Giro d'Italia 2020 - Bradley Wiggins: So much more than a stage win for Alex Dowsett
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ByEurosport
Updated 10/10/2020 at 23:23 GMT
Bradley Wiggins heaped praise on Alex Dowsett after the 32-year-old flew the flag for British racing with a solo victory on Stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia. The win was a first-ever Grand Tour stage triumph for his Israel Start-Up Nation. The 2012 Tour de France winner also reflected on an emotional post-race interview from Dowsett.
Alex Dowsett
Image credit: Getty Images
Bradley Wiggins said on the latest episode of the Breakaway that Alex Dowsett was more than capable of winning stages on a consistent basis after the Brit soloed his way to victory on Stage 8 of the Giro, adding, though, that it was more than just a stage win at stake on Saturday.
The win represented a first-ever Grand Tour stage triumph for his Israel Start-Up Nation team, and only a second Grand Tour stage win for the 32 year old.
And speaking on the Breakaway, 2012 Tour de France winner said that he was amazed that Dowsett hadn’t picked up more stage wins.
“Alex [Dowsett] is more than capable of doing that and it’s amazing he hasn’t had more,” began Wiggins, sat alongside former MTN-Qhubeka general manager Brian Smith and Dan Lloyd.
“When you think of his time trial power and what he’s capable of doing, and the hour record of course.
I don’t know if it’s a lack of confidence, he’s always seen himself as a time trialist, and a pure time trialist, and maybe pigeonholed himself too much into that.
"With this win, he’s realising more what he’s capable of doing. This could kick-start him and be the start of the second part of his career because he’s not that old either when you consider what he’s achieved in the sport."
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Wiggins on Dowsett's career so far: I don’t know if it is a lack of confidence
Dowsett gave an emotional post-race interview, telling Bernie Eisel that the pressure of earning a new contract next year had weighed heavily on the six-time national time trial champion, saying he was grappling with how to race and put food on the table.
It was a point not lost on Wiggins.
“It showed in the emotion today and where it was coming from, partly from winning a stage in the Giro d’Italia but also because he’s now able to, as he said, put food on the table maybe next year and potentially get a contract from that. So there was so much more at play today for Alex than purely the sport of winning Stage 8 in the Giro d’Italia.”
Dowsett took the emotional win just hours after fellow Brit and GC contender Simon Yates (Mitchelton–Scott) withdrew from the race after he was diagnosed with Covid-19. It was a topic that Orla Chennaoui discussed on the Breakaway, outlining the wide-ranging impact Covid-19 continues to have on the world of sport.
“We all got onto a bit of a roll here and thought 'this is it, we're off and running, here we go', but the dominoes are starting to fall,” began Chennaoui.
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It's impossible to contain this virus – Orla Chennaoui on uncertain times in cycling
“Riders from other races, of course, are testing positive. Jan Bakelants of Circus-Wanty Gobert has tested positive; he is now out of Gent Wevelgem because of that. Tiesj Benoot of Team Sunweb, who was on a talk show with Bakelants during the week in Belgium has also been taken off the race by his team, Team Sunweb as a precaution more than anything else.
But you can see that it's impossible, as we knew anyway, to contain this virus. It is spreading from one race to another, one team to another, one country to another and we just have to really wait and see what racing we've got to come. It's a very uncertain time in cycling, as we knew it would be.
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