Rohan Dennis excited by joining new team after becoming world champion and a new dad in 2018
Rohan Dennis stands on the eve of a new season excited by the fresh start of joining a new team after a life-changing year on and off the bike in 2018 — so what comes next for the world champion?
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Rohan Dennis stands on the eve of a new season excited by the fresh start of joining a new team after a life-changing year on and off the bike in 2018.
On the bike he achieved a lifelong dream of becoming time trial world champion for the first time after years of knocking on the door with top-five finishes and being denied by crashes and mechanical failures.
And off the bike he became a father when he and wife Mel welcomed baby son Oliver into the world in October.
That combined with joining new team Bahrain-Merida following the collapse of BMC last year has reinvigorated the 28-year-old who opens his 2019 season at the national championships in Ballarat this week.
“I ticked off a few of my big goals of my career last year, having not ever won a world title as an individual even as a junior,” Dennis said.
“Then Oliver coming two-and-a-half weeks later topped it all off, I was a bit nervous I might not have made it to worlds because the doctors were saying he might come early.
“But everything just worked out perfectly time-wise.
“I won’t lie the first four weeks with Oliver was tough, I said this is the only child we might have, but he’s a lot better now, he settled down basically as soon as we landed in Australia before Christmas.
“The whole trip back to Australia he was really good and he’s actually sleeping really well at the moment.
“The new team has been really good so far, they’ve been really understanding with Oliver coming into our lives that it’s not always easy to make certain things, and they’ve been accommodating with me being able to leave early from training camp and things like that.”
Dennis said becoming a dad and focusing on the time trial did change the way he rode at times last year.
“I found from about August last year I was thinking about racing a bit differently as well — particularly sprint finishes I was backing out of because now I’ve got more than just my own mouth to feed, but also because from that point in the season all my focus was on the time trial.
“When there is a result on the line I am happy to take the risk but if not then I just have to be smart about it.”
Dennis will bypass the road race in Buninyong on Sunday to focus on defending his time trial title on Tuesday where he will be aiming for four in a row.
“I’ve been doing a little bit of work and I feel better on my road bike than my time trial bike at the moment,” he said.
“I’m not sure if that’s just in my head but my coach Neal (Henderson) tells me I’m on track for the same sort of power or performance as any other year.
“He’s confident I’m on the right track so I’m letting him keep telling me that, and I’ll have to see how it goes on the day.
“I’m going to nationals to test out the time trial bike and give some feedback on that, what might need a bit of work whether that’s dialling the position a bit better.
“To do that in a non-stressful environment works out well and it will be an added bonus to ride in the rainbows as well.”
Dennis will go from the national championships back to Adelaide for the Tour Down Under next weekend where he will race alongside new teammates Heinrich Haussler, Domenico Pozzovivo and Phil Bauhaus in the first WorldTour event of the season.
“I’m always happy to take an opportunity especially at a WorldTour race, my form is what I believe is good and on the road bike I feel really good,” he said.
“I’m confident that I’ll be able to do somewhat of a GC (general classification) race but Pozzovivo is coming out and I think he wants to do a bit of GC as well, and Phil Bauhaus is coming so it will be a good little team.”
Beyond that Dennis’ major goals for the season include defending his time trial world championship and racing the Tour de France in support of Vincenzo Nibali.
His early season race program will most likely include TDU, Tirreno-Adriatico, Pais Vasco, La Fleche Wallonne, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Tour of California, Tour de Suisse and the Tour de France.
reece.homfray@news.com.au
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Originally published as Rohan Dennis excited by joining new team after becoming world champion and a new dad in 2018