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’ series. Subscribe online and get the magazine delivered direct to your door every week.
Long before Alex Dowsett 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 – Phil’s nephew Oliver runs a successful British touring car team, Napa – the 74-year-old raced single-seater, saloon, sports and touring cars for 22 years.
Though he never accomplished his dream of becoming a Formula One driver, Phil was regarded as one of Britain’s best drivers throughout the 1980s. But it wasn’t how he paid the bills. “I 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,” 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’s wife Jan gave birth to the couple’s second child, Lois, in 1991.
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. “My nan on my mother’s 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,” Alex says. The father and son have made the Dowsett name synonymous with speed.
Phil’s success was a source of inspiration for Alex from a young age. “I heard these stories as a kid about how good my dad was,” Alex says, “and I thought, How am I going to excel at life to the point where I can tell my own kids similar successful stories?” Phil nods: “He more than achieved that goal – he’s got better stories to tell than I have.”
The son’s take
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’Italia (2013, 2020)
Q: What did you know as a child about your dad’s 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’t one to talk about his success. I pieced together the dots when we went to the invite-only British Racing Drivers’ Club and I saw Dad’s name on the board next to 1988 with a silver star denoting that he was that year’s best national driver.
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’s 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.
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’t very good.
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.
Q: Physically, are you more similar to your dad or your mum?
Dad loves cycling, but you can see that it doesn’t come to him naturally. It’s 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’t win a single one! Michael Hutchinson once told me that in most cases the physiology comes from the mother’s side; in my case, I think that’s true.
Q: Did your dad teach you any racing techniques?
Racing lines – 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.
Q: Do you have a similar mindset to your dad?
Yes, I’d say I got my head from my dad – especially my work ethic.
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 £5,000 skinsuit. I said to him: “Dad, you remortgaged the house to do another year of racing.” But if you ask him, he’ll say he didn’t want it enough – as if remortgaging your house isn’t wanting it enough!
Q: What career advice did you take from your dad?
He always drummed into me the importance of sponsors: “If there’s a logo on a pair of socks you’re being paid to wear, you wear those socks.”
(Image credit: Richard Butcher)
The father’s take
Phil Dowsett
Age: 74
Height: 5ft 7in
Raised: Chelmsford, Essex
Lives: Maldon, Essex
Occupation: Retired commercial upholstery business owner
Biggest sporting achievement: 1st – British Formula Atlantic race, Oulton Park (1980)
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.
Q: Did you want Alex to become a racing driver?
We didn’t have the money for it. You’ve got to be extremely rich nowadays. He’s a good car driver and he’d have loved car racing, but he never approached me about doing it seriously.
Q: Did you give him a love of speed?
Definitely. I used to take him out in my Porsche and he’d enjoy ripping around in it. He had a hunger for speed from an early age, and you saw that in his time trialling.
Q: How did you try to encourage Alex’s 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’t fall off. That was the start of it.
Q: When did you know Alex had talent?
When he started racing time trials at Maldon CC, one of the guys said to me: “Phil, Alex is very, very good: his body doesn’t move [around in the saddle] but he delivers power”.
Q: How did you help him as a cyclist?
I didn’t know a thing about the technical side of cycling. I always said to him: “Alex, have a plan B. If things go wrong, you need to be able to execute an alternative plan.” All I could do was get him to where he needed to be, make sure he ate a good meal, had a good night’s sleep.
Q: What was the most important thing Alex inherited from you?
When he was around 15, if he didn’t win, he hated it. That will to win is something that I didn’t 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.
Q: Do you share a similar mentality?
He once told me: “Dad, I’ve learned how I can go quicker.” I was expecting him to go on and say he had new tyres or some new kit, but he said: “I’ve learned how to hurt myself more.” I am not like that on a bike – unlike him, I don’t like putting myself through pain! I push to keep up with my mates, but not to the level where I ruin myself.
(Image credit: Richard Butcher)
The no-conferring round
‘Guess what your dad said when we asked…’
Who’s the best driver today?
Alex: He’d say me.
Phil: He’s better than me now. When you get to my age, you can’t process things as quickly as before.
Could Alex have made it as a racing driver?
Alex: I think I could have been, yeah.
Phil: He’d have been good, but I’m not sure how good.
Could Phil have become a cyclist?
Alex: From what I’ve seen, he doesn’t have the ability.
Phil: No. He’s got the cardiovascular levels and the technique – I don’t have any of that.
What’s one thing Phil can do but Alex can’t?
Alex: He could dismantle an old engine.
Phil: I can windsurf better than him. For now…
What’s one thing Alex can do but Phil can’t?
Alex: I can go under 30 minutes for a 10-mile TT!
Phil: Ride a bike fast! And he’s good at maths.
What’s the tougher sport, rally or cycling?
Alex: He’d have said pro cycling.
Phil: In my era, it was motor racing – it was far more dangerous, but then it became incredibly safe. Cyclists have to be far fitter.
How would Alex describe Phil in three words?
Alex: Humble, loyal and generous. Can I add smart?
Phil: Stubborn old bastard! Impetuous, selfish – to be successful, you have to be. And generous.
How would Phil describe Alex in three words?
Alex: He’d say something about me being focused, and how when I want something I work hard for it.
Phil: Cool, calm and collected.
Who’s more competitive?
Alex: He’ll say himself. He would get pissed off with me if I helped team-mates in time trials.
Phil: I think we’re similar, but I had to be very competitive, as it was often a dog-eat-dog situation.
Who’s 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.
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