Matt Bottrill looking ahead to new challenges

Matt Bottrill came fourth in the elite men's national time trial on June 25, missing the podium by 31 seconds but a full four minutes and 20 seconds down on winner Alex Dowsett.

In the lead up to the event, and on the back of his victory in the National 50 Championship on Saturday June 13, Bottrill revealed he was searching for new challenges.

The 37-year-old, who clocked 1:41.22 on his way to victory by more than three minutes in the 50 in Cheshire earlier this month, says he intends to take up triathlon for the 2016 season.

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“I think I’ve reached the pinnacle of what I can do in time trialling and I’m at the point where I want new goals,” Bottrill said. “It will be nice to try something different.

“Since the end of last year I’ve been thinking about it a lot. 2014 was a textbook year, and I felt I was never going to beat it, so I wanted to look for new challenges.

“I will always ride time trials, but I’m going to step down from national-level stuff. I may find I don’t like it and I come back, but I’m not getting any younger and need to do this now.

“I have no idea what my running and swimming are like, but that’s part of what excites me — it’s a total unknown. For now I’m really looking forward to the rest of this season, and will be riding the National 10 and 25.”

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