiliacs to engage with sport. He also has his own YouTube channel, where he documents his life as a professional cyclist.

## Major results

Source:

### 2005

    1st Time trial, National Junior Road Championships
    1st Overall Junior Tour of Wales
       1st Mountains classification

### 2006

    1st Team pursuit, UEC European Junior Track Championships
    1st Time trial, National Junior Road Championships
    3rd Overall Junior Tour of Wales
       1st Mountains classification

### 2007

    6th Rutland–Melton CiCLE Classic

### 2008

    National Under-23 Road Championships
       1st Time trial
       4th Road race
    1st Prologue (TTT) Tour Alsace

### 2009

    1st Time trial, National Under-23 Road Championships
    1st Richmond Grand Prix
    7th Time trial, UCI Under-23 Road World Championships

### 2010

    1st Time trial, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
    1st Chrono des Nations Espoirs
    1st Stage 5 Cascade Cycling Classic
    2nd Time trial, Commonwealth Games
    8th Tour of the Battenkill

### 2011

    1st Time trial, National Road Championships
    1st London Nocturne
    1st Stage 8a (ITT) Tour of Britain
    2nd Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
       1st Stage 5
    3rd Chrono des Nations
    5th Overall Danmark Rundt
    6th Overall Ster ZLM Toer

### 2012

    National Road Championships
       1st Time trial
       2nd Road race
    2nd Duo Normand (with Luke Rowe)
    8th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships

### 2013

    1st Time trial, National Road Championships
    1st Stage 8 (ITT) Giro d'Italia
    2nd London Nocturne

### 2014

    1st Time trial, Commonwealth Games
    1st Stage 3 (ITT) Circuit de la Sarthe
    2nd Madison, National Track Championships (with Joe Holt)
    3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
    7th Overall Tour du Poitou-Charentes
    8th Overall Tour of Britain

### 2015

    Hour record: 52.937 km
    1st Time trial, National Road Championships
    1st Overall Bayern Rundfahrt
       1st Stage 4 (ITT)
    3rd Team time trial, UCI Road World Championships

### 2016

    1st Time trial, National Road Championships
    1st Stage 7 (ITT) Tour de Pologne

### 2017

    1st Stage 2b (ITT) Circuit de la Sarthe
    2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
    10th Overall Dubai Tour

### 2018

    3rd Time trial, National Road Championships
    5th Time trial, UEC European Road Championships

### 2019

    National Road Championships
       1st Time trial
       4th Road race
    5th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships
    5th Time trial, UEC European Road Championships
    10th Overall ZLM Tour

### 2020

    1st Stage 8 Giro d'Italia
    4th Time trial, UEC European Road Championships
    9th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships

### 2021

    1st Stage 1b (TTT) Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Giro d'Italia | 147 | — | — | — | — | 120 | — | 120 | DNF | 134 |
| Tour de France | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | 151 | — | — | — |
| Vuelta a España | did not contest during his career | did not contest during his career | did not contest during his career | did not contest during his career | did not contest during his career | did not contest during his career | did not contest during his career | did not contest during his career | did not contest during his career | did not contest during his career |

### Championship results timeline

| Event | Event | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| World Championships | Road race | DNF | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| World Championships | Time trial | 8 | 41 | 20 | 17 | 12 | — | 29 | 5 | 9 | — |
| World Championships | Team time trial | 9 | — | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 11 | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist |
| World Championships | Mixed team relay | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | Race did not exist | — | NH | 5 |
| European Championships | Time trial | Event did not exist | Event did not exist | Event did not exist | Event did not exist | — | — | 5 | 5 | 4 | — |
| European Championships | Road race | Event did not exist | Event did not exist | Event did not exist | Event did not exist | — | — | — | DNF | DNF | — |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |
| NH | Not held |