Alex Dowsett

Alex Dowsett
Alex Edward Albert Dowsett (born 3 October 1988) is a British former professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . He was a time trial specialist, and in 2015, he broke track cycling's world hour record by , with a distance of .
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 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 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 for the 2013 season hoping to gain a ride at a Grand Tour. After competing in the Classics season for , Dowsett was selected to ride the Giro d'Italia, his first Grand Tour appearance. Dowsett helped take second place in the team time trial on stage two. On stage eight, a 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 , 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 named in the start list for the 2015 Tour de France.
Team Katusha–Alpecin (2018–19)
In August 2017, it was announced that Dowsett would join 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 merger with , which became the new team 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 remaining. In November, he extended his contract with for a further two years. Michael Hutchinson coaches Dowsett. In 2021, Dowsett attempted the UCI Hour Record, and completed a distance of , 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
World 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
Championship results timeline
References
External links
1988 births
Living people
British Giro d'Italia stage winners
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England
Cyclists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
British male cyclists
English male cyclists
People educated at Elm Green Preparatory School
People educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford
People from Maldon, Essex
People with haemophilia
Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling
Sportspeople from Essex
21st-century British people
Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
English people with disabilities