{"id":88838,"date":"2025-08-24T04:33:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T04:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/88838\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T04:33:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T04:33:12","slug":"he-said-spending-5k-on-a-skinsuit-was-outrageous-so-i-reminded-him-hed-remortgaged-our-house-for-his-rally-career-meet-alex-dowsett-and-his-dad-phil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/88838\/","title":{"rendered":"‘He said spending \u00a35k on a skinsuit was outrageous \u2013\u00a0so I reminded him he’d remortgaged our house for his rally career’: Meet Alex Dowsett and his dad Phil"},"content":{"rendered":"

The full, original version of this article was published in the 19th June 2025 print edition of Cycling Weekly as part of our ‘Meet the Maker’ <\/a>series. Subscribe online<\/a> and get the magazine delivered direct to your door every week. <\/p>\n

Long before Alex Dowsett<\/a> was setting Hour record times, winning Grand Tour stages and repeatedly becoming British time trial champion, there was another Dowsett from Essex who was speeding around and breaking records: his father, Phil. Hailing from a motor racing family \u2013 Phil\u2019s nephew Oliver runs a successful British touring car team, Napa \u2013 the 74-year-old raced single-seater, saloon, sports and touring cars for 22 years.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Though he never accomplished his dream of becoming a Formula One driver, Phil was regarded as one of Britain\u2019s best drivers throughout the 1980s. But it wasn\u2019t how he paid the bills. \u201cI had a job, and that was my biggest downfall because I only had one day a week to prepare and test the car before racing,\u201d he says. In 1989, the year after Alex was born, Phil turned down the opportunity to race in Japan for Toyota Factory, instead beginning an upholstery, carpet and curtain business in London. Phil\u2019s wife Jan gave birth to the couple\u2019s second child, Lois, in 1991.<\/p>\n

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Alex, who was diagnosed with the blood-clotting disorder haemophilia at 18 months old, began cycle racing at age 13, despite no history of the sport in his family. \u201cMy nan on my mother\u2019s side would have swum in the Olympics had it not been for the war, but other than that, neither side of my family was particularly sporty,\u201d Alex says. The father and son have made the Dowsett name synonymous with speed.<\/p>\n

Phil\u2019s success was a source of inspiration for Alex from a young age. \u201cI heard these stories as a kid about how good my dad was,\u201d Alex says, \u201cand I thought, How am I going to excel at life to the point where I can tell my own kids similar successful stories?\u201d Phil nods: \u201cHe more than achieved that goal \u2013 he\u2019s got better stories to tell than I have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The son’s take<\/p>\n

Alex Dowsett
Age: 36
Height: 5ft 10in
Raised: Chelmsford, Essex
Lives: Chelmsford, Essex
Occupation: Performance engineer at XDS Astana
Biggest sporting achievement: Hour record, 52.937km (2015); 2x stage wins, Giro d\u2019Italia (2013, 2020)<\/p>\n

Q: What did you know as a child about your dad\u2019s racing success?
I was aware of it because he used to drive fast and his trophy cabinet was in the corner of the dining room. But he wasn\u2019t one to talk about his success. I pieced together the dots when we went to the invite-only British Racing Drivers\u2019 Club and I saw Dad\u2019s name on the board next to 1988 with a silver star denoting that he was that year\u2019s best national driver.<\/p>\n

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Q: Were you interested in motor racing?
I went to the local go-kart track where, if you got under a certain lap time in a kid\u2019s kart, they let you come back on a Saturday or Sunday morning to drive the adult karts. I was pretty good, but not the fastest.<\/p>\n

Q: How did your sporting career start?
I was diagnosed with haemophilia as a baby and doctors told my parents that swimming was really helpful for it. Swimming was my sport and I tried racing but wasn\u2019t very good.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you think your cycling talent was learned or inherited?
I find my childhood fascinating: I swam 10,000 hours to master swimming but I was sh*t. I went running and was quite good at a county level but nothing amazing. And then I picked up a bike and within a year I was the best in my age group.<\/p>\n

Q: Physically, are you more similar to your dad or your mum?
Dad loves cycling, but you can see that it doesn\u2019t come to him naturally. It\u2019s a useless comparison but my wife Chanel and I took Mum and Dad to New Zealand a few years ago and we did a vineyard tour on tandems. Chanel and Dad were on one bike and me and my Mum were on the other. They wanted to race against us, but they didn\u2019t win a single one! Michael Hutchinson once told me that in most cases the physiology comes from the mother\u2019s side; in my case, I think that\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

Q: Did your dad teach you any racing techniques?
Racing lines \u2013 on the kart track as a kid. [Ex-pro] Paddy Bevin said to me a couple of years ago that I was one of the only bike riders who took a motor racing line on a push bike.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you have a similar mindset to your dad?
Yes, I\u2019d say I got my head from my dad \u2013 especially my work ethic.<\/p>\n

Q: What about your will to win?
I once had a fascinating conversation with Dad where he said it was outrageous that I was buying a \u00a35,000 skinsuit. I said to him: \u201cDad, you remortgaged the house to do another year of racing.\u201d But if you ask him, he\u2019ll say he didn\u2019t want it enough \u2013 as if remortgaging your house isn\u2019t wanting it enough!<\/p>\n

Q: What career advice did you take from your dad?
He always drummed into me the importance of sponsors: \u201cIf there\u2019s a logo on a pair of socks you\u2019re being paid to wear, you wear those socks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Richard Butcher)<\/p>\n

The father’s take<\/p>\n

Phil Dowsett
Age: 74
Height: 5ft 7in
Raised: Chelmsford, Essex
Lives: Maldon, Essex
Occupation: Retired commercial upholstery business owner
Biggest sporting achievement: 1st \u2013 British Formula Atlantic race, Oulton Park (1980)<\/p>\n

Q: How much did you train as a motor racing driver?
I ran around London keeping fit, which gave me an advantage over everyone else. Keeping fit was something that very few drivers did back in my day.<\/p>\n

Q: Did you want Alex to become a racing driver?
We didn\u2019t have the money for it. You\u2019ve got to be extremely rich nowadays. He\u2019s a good car driver and he\u2019d have loved car racing, but he never approached me about doing it seriously.<\/p>\n

Q: Did you give him a love of speed?
Definitely. I used to take him out in my Porsche and he\u2019d enjoy ripping around in it. He had a hunger for speed from an early age, and you saw that in his time trialling.<\/p>\n

Q: How did you try to encourage Alex\u2019s cycling?
I used to go mountain biking on Thursday nights, and when he was 13 he asked if he could come along. I said yes as long as he kept up and didn\u2019t fall off. That was the start of it.<\/p>\n

Q: When did you know Alex had talent?
When he started racing time trials at Maldon CC, one of the guys said to me: \u201cPhil, Alex is very, very good: his body doesn\u2019t move [around in the saddle] but he delivers power\u201d.<\/p>\n

Q: How did you help him as a cyclist?
I didn\u2019t know a thing about the technical side of cycling. I always said to him: \u201cAlex, have a plan B. If things go wrong, you need to be able to execute an alternative plan.\u201d All I could do was get him to where he needed to be, make sure he ate a good meal, had a good night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n

Q: What was the most important thing Alex inherited from you?
When he was around 15, if he didn\u2019t win, he hated it. That will to win is something that I didn\u2019t teach him, but like me, he had that desire. I think he also grasped early on that when your arse gets kicked, on those bad days, you learn more.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you share a similar mentality?
He once told me: \u201cDad, I\u2019ve learned how I can go quicker.\u201d I was expecting him to go on and say he had new tyres or some new kit, but he said: \u201cI\u2019ve learned how to hurt myself more.\u201d I am not like that on a bike \u2013 unlike him, I don\u2019t like putting myself through pain! I push to keep up with my mates, but not to the level where I ruin myself.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Richard Butcher)<\/p>\n

The no-conferring round<\/p>\n

\u2018Guess what your dad said when we asked\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s the best driver today?
Alex: He\u2019d say me.
Phil: He\u2019s better than me now. When you get to my age, you can\u2019t process things as quickly as before.<\/p>\n

Could Alex have made it as a racing driver?
Alex: I think I could have been, yeah.
Phil: He\u2019d have been good, but I\u2019m not sure how good.<\/p>\n

Could Phil have become a cyclist?
Alex: From what I\u2019ve seen, he doesn\u2019t have the ability.
Phil: No. He\u2019s got the cardiovascular levels and the technique \u2013 I don\u2019t have any of that.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s one thing Phil can do but Alex can\u2019t?
Alex: He could dismantle an old engine.
Phil: I can windsurf better than him. For now\u2026<\/p>\n

What\u2019s one thing Alex can do but Phil can\u2019t?
Alex: I can go under 30 minutes for a 10-mile TT!
Phil: Ride a bike fast! And he\u2019s good at maths.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the tougher sport, rally or cycling?
Alex: He\u2019d have said pro cycling.
Phil: In my era, it was motor racing \u2013 it was far more dangerous, but then it became incredibly safe. Cyclists have to be far fitter.<\/p>\n

How would Alex describe Phil in three words?
Alex: Humble, loyal and generous. Can I add smart?
Phil: Stubborn old bastard! Impetuous, selfish \u2013 to be successful, you have to be. And generous.<\/p>\n

How would Phil describe Alex in three words?
Alex: He\u2019d say something about me being focused, and how when I want something I work hard for it.
Phil: Cool, calm and collected.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s more competitive?
Alex: He\u2019ll say himself. He would get pissed off with me if I helped team-mates in time trials.
Phil: I think we\u2019re similar, but I had to be very competitive, as it was often a dog-eat-dog situation.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s more famous?
Alex: Dad tells the story about when his Wikipedia page stopped being about his own achievements and became about being the father of Alex Dowsett.
Phil: Alex, by far.<\/p>\n

Explore More<\/p>\n

Alex Dowsett<\/a>
\nTime Trial<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The full, original version of this article was published in the 19th June 2025 print edition of Cycling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-88838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}