Alex Dowsett: Crashing twice in one day, that’s a record

British rider Alex Dowsett was caught up in two crashes during the opening stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour

Alex Dowsett.

(Image credit: Graham Watson)

Movistar rider Alex Dowsett set an unenviable personal record by crashing twice in one day on stage one of the Abu Dhabi Tour on Thursday.

Dowsett was among those riders bought down in a crash with just one kilometre to go, in which Sky rider Owain Doull sustained cuts to his shoe and foot, that he blamed on Marcel Kittel’s disc breaks.

However, he also crashed on the long, straight wide road that comprised most of the stage.

>>> Riders react on Twitter after Owain Doull blames disc brakes for injury

“Two in a day is a record it’s not something I want to do again either,” he said as he nursed abrasions and bruising to his right arm, shoulder and knee.

The first crash Dowsett said was his “own fault” after hitting a cat's eye in the middle of the road. “If it’s all your fault then you don’t want to take anyone down with you,” he said.

Dowsett was one of a handful of riders that crashed on a relatively featureless stage held mostly on two lane highways. Juraj Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Pello Bilbao Lopez (Astana) also came down.

“Today was so boring I’ve crashed so I’m going to say it was a s**t course. We had two corners in the first 180km and five in the last five km, it’s just…” Dowsett said, shrugging his shoulders.

“People switch off massively it’s so dull out there with a long straight road you’re not really doing anything, it’s a bit uncomfortable but it’s not that hard by any stretch of the imagination and then its hot as well, it's up to 36 degrees out there it tires you out a bit.”

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Having trained as a journalist at Cardiff University I spent eight years working as a business journalist covering everything from social care, to construction to the legal profession and riding my bike at the weekends and evenings. When a friend told me Cycling Weekly was looking for a news editor, I didn't give myself much chance of landing the role, but I did and joined the publication in 2016. Since then I've covered Tours de France, World Championships, hour records, spring classics and races in the Middle East. On top of that, since becoming features editor in 2017 I've also been lucky enough to get myself sent to ride my bike for magazine pieces in Portugal and across the UK. They've all been fun but I have an enduring passion for covering the national track championships. It might not be the most glamorous but it's got a real community feeling to it.