Dual world time trial champion Rohan Dennis dumped from team Bahrain-Merida

Just days after defending his time trial world championship in England, South Australian cyclist Rohan Dennis has had his contract with team Bahrain-Merida terminated.

Rohan Dennis during the men’s road race at the UCI Road World Championships from Leeds to Harrogate. Picture: Alex Whitehead/Getty Images

• Dennis opens up on dramatic Tour exit
• How to get the most out of your Advertiser digital subscription

Australia’s world time trial champion Rohan Dennis has had his contract with race team Bahrain-Merida terminated with immediate effect.

Dennis, who retained his global crown at the UCI world championships in England last week, has not raced for Bahrain-Merida since the Tour de France in July, which he abandoned after stage 12 without explanation.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old Adelaide rider powered to his time trial defence in Yorkshire wearing an Australian national race skinsuit.

Stream over 50 sports live and on demand with KAYO SPORTS. Just $25/month, no lock-in contract. Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming instantly >

Rohan Dennis rides to back to back victories in the individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Harrogate, England last week. Picture: Tim de Waele/Getty Images

An official announcement of the termination came during Sunday’s elite men’s road race, in which Dennis was supporting Australia’s lead rider Michael Matthews.

Bahrain-Merida’s statement revealed the announcement had been delayed to allow Dennis to prepare fully for the worlds.

“The team terminated its contract with Mr Dennis on 13th September 2019,” the statement read.

“This termination has not previously been made public to allow Mr Dennis an undisturbed preparation for the UCI 2019 Road World Championships. “Mr Dennis has referred the termination to the UCI Arbitral Board. “Against this background, no further comment will be made at this time.”

Rohan Dennis after defending his world championship. Picture: Tim de Waele/Getty Images

Dennis earlier this month told The Advertiser the period after his controversial Tour de France had been the toughest of his career.

“It wasn’t pre-planned, it wasn’t a stunt, I was talking to my manager before the start and we agreed on finishing the stage and deal with everything else after but I knew that by pulling out in the short term I’d have to deal with some shit, some backlash — I didn’t expect it to be this big because it’s a bike race — but long term it was the best thing for me to do,” Dennis said.

“What I did was pull out of a race, it’s been blown out of proportion so much that people have slammed me for being everything under the sun,” Dennis said.

“I’ve read pretty well every post (on social media) and people didn’t get a response from me so they started sending my wife direct messages.

“I’ve come off Twitter and haven’t got into a slandering match because we have given other people the chance to try to sort this out in a mature way.

“I don’t want to put any more fuel on the fire.

“Not once did I bad-mouth any sponsor or the team or any other rider when I pulled out or before I pulled out in the media.”

It has been reported that Dennis was upset with a skinsuit that the team had arranged for him to wear in the following day’s time trial and there were ongoing disputes regarding bikes and equipment.

Dennis would not confirm or deny those reports to The Advertiser and said he would not comment on any internal matters.

Originally published as Dual world time trial champion Rohan Dennis dumped from team Bahrain-Merida