Alex Dowsett and Joanna Rowsell win British National Time Trial Championship titles
Alex Dowsett and Joanna Rowsell won the British Time Trial Championships titles.
Last Updated: 20/06/13 9:53pm
Dowsett (Movistar) required a bike change after a heavy fall but recovered to win in 1hour 2min 30sec, beating Matt Bottrill into second and Ben Swift (Team Sky) into third, both by 21 seconds.
It is his third consecutive national time trial crown and comes just over a month after he won the stage eight time trial at the Giro d'Italia, his biggest career victory to date.
The race took place over two laps of a 24.6km rolling circuit in East Ayrshire, Scotland, and, despite his crash, Dowsett led Bottrill by five seconds after the first lap. He then pressed home his advantage on the second lap to seal a comfortable victory.
Rowsell delighted
Rowsell (Wiggle Honda), who is an Olympic and world team pursuit champion on the track, earlier triumphed on a 35.2km course in a time of 49min 25secs.
Lizzie Armitstead (Boels - Dolmans), the Olympic road race silver medallist, was second in 49min 57sec, with Katie Colclough (Specialized - Lululemon) third 1min 5sec further back.
Rowsell, 24, posted the fastest time for the first of two laps of a rolling 17.6km course - leading Armitstead by 16 seconds - and then continued to extend her advantage on the second lap.
Emma Trott (Boels - Dolmans) was fourth, five seconds faster than sister Laura (Wiggle Honda) in fifth.
Rowsell's victory vindicates her decision to skip February's Track Cycling World Championships in Minsk and concentrate solely on her road season.
National pride
"This means the world to me," she said. "I have been targeting this since the start of the season, so to get a jersey is great.
"I can race in this [jersey] for the rest of the season now. I have been team pursuit world champion a few times but we don't ride many of those, so you don't get to wear that jersey much.
"But it will be nice to ride in this one for the rest of the season. I have got a stage race coming up in Germany at the end of July and I can wear this then. I am over the moon."
In the men's under-23 race, Sam Harrison (100% ME) claimed victory in 44min 47sec, 23 seconds ahead of Joe Perrett (IG Sigma Sport) in second and 1min 25sec in front of George Atkins (100% ME) in third.
The British national championships resume on Sunday with the men's and women's road races. Mark Cavendish, David Millar, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke and Armitstead are among the big names in action.
