Six-time British time trial champion has declared his retirement from professional road racing.
Before fellow Briton Sir Bradley Wiggins beat his record, Dowsett, 33, held the illustrious UCI Hour record for a month in 2015 with a ride of 52.937 kilometers.
He had previously indicated he wanted to race for two more seasons.
But Dowsett said: “This isn’t a retirement from cycling, this is a retirement from the World Tour.”
He confirmed his future would still be “on two-wheels”.
In a YouTube video, Dowsett added: “I’m going to step out of the World Tour, step out of pro cycling from now.
“I think what’s changed is this year I’ve gone through a period where they want to win something bigger than I’ve previously won or be better than I’ve previously been has wavered.
“I have achieved everything I can within the World Tour, within professional cycling at this level, but also I’ve witnessed life outside pro cycling and that’s filled me with excitement.”
A two-time Giro d’Italia stage winner, Dowsett rode for Trek-Livestrong, Team Sky, Movistar, Katusha-Alpecin, and most recently Israel Premier-Tech over the course of his career.
He won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games time trial, improving on the silver he claimed four years earlier.
Dowsett believed to be the only able-bodied athlete to have hemophilia, a condition that stops the blood from clotting properly, said he was most proud of the progress he has been able to make during his career within the haemophiliac community.