Alex Dowsett reveals he has a new pro contract until 2022

Alex Dowsett will continue riding until at least 2022 after securing a new two-year contract, but can't yet reveal which team he will be riding for.

The Brit was unsure of whether he'd be able to continue as a professional bike rider, finding himself without a contract for 2021 during the Giro d'Italia.

"It’s such a tough year. All the uncertainty, working out how I’m going to get to next year and still be racing, still be doing what I love and still being able to put food on the table for three of us rather than two of us come January," Dowsett told Eurosport after taking his solo victory on stage eight of the Italian Grand Tour.

"Hopefully this will help secure something for next year."

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Dowsett's prediction proved right, revealing in a YouTube video that he has a contract that will see him remain as a professional rider for at least another two years.

"The good news is I am sorted. I will be remaining as a cyclist of the professional nature for the next two years at least," Dowsett said. "That's good because I was really for a while...considering all options."

The 32-year-old adds that his Giro win was crucial to getting a new contract and that he had been contemplating life off the bike.

"Turns out winning a stage of the Giro can be quite useful when it comes to trying to keep yourself in bike racing," Dowsett said.

"If I'm honest, starting to consider life outside of racing was initially met with a whole load of fear because the minute I finished my A-levels I was a full-time cyclist and I don't really know any different," he added, the camera panning to a shot of Dowsett's laptop with a Deliveroo job application open on the desktop.

"I was coming around to potentially being a stay at home dad or finding work on the other side of cycling.

"So for when it does all end, perhaps this experience this year has made life a little bit easier to be ready for...because that will be a huge change when it does happen."

Instead, Dowsett will continue racing for the next two seasons at least, by which point he will be 34-years-old and have spent 12 years as a pro rider.

"But fortunately, it's not going to happen in 2021 or 2022," Dowsett says, before explaining he can't yet reveal which team he will be riding for.

Due to the shorter than usual off-season Dowsett says he won't be taking one, instead keeping things ticking over as he prepares for the 2021 season, as well as the arrival of his first child.

"Since the Giro finished I've decided not to off-season this year, not the full four-week bender that pro cyclists usually subject themselves to," he said.