Israel Start-up Nation’s Alex Dowsett comes up a little short in hour record attempt

On Wednesday Israel Start-up Nation’s Brit Alex Dowsett came up a little short in his attempt to break Victor Campenaerts’ hour record of 55.089 km that the Belgian set in Aguascalientes Velodrome in Mexico in April 2019. Also in Aguascalientes, Dowsett made 54.555, the second-best hour performance of all time.

Dowsett had once owned the record for a month in 2015 when he raced for Movistar, cracking Rohan Dennis’ mark of 52.491 km with 52.937 km in the Manchester Velodrome. Thirty-six days later Bradley Wiggins smashed Dowsett’s time at the Lee Valley Velopark in London with 54.526 km and that stood for four years.

Dowsett raced on a Factor Hanzo adapted to the track, its carbon rear triangle replaced with a narrower, titanium 3-D printed piece with track ends. The aerobars were AeroCoach Ascalon, and the Hanzo’s chain was a $C1600 gold AeroCoach Aten. Dowsett raced with a 61-tooth White Industries chainring and 13-tooth White Industries sprocket on the back; Qhubeka-NextHash’s Campenearts used 61-14 when he cracked Bradley Wiggins’ record in 2019.

At the half-hour mark, he was on track for 54.984 km. Fifteen minutes later his pace was for 54.876 km.

Thirty-three-year-old Dowsett has raced for Israel Start-up Nation over the last two seasons. Last season, he claimed the eighth stage of the Giro d’Italia. He is the six-time British chrono champion.