ALEX DOWSETT

TEAM KATUSHA-ALPECIN

Last time we spoke it was two nights before Worlds - something I’d worked very hard towards for a very long time. One month later, I’ve got a little bit of padding around my waist, my strict diet and core regime has gone out the window, and Nandos has re-emerged as top of my eatery holes.

Fifth place though. Seven seconds off a medal.

It was a tiny gap that actually I was more okay with than I thought I would be. I stuck to the pacing plan as religiously as I could, I lost nothing in the corners and just generally made no mistakes so that seven seconds comes in aero or training or nutrition, or something outside of my control on the day. Amazingly I was pretty content with fifth place. It didn’t feel like a win but it felt like an achievement.

The second half of this year has been particularly stressful in many different aspects. One was the pressure to perform at a home Worlds; this was pressure I had on myself, but also Team GB had invested a lot of time, energy and resources into my ride there. I was hugely grateful and in awe of the support network that there is within Team GB - it’s no surprise they are the medal factory on the track.

With that support comes pressure though - pressure from myself as I knew it was a oncein-a-career opportunity to race with a home crowd. It was a course I knew that I could do well on, and the competition was very open with no standout favourite. On top of this, the uncertainty around my team’s future was difficult and with a contract for 2020 with an uncertain team I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. Bills need to be paid and our cat needs to be fed so I wanted to know that I had a job for the following year. It was a relief to perform well.

I feel like I’ve stalled a little the last couple of years. My best result for a TT at Worlds was eighth back at my first attempt in 2012. Since then I’ve been ‘decently average’,and this result proved to myself that

I can still be competitive at the highest level, while learning a thing or two.

Off the back of this my sights are firmly set (after Nandos) on Tokyo 2020. Selection will be a huge ask, being competitive will be a huge ask, but the Olympic dream is a dream that I thought maybe had gone in recent years. But it’s one that’s now resurfaced.

Off-season for me has started and that means a break, a holiday, a trip around Chanel’s country with my parents, catching up with everyone I’ve missed throughout the year, before it’s time to get serious again soon. I’m happy for my bike to collect a little bit of dust over the next week or two, although it probably needs a service before we start the journey back to New Zealand.