Alex Dowsett is the man in the middle of the National 25 drama. The Trek-Livestrong pro was given a wild card entry into the championship by Cycling Time Trials (CTT) on Tuesday, only to have it rescinded 48 hours later.
Speaking of the unexpected U-turn, he said: "To have it taken away... I'm pretty disappointed. It gets you up, then suddenly comes crashing back down again."
"As soon as I saw that the field was full up, I started looking around for other events. But then I got news that I'd been given a wild card entry, which was great."
Dowsett entered the event knowing full well that he might not get a ride. "I understand that rules are rules, I never asked for an exception to be made, but it's disappointing," he told Cycling Weekly.
"I'm representing my country in the European time trial championships [on July 16 in Turkey], and I wanted to use the National 25. I'd have been going there for the win, because it is quite a prestigious event in the UK, as well as good preparation for the Europeans."
Dowsett had effectively no chance to log a qualifying time, spending last year predominantly in Italy with the Academy squad before moving to Colorado this season after signing for Trek-Livestrong, the feeder team to Lance Armstrong's ProTour squad.
"The only time I came back for a long period of time was the winter - the end of the season. Apart from the fact I wanted a bit of downtime, there's not many open 25s on anyway," Dowsett said.
The Essex-born rider believes that a special dispensation rule ought to be introduced. "Hopefully they'll make a few changes to the rules so that riders who are ‘globally challenged' won't have to go back for a qualifying time to get into an event. There could be selection on another basis: Wiggins, for example, won the prologue in the Giro."
"It's a sign of the times - there are more international pros on the scene. If Wiggins or Millar came back to ride, it would only help the national time-trialling scene," he added.
As it stands, Dowsett has been unable to find a replacement time-trial to ride. Ironically, he was also refused entry to an ECCA 10-mile time-trial on the basis that his Essex club isn't ECCA-affiliated.
Instead, he expects to do a training ride on June 5 (the day of the championship) before competing in Sunday's Ryedale GP, which he has also entered.
The 21-year-old is currently in Holland for the Olympia's Tour, hoping to ride well in the race-opening 10km time-trial around Heerenveen this afternoon.
This experience hasn't knocked Dowsett's passion for time-trialling. "I love the British time-trialling scene: that's where I grew up and whenever I come back to the UK, I'll always come back to it. These are just unfortunate circumstances."
Related links
Dowsett has National 25 wild card given and taken away
USA Cycling unveils 2025 National Championship schedule with 17 chances to claim the Stars and Stripes jersey
Tech of the week: A shockingly expensive steel bike from Colnago, a surprisingly affordable carbon bike from Pinarello, DT Swiss energises our cycling lives and Pog's bars are now yours to buy
