Alex Dowsett: Q&A

Name: Alex Dowsett
Nationality: British
Date of birth: Oct 3 1989
Height: 1.83m
Weight: 73kg
Team: Team Sky
Strengths: Time trial & endurance

Alex Dowsett, 22, is a time trial specialist who joined Team Sky after riding for one year as a neo-pro with Lance Armstrong’s Trek-LiveStrong under-23 team.

Dowsett, born in Essex, won the under-23 European Time Trial Championships in 2010 before going on to win a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games behind David Millar who won gold.

The youngster also won the under-23 Chrono des Nations time trial in his first season as a professional.

Dowsett blew away a world-class field at Smithfield Market to win the London Nocturne in June 2011. A week later he finished sixth overall in the Ster ZLM Tour, the five-day stage race formerly known as the Ster Elektrotour, in Holland that was won by Philippe Gilbert, the Belgian classics specialist.

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What's your earliest memory of cycling?
When my dad started mountain biking on a Thursday night and I asked to join him. So he started making sure I was fit enough and took me up a local hill - Danbury Hill - which is the highest point in Essex and I threw up at the top. That was my first experience of pushing myself to the limit.

I take dad up Danbury Hill now though. He suffers, but he hasn't thrown up.

And your first bike?
I can't remember my first ever bike, but I remember I had a Team Saracen mountain bike. It was matt black, similar to the [Team Sky] Pinerello I ride now funnily enough. It had 21 gears, cost about 200 quid and I thought it was the dogs to be honest.

Who has been the biggest influence on your cycling career?
There's been a few to be honest. There are two though; Eric and Glen Smith from the Maldon and District Cycling Club.

They made me time trial on a fixed-gear bike because I wasn't using the gears on my time trial bike properly, they also bought me my first tool kit so yes, I'd have to say Eric and his son Glen.

What book are you reading right now?
Oh god, I think Russell Brand's book - I'm kind of flicking between a few - but yeah Russell Brand's book. Mind, I can't understand half of it because he uses such complicated and long words. The dictionary button on my iPad has never been used so much.

Who is your sporting hero?
Chris Boardman, without a doubt. With his ability and my interest in time trialling I've always looked up to him.

Eddy or Fausto?
Eddy.

Surely cycling is a pretty dangerous sport for a haemophiliac? How do you cope?
If it wasn't for my haemophilia I wouldn't be where I was now. The doctors told me that swimming would be the safest sport for me to do. And so when I switched to cycling I think I already had a decent base fitness.

Crash-wise? Well, I've had a few but I think they gave my family or my team more of a scare that I did to myself. Now, though, my medication is always in the team car with the doctor.

What's the last film you watched?
Bullitt.

What is your proudest achievement?
Winning the European Championships last year. Eight weeks before winning them I was in hospital with a broken shoulder blade and the doctors said I wouldn't be able to train, nevermind race. So proving them wrong as well as winning the Europeans was satisfying.

If you weren't a professional cyclist, what career path would you have followed?
Well, my dad was a motor racing driver and I'd love to be one you have to have an obscene amount of money and talent. Oh which I had neither. So that dream went as far as go-karting and then I discovered the cycling.

Have you ridden a Boris bike?
No, but I want to.

When was the last time you were drunk?
Last night, no not really... when I crashed out at the Tour of California. Got drunk with, well I drank, with Axel Merckx an old directeur sportif of mine [at the Trek-Livestrong] which was quite cool.

What's the most embarrassing Tweet you have posted?
I think I posted one recently about getting weighed naked twice for this sweat test.

• The British Cycling team and Team Sky were at the Manchester Velodrome hosting a Gatorade track cycling masterclass. Telegraph Sport were given an insight into how elite track cyclists train and offered hydration and sweat testing by a Gatorade Sports Science Institute scientist to highlight the effects of intensive training on the body. Gatorade is the official hydration partner of Team Sky and the British Cycling team.