Matt Bottril finished 2nd in the 2013 British time trial Championships up in Scotland. The race was won by Alex Dowsett (Movistar) who also this year won the time trial stage in the Giro d’Italia – so it shows the quality of the British field. It is the first time, for a few years, that Team Sky haven’t won the British Time trial championship.
After race Matt Bottrill spoke to Cycling Weekly
”I’m gobsmacked. For me, this is massive. I said before the race if I could get on the podium it would be like winning. I’m in shock.
“The sad thing is, I did keep looking behind to see if he [Dowsett, who started two minutes behind Bottrill] was going to catch me. You come up against the professionals – I read about them, I watch them – and you never think you’re in the same league. But today showed that I am. That’s not bad considering I’m close to 40!
“Normally time trials are watched by one man and his dog – there were thousands out on the course today. It was incredible. I can proudly show result this to my family, friends and sponsors.” (CW)
| 1 | Alex Dowsett (Movistar Team) | 1:02:30 | |
| 2 | Matthew Bottrill (www.drag2zero.com) | 0:00:20 | |
| 3 | Ben Swift (Sky Procycling) | ||
| 4 | Douglas Dewey (Hennebont Cyclisme) | 0:00:33 | |
| 5 | Luke Rowe (Sky Procycling) | 0:00:49 |
Matt works as a postman and trains part time. As Matt says:
I make my living from being a postman. I ride my bike for my rounds. I’m as quick on the job as possible and I’d like to think I’m the fastest postman in the country. (famous last words)
A few years ago, Michael Hutchinson was winning national championships by quite large margins, but in recent years, Matt Bottrill has narrowed the gap. He says that training with a power meter in specific power zones has made a big difference. It also looks from his position he’s spent considerable time in the drag 2 zero wind tunnel He has narrowed the gap quite a lot making championships much closer and more exciting. In the 2013 25 mile TT, Matt finally beat Michael Hutchinson in a national championship only to see young Joe Perrett ride even faster to take 1st place. It shows that if you train smart, you can still be very fast on fairly limited training Matt has come 2nd in national championships many times. Last year he won his first title – the 100 mile TT championships.
This weekend, is the National 50 mile TT championships in Abergavenny, Wales. I’m down to ride, so is Matt Bottrill and Michael Hutchinson.
- photo of Matt Bottrill aendephotography
All the best in 50mile champ!