Alex Dowsett admits all the struggles in adapting back to the road following his one hour record bid will be worth it if he can regain his national time trial title in Lincolnshire on Thursday.
Dowsett became the fourth person to break cycling’s iconic hour record when he covered 52.937km in 60 minutes at the Manchester Velodrome in May, a mark that has since been eclipsed by Sir Bradley Wiggins.
Since then the Movistar rider has been busy losing around three kilos of muscle he gained for that bid as he switches back to the road.
His next challenge comes this week for the National Championships with the 26-year-old on the brink of equalling Stuart Dangerfield’s record of four British titles.
His hopes of making that feat went up in the smoke last year as illness derailed his chances in Monmouthshire, taking bronze behind Wiggins and Geraint Thomas.
The latter two have ruled themselves out of the event this year, with Dowsett admitting he will be channelling the disappointment of 2014 to spur him on.
“Last year I was particularly gutted. Obviously Stuart's done four but no one has done four on the bounce,” Dowsett told British Cycling.
"It's the national champs - everyone wants to be able to put that jersey on.
"I've had four or five weeks to turn around track speed and weight into something that will get me selected for the Tour de France.
“It's been pretty difficult. It's been a bit of a struggle really. But I'm doing what I can.”
Following on from his hour record, Dowsett took his first ever stage race win at Bayern Rundfahrt.
Although he was forced to abandon the Criterium du Dauphine on stage six earlier this month, admitting he simply ran out of legs.
"I was very good on the flat stages in terms of positioning our lead riders,” he added. “I was as competent as I've ever been at that but with all the hour record training I've put on two or three kilos of muscle and shifting that has been really difficult.
"I usually struggle in the mountains but this was struggling a bit more than usual.”
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