Alex Dowsett is using his hour Record attempt today not just to promote himself and his talents, but also to raise awareness of the condition he suffers from, haemophilia. 

“We try to show that you can’t let hemophilia dictate your life, even if it shapes your life. When I was a kid I was told I couldn’t play contact sports so I did a lot of swimming which meant that when I tried cycling, I was pretty quick straight away.”

“Without hemophilia, I probably wouldn’t be sat here talking about the world hour record, I would be banging my head against a wall trying to make it in football or rugby.”

“So come Saturday, whatever the result, I won’t have lost. I will hopefully have shown a generation of rare disease sufferers that they shouldn’t settle, that they should go out there and give it a go.”