Onwards and upwards for Dowsett – to the Tour?
Alex Dowsett’s first season with Movistar last year, after leaving Team Sky at the end of 2012, was enough to prove that by leaving Britain’s only WorldTour squad, he had not taken a wrong turn. The form shown thus far into his second season with Eusebio Unzué’s men underlines his earlier decision.
The British time trial champion finished in a creditable sixth place on the stage seven time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico, drawing to a close a week’s work that had seen him strike out boldly for victory on stage two and register his presence as the last survivor of an early five-strong break, able to hold off the peloton until just seven kilometres from the finish.
Dowsett tweeted his satisfaction with his performance on the closing stage, saying that he had turned a corner, but reserving his greatest praise for team-mate and stage winner, Malori, whom he predicted would win the time trial in May’s Giro d’Italia. Having won it himself last year, Dowsett knows what of he speaks.
“Onwards and upwards,” he tweeted. Where next for the man who has worn the stripes of national time trial champion for the last three years? Selection for Movistar’s Tour de France squad would please many British fans, especially those likely to line the route on stage three from Cambridge to London, via Essex – Dowsett country.
