Alex Dowsett says he is putting the pressure on himself to put in a strong performance in the time trial at the World Championships.
Team Sky rider the lone GB representative in worlds time trial
Alex Dowsett says he is putting the pressure on himself to put in a strong performance in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships.
Dowsett will be Great Britain's sole representative in the 45.7-kilometre race against the clock in Limburg after Bradley Wiggins opted against competing and Chris Froome withdrew.
As a result the 23-year-old is being given all the attention from his national team and will use the same wheels Bradley Wiggins won the Olympic time trial with.
The Essex rider knows being the flagbearer carries a certain responsibility after a year of sensational cycling success for Britain and he will be given every opportunity to triumph.
"I'm on the wheels Bradley won the Olympics on," said Dowsett.
"I'm getting all the best treatment and that means I put the pressure on myself; there's no pressure from staff or management or anything like that.
"Just with how Great Britain have done this year as a whole, you always have that pressure on you to perform."
Expectations
Dowsett, though, has had to temper expectations at the end of a season which has been disrupted due to illness and injury.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist won the British time trial title earlier in September and hopes to put a fraught campaign behind him with a strong showing in Holland.
"I had a really good start to the season, then just had a period of being off the bike, with a broken elbow and then the infection I had with it," Dowsett said.
"I feel like I've been playing catch-up the rest of the season. I had to reassess my goals this year and everything's just taken longer than I expected to get back up on to top form."
Dowsett was part of the Team Sky squad which placed ninth in the team time trial on Sunday, in which trade teams competed, and believes that race provided an indication he is finding some form at the right time.
He said: "The team time-trial went well for me personally. I surprised myself; I'm not in bad shape. I don't know how it's going to go. I'll just get out there and ride as best as I can.
"That's quite often the way with time-trials. All I can do is go out and do the best performance I can and see what happens at the finish line."
