The British Cyclist Alex Dowsett failed to break the hour record (set at 55,089 kilometers) at the Bicentennial velodrome in the city of Aguascalientes, in central Mexico.
“The reality is that I was a bit slow, it was very hot, the weather was very harsh, there was a lot of humidity in the environment; I feel a lump in my throat because we had high expectations,” explained Dowsett at the end of the test in which he stayed 534 meters from the record.
The 33-year-old Briton faced a temperature of just over 25 degrees and humidity above 70%.
Dowsett, who runs for the Israeli team Star-Up Nation, was just over two laps (the Mexican velodrome measures 250 meters) from the record that the Belgian Victor Campenaerts got on April 16, 2019 in this same scenario.
The Brit started slow and lagged up to almost a second for the first 10 kilometers, a delay that increased to two seconds after 15 km.
After completing 80 laps and traveling 20 kilometers, for which he required a time of 21 minutes and 50 seconds, Dowsett was 2933 seconds above the pass to break the Campenaerts record.
It was between the 28th and 30th kilometer that Dowsett lost even more speed, letting his set run up to five seconds above the mark he was looking to break.
The fatigue was more visible before starting the last quarter of an hour. Passing through kilometer 40 the clock showed 43: 42.599 minutes, Dowsett had slowed down, with 10 seconds over the limit established by Campenaerts.
Although he struggled, he could not exceed 55 kilometers per hour in speed.
With the cause lost when crossing the 50 kilometers, the Briton was 27 seconds from his goal and in the end the lag was 34 seconds and his distance was in 54,555 kilometers.
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
