Career ends in 2023: Rohan Dennis - family man and fussy time trial genius

Classics? Rohan Dennis doesn't know them. The Australian has not completed a single monument in ten years as a professional cyclist. If, very rarely, a Strade Bianche or Dwars door Vlaanderen did find its way onto his racing schedule in his early years, it was usually followed by a Did Not Finish. Generally speaking, the one-day races he has completed - with the exception of national championships, world title fights and the Olympics - can easily be counted on his fingers.

>> Rohan Dennis announces the end of his career

It is easy to see why these races do not fit into Rohan Dennis' requirements profile. Because there are no time trials there. But the battle against the clock has always been the Adelaide man's great strength. Even as a junior, he finished ninth in the Junior World Championships in 2007 at the age of 17. He was even more successful on the track, taking the runner-up world title in the individual pursuit a year later and even becoming world champion with the team. Two years later, he also achieved team success in the elite, winning World Championship and Olympic silver in this discipline in 2012.

Rohan Dennis: A lightning start to his professional career

In 2013, Dennis, who had already spent several years on the Continental Tour and won the Tour Down Under mountain jersey, made the complete switch to the road. He signs his first professional contract with the American team Garmin - Sharp. And it soon becomes clear that the move is by no means a bad one. In June, Dennis is only beaten by reigning world champion Tony Martin in the time trial of the Criterium du Dauphine. He is still able to slip into the yellow jersey, if only for one day. At the end of the tour, he goes home in white as the best young rider and is allowed to take part in the Tour de France. This shows what potential the 23-year-old has, even beyond the time trial.

In fact, in his early years Dennis was more of an all-rounder than a time trial specialist. He celebrated his first five victories as a professional on hilly stages or by winning small tours. He managed to do both in his first year at the Tour of Alberta in Canada. He finished his first time trial world championship shortly afterwards in twelfth place, more than three minutes behind Tony Martin.

The importance of interpersonal relationships for the Australian was already evident in 2014. In the middle of the season, Dennis changes teams and joins BMC. It's not about money or bad vibes. He misses Allan Peiper. Dennis' compatriot was sports director in 2012 and brought him to Garmin - but moved on to BMC himself shortly afterwards. "My first experience in professional cycling was with him at the Tour Down Under when I joined Garmin - Sharp. I think he can look after me best," says Dennis about his reasons.

Stage win at the Tour de France makes Rohan Dennis an Australian legend

He starts his first full BMC year with victory at the Tour Down Under, confirming that the feel-good factor is crucial for Dennis. A short time later, he secures the world hour record on a brief return to the track, which he quickly has to give up again. Both he and Peiper will remain with the team until the end of BMC 2018, after which they will part ways.

But before that happens, 2015 will be Dennis' second Tour de France. He did not finish the first, but did finish the second. In Paris, he will be only the seventh Australian to take the yellow jersey in the world's most important race. But Dennis doesn't even have to reach French territory to ride his way into the hearts of the great cycling nation. The Tour de France starts this year with a prologue in Utrecht. And neither local hero Tom Dumoulin, world champion Martin nor Fabian Cancellara will win there. Rohan Dennis completes the 13.8 kilometre course at 55.446 km/h, just ahead of the other three, who also all average 55 km/h, and thus sets the unofficial speed record for a time trial at the Tour. It is the first time Dennis has won a battle against the clock since his time on the track.

And it is the best Tour de France that Dennis has completed in his career. In addition to his personal success, he cuts a strong figure as a helper alongside his captain Tejay van Garderen. The American was third in the overall standings before the 17th stage, but then had to abandon due to illness.

The curious Tour de France exit in 2019 and the subsequent world championship title

Rohan Dennis will only line up at the start in France four times, as he is not really happy with the race. He only reached the finish line in 2015. And the end of 2019 is particularly curious: after leaving BMC, the Australian joined Bahrain - Merida. With a second place in the overall standings of the Tour de Suisse, Dennis initially underpinned his ambitions to retrain as a tour rider. In 2017, his girlfriend at the time, Melissa Hoskins, admitted to some media that Dennis dreamed of winning a Grand Tour. A year later, Dennis said that his wife was one of the reasons for his abrupt withdrawal from the Tour in the summer of 2019.

The 12th stage is underway when he suddenly gets off his bike in a feed zone and abandons the race. There are no recognisable reasons for this. He disappears into the bus and only reappears two and a half months later. At the World Championships in Harrogate, Great Britain. He defends his world title in the two-wheeler with a lead of more than a minute over Remco Evenepoel and almost two minutes over Filippo Ganna. The whole cycling world congratulates him - except for his team. But as it turns out a short time later, it is no longer his team at all.

Bahrain - Merida had already cancelled Dennis' contract without notice before the World Championships, but this only became public afterwards. He contests the time trial on a BMC bike. The material is also what caused Dennis to drop out of the Tour in frustration. It was not until 2020 that Dennis himself explained that arguments about stress over the equipment had put him in such a difficult mental situation that he was worried about his marriage and therefore got off his bike on that 12th stage and never returned to the Tour.

Rohan Dennis - "Family takes priority": Home World Cup cancelled due to brother's wedding

It is further proof that Dennis values personal or family ties more than his career. Because it never really gets going after that. The marriage, on the other hand, survives without any problems. His wife and first-born son, who was born almost exactly a year earlier, stand on the roadside at the World Championships and cheer on the old and new world champions.

In 2022, Dennis will once again prioritise his family. This time he is sacrificing the home World Championships in Wollongong. "It is what it is. My brother is getting married the day before the time trial in Germany. And I'll be his best man. Family comes first, mate," he tells a reporter from the Australian TV station SBS.

Dennis will be driving for Jumbo-Visma in 2022. It is the last stop of his career. After being sacked by Bahrain, he spends the two years before that with Team Ineos. 2020, the coronavirus year, is the first and last in his professional career in which he does not win. However, he came close at the Giro in October. In the second of three time trials, only team-mate Filippo Ganna, who also replaced him as world champion, was faster. Dennis also proves to be a strong helper for his captain Tao Geoghegan Hart in the mountains. On the 20th stage up to the mountain arrival in Sestriere, he is the only one who can follow Geoghegan Hart and Jai Hindley, who both lead the overall standings by the same number of seconds.

2021 Olympics: A rare case of luck for Rohan Dennis

The following year, Dennis wins another time trial at the Tour of Catalonia and the Tour de Romandie, thus positioning himself for the postponed Olympic Games. He leaves again with bronze. A good minute behind Primoz Roglic, three seconds behind Dumoulin - and just a few hundredths ahead of Stefan Küng.

With the medal, Dennis joins the ranks of riders who can take Olympic honours on the track as well as on the road. And it is one of the few moments when he is lucky at the Olympics or World Championships. Otherwise, things rarely went really smoothly at the highlights. At the 2016 Games in Rio, his handlebars broke 15 kilometres before the finish line. He missed out on the medals by eight seconds and finished fifth.

In 2015, Dennis travelled to the World Championships as one of the favourites after winning the Tour de France time trial, but a defect meant he could finish no higher than sixth in the end. And at his last appearance in Glasgow in 2023, the cameras also capture an unnerved Rohan Dennis, who has to change his bike on the final climb.

Yellow, pink and red for Dennis

In this respect, 2018, like the following year, was one of the few years in which he completed the World Championship course without any problems. He finished 1:21 minutes ahead of Tom Dumoulin and Victor Campenaerts, who took silver and bronze in Innsbruck. The fact that Dennis could only be stopped by bad luck again this year was already apparent during the course of the season. He won time trials at the Giro and Vuelta. At the Tour of Spain, he pulled on the red jersey after winning the opening stage, a feat he had achieved the year before by winning the team time trial.

However, as he also rode in pink at the Giro, he completed his collection of leader's jerseys in the Grand Tours. He was beaten by Dumoulin in the opening time trial, but regained the seconds with Boni at the intermediate sprint and took the lead, which he maintained for three days. In any case, this Giro was a further sign of his ambitions as a tour rider, which he later buried. Up until the 18th stage, Dennis was only five minutes behind the leader Simon Yates in 7th place overall. Only the gravel on the Colle delle Finestre put an end to his ambitions. He conceded 14 minutes and rolled out the last mountain stage in the group stage, eventually finishing 16th, almost an hour behind the leader.

"Cycling, you've given me a lot"

But that is also Rohan Dennis. Similar to his Tour withdrawal the following year, the reasons for this may also lie in the Australian's temperament. Van Garderen, his captain at BMC, once described Dennis in a tweet as follows: "Dirty mouth, strong legs, short fuse, best team-mate you can imagine."

Rohan Dennis announces the end of his career via Instagram in February 2023 "Cycling, you've given me so much and I'll always be grateful for that. The season is still long, but it will definitely be my last as a pro," he writes, before thanking his wife. In January, he wins another stage for Jumbo-Visma in his home country at the Tour Down Under. The World Championship time trial in Glasgow will be the end of a great career, but not his last race. Because he will have a Did Not finish behind the Grand Prix de Quebec.

Rohan Dennis' greatest successes

• 2x world champion in the individual time trial (2018 and 2019), plus in the top 8 in five other years
• 1x stage winner Tour de France (2015)
• 2x stage winner Vuelta a Espana (2018)
• 1x stage winner Giro d'Italia (2018)
• Wearer of the leader's jersey at all Grand Tours
• A total of 33 victories as a professional, including 22 in time trials
• Winner Tour Down Under (2015)
• Olympic bronze in the time trial (2021)
• Second overall at Tirreno-Adriatico (2017)
• Second overall in the Tour de Suisse (2019)
• 4x Australian time trial champion (2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022)
• 2x world champion in the team time trial (2014 and 2015)