Dubai: Alex Dowsett, the Katusha-Alpecin team member in Dubai Tour, is no ordinary cyclist. Barred from participating in any body contact sport for being a haemophiliac, the Briton has picked up cycling as his preferred choice and wants to chase his dreams.
“It’s adversity for sure, and any kind of situation like this can change depending on one’s attitude towards it. Ultimately, it makes you the person you if you choose to let it define you. I certainly don’t want to stop here while chasing bigger dreams,” Dowsett told Gulf News.
Now in his fourth visit here, Dowsett has fallen in love with Dubai. This affinity has grown in a short period and he has found every opportunity to make brief stopovers in the UAE with his girlfriend, which is also the home of his would-be father-in-law.
The son of former British Touring Car Championship driver Phil, Dowsett is keen to “take the next step up” in his cycling career. But then, he will have to do something more than any other cyclist during the five stages of the Tour this week.
As a haemophiliac, the youngster from Essex has to inject himself with the clotting protein Factor VIII every 48 hours to ensure he can match up with the rest of the field. Advised to stay away from contact sports such as football and rugby by doctors due to the risk involved, Dowsett went about setting his own course while also trying to be a source of inspiration to the world.
Haemophilia is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body’s ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This condition is normally found in males with one in every 7,500 people being affected.
The Oakley-sponsored Dowsett runs the charitable foundation ‘Little Bleeders’ to raise awareness about the disease. “Haemophilia is not a condition that helps any athlete, especially at this level of competition. But it has provided me with the opportunities to explore sport outside what one would normally do growing up, and here I am giving off my best,” he added.
Dowsett tried swimming as his sport first, but found he “was not too good at it”. With a sporting dad to encourage him, the youngster took up cycling, and the results started showing immediately as he claimed the under-23 British Time Trial Championships in 2008 and 2009.
In 2010, he rode for American Trek-LiveStrong and won the under-23 European Time Trial Championship after which he went on to claim silver at the Time Trial at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
Dowsett is believed to be the only able-bodied elite sportsman with haemophilia. He has thus been given a special exemption by world governing body UCI’s ‘no needles’ policy introduced in 2011 so that he can inject himself with life-saving Factor VIII protein.
In Dubai yet again, Dowsett wants to accomplish the task before him and the team — ensure teammate Marcus Kittel wins the Tour for a record third time. “It’s massively different than previous years. This time we have a goal before us. If Kittel wins the stages and the title, then we have done our job,” he explained.
“For sure, he [Kittel] can make it three wins on Saturday. We have all been training well and the team that has been selected is the one best suited to achieve that goal,” he added.
