Having broken his collarbone earlier this year, Alex Dowsett's hour record attempt is back on. The Movistar rider will make his attempt on the Manchester velodrome in early May
Alex Dowsett will be the next rider to walk up on to the boards, clip himself in to his bike and set off for an hour in purgatory. The Movistar rider will make his Hour Record attempt at Manchester velodrome on Saturday May 2.
It's a track he knows well, as he explains in our exclusie video, and he has ridden thousands of laps of this track during his time with British Cycling's Olympic Academy. On May 2 however he will be alone on the track, with a target of 52.491kmh.
In this video Dowsett explains why he is attempting the hour and what he is expecting from the gruelling event. Although he doesn't disclose a distance, or target, he is obviously planning to beat Rohan Dennis's record, and says he woujld like to set a distance that will stretch Sir Bradley Wiggins when he makes his attempt in London on June 6.
Dowsett had been planning an attempt earlier in the year but a crash in training resulted in a broken collarbone and a rescheduling. He has since started his road season, riding Milan-San Remo and more recently Ghent-Wevelgem, although he admitted to not being a fan of the northern classics.
Dowsett will be the fifth rider to attempt the hour this year after Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Thomas Dekker, and, most recently, Gustav Larsson. Of those, only Dennis was successful.
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Jack Elton-Walters hails from the Isle of Wight, and would be quick to tell anyone that it's his favourite place to ride. He has covered a varied range of topics for Cycling Weekly, producing articles focusing on tech, professional racing and cycling culture. He moved on to work for Cyclist Magazine in 2017 where he stayed for four years until going freelance. He now returns to Cycling Weekly from time-to-time to cover racing, review cycling gear and write longer features for print and online.
