GREAT Baddow cyclist Alex Dowsett smashed the national competition record over ten miles on Saturday afternoon.
Riding at an average speed of just under 35mph, Dowsett's record breaking ride took place along the six mile bottom stretch of the A11; he covered the 'out and back' course in 17mins 20secs beating the previous record, set in 2012, by 25 seconds.
In doing so, he broke a record that's previously been held by Olympic gold medallists Chris Boardman and Sir Bradley Wiggins, only adding to the honour Dowsett feels knowing he's the new fastest man on the block.
And whilst Dowsett fully accepts that his ride is nothing like the distances and difficulty of the roads and mountains he'll be facing in Le Tour De France, it at least reaffirms that his form is hitting the required peaks just weeks before the final team selections are confirmed.
Saturday's ride comes at the end of a big block of training Dowsett had been undertaking in Majorca: "I spent over two weeks there" he explained after his record breaking ride, "and the constant training was only broken by a three day race in Spain, the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon.
"Training on your own like that can be tough but I believe in what I'm doing and as I'm seeing the benefits, I know such hard training is proving more than worthwhile".
"This year everything has been focused on getting selection for the Tour. It'll be the biggest race of my life. So doing seven or more repetitions up and down the same Spanish mountain can be hard on the mind but my numbers, they're the best I've seen so I know what I'm doing is working. That's motivation in itself to keep training hard".
Dowsett was nearly two minutes quicker than his nearest rival and next line up to race at the eight day Tour de Suisse later this month. Then it's the national championships in Glasgow before the Tour de France kicks off in Yorkshire at the start of July.
He added: "The team have given me some very tough races to compete in so far this year and the Suisse will be no different. But I know I've ridden well for the team and my time trial results have been really good so I'm really hopeful that come July I'll be chosen to ride in the biggest race in the world".
