Rohan Dennis plans to follow path of Bradley Wiggins in bid to become Grand Tour contender
NATIONAL champion Rohan Dennis has declared he wants to follow the path of Bradley Wiggins and transform himself from time trial specialist to Grand Tour contender.
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NEWLY crowned national champion Rohan Dennis has declared he wants to follow the path of Bradley Wiggins and transform himself from time trial specialist to Grand Tour contender after this year's Rio Olympics.
On Thursday Dennis was hailed the next great time trialler of his generation after he laid to rest the ghosts of the past three years to win his first senior national time trial title in Ballarat.
It was high praise from his superstar BMC teammate Richie Porte who went into the race as the defending champion and finished second by 38 seconds after the 40.9km course.
Dennis and Porte led a BMC 1-2 while the surprise packet was 24-year-old former rower Sean Lake who produced the ride of his life to claim third place 1min 34secs behind.
It was a sweet victory for the Adelaide 25-year-old who was dumped from his bike by a whirly wind two years ago then last year blew a lead at the halfway point to finish second behind Porte.
But Dennis' day of reckoning began with some sound advice from his new teammate to pace himself and it paid dividends.
"Richie's advice was reassuring in what I needed to do," Dennis said.
"When you see a guy in front of you and you're pulling time back and getting time checks saying you're ahead it's always a bit of a confidence boost.
"But you keep holding back until it's time to go maximum and when you're in form you have that card to play.
"It's always a dream to win Aussie nationals and to be able to wear the green and gold in every time trial this year is a true honour."
Dennis - the reigning Tour Down Under champion - says the time trial at the Rio Olympics in August and Qatar world championships in October are his major goals for 2016 before he begins transforming his body to challenge for Grand Tours like the Tour de France in which he wore the yellow jersey last year.
"I put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best at whatever I am doing, Rio (is) my big goal this year with the time trial then time trial at the Qatar worlds," he said.
"Then I'm looking at turning more towards the GC (general classification) side of things after Rio.
"I'd like to take the route that Wiggo did, I can still win time trials because it's my specialty, but I have to strengthen my climbing and three-week Grand Tours."
Dennis averaged 47.9km/h to win Thursday's race and told himself to "believe" while out on the bike after a string of near misses at the national titles.
He still has a lump of scar tissue on his shoulder from when he thundered into the bitumen just outside of Ballarat two years ago.
"I'll never forget sliding along the ride at 60km/h, I've got a little ball of scar tissue on my shoulder to remind me ever day, every time the weather changes it itches."
"Monkey off the back, national champion in seniors now, it's good."
The national championships resume on Saturday with the under-23 men's road race while the elite men's and women's road races are at Buninyong on Sunday.
reece.homfray@news.com.au
Originally published as Rohan Dennis plans to follow path of Bradley Wiggins in bid to become Grand Tour contender
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