SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

Alex Dowsett overcame haemophilia to pursue a full-blooded pro career - James Shrubsall traces his rocky road to stardom

- James Shrubsall

The cut-throat business that is top-level cycling revealed itself in all its glory to Alex Dowsett during his second year on the British Cycling Senior Academy.

Flat-sharing in Manchester with fellow Academy riders, he returned home having been out on a date to find his room trashed, his washbag urinated on and obscenities about his mum written on the whiteboard.

It's one of many eye-opening tales he recounts in his new book, Bloody Minded the title of which could scarcely be more appropriate. Not just as a nod to the haemophilia that has dogged him and shaped him since childhood, but also to the sheer tenacity Dowsett has had to call on throughout his career.

Having his room trashed by those who were, on the face of it, allies, left him "raging", he writes.

But ultimately he decided, "I would put my room straight, never mention it, train like a legend, and not give whoever had done this the satisfaction of a reaction. I'm going to work and win and get a pro contract and never look back."

Sitting in the airy kitchen of his Essex home, a year on from hanging up his wheels, Dowsett reflects on exactly what it takes to reach the top and stay there. And it's not always pretty.

Of his time at the Academy, he says: "It's all just basically teenagers that all think they're God's gift to cycling. You're all having to be team-mates, but you all deep down know that you're fighting against each other for supremacy in the team."

It's a far cry from those innocent early days riding the Maldon '10', his local time trial course.