‘Not a happy person’: Rohan Dennis spoke of mental health issues years before Melissa Hoskins death
Rohan Dennis seemed to have everything going for him, but an ominous interview before his wife’s death revealed what was happening behind the scenes.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Former Olympic cyclist Rohan Dennis spoke of his mental health struggles and fears his marriage would be ruined by the high-pressure Tour de France environment, years before a reckless driving incident and the death of Melissa Hoskins.
Dennis was handed a suspended sentence by the South Australian District Court on Wednesday for his actions leading up to the December 30, 2023 death of his wife and fellow Olympic cyclist near their home in the affluent Adelaide suburb of Medindie.
Mental health was not a factor considered by the court.
Days before the tragedy that rocked Australian sport, cycling’s golden couple had shared a seemingly happy Christmas message “from our family to yours” — but hints of cracks beneath the surface had been present for years.
Speaking to media in Adelaide in 2020, Dennis revealed that mental health struggles and “personal family reasons” had sparked his controversial walkout of the Tour de France the prior year.
Dennis said he feared his marriage would be ruined by his spiralling mental health, which he blamed on unhappiness with the team environment at Bahrain-Merida at the time.
“It was for personal family reasons between the person I was becoming due to the situations I was put under, or the environment that I was in, that was causing me to be, let’s just say, not a good or a happy person to be around,” he said.
“That environment was [the] team environment. It was snowballing, it was getting worse and in the end I didn’t want to be a statistic of a sportsperson who was potentially going to be divorced.”
Dennis was dumped by Bahrain-Merida for abandoning the 2019 Tour de France after stage 12 without explanation, but insisted he had no regrets.
“I think I would have been kicking myself if I hadn’t,” he said.
“I didn’t do it for personal reasons. I honestly believe that if I’d continued and finished the stage, it would have been even worse because it would have looked even more planned, that I was going to exit just to annoy the team. Whereas me exiting the Tour de France was for the benefit of my family.”
He said that it was “quite an understatement” to say his mental health had deteriorated in the preceding season, leading Hoskins to start a “frank” conversation about how he was handling work.
“I didn’t realise how bad I was,” he said.
“I heard some stuff from my wife about my psych — that he had plans to take further actions, for my benefit and my mental health benefit — which I didn’t actually know about until I reckon two or three weeks ago. When you’re in it you’re obviously not happy but you don’t realise how bad you actually are most of the time.”
Dennis said he was “happy” after exiting Bahrain-Merida and signing with British squad Ineos for the 2020 season.
“I’m happy to be in a good place,” he said. “People around me are noticing that I’m in a much better place mentally and that’s the main thing. Family, friends have really noticed the change since December so it’s been a very positive move and I’m really keen to keep it going that way as well.”
But as Covid lockdowns disrupted the world that year, social media posts by Dennis raised concerns among followers.
“Day 33 — cracked and left the house #covid19 can suck my a** and so can #quarantine,” he wrote in an Instagram post from his car in Girona, Spain.
In response to one fan suggesting he could “just go [for] a drive and not post it on social media” to avoid the backlash, Dennis fired back, “Or I could show the reality of how s**t the situation is and not be one of your beloved drones who show their ‘perfect world’ as an elite athlete. Which would you like. Real or fake?”
Dennis retired from professional cycling in 2023, and after years of living between Europe and Australia, the couple were looking forward to a new beginning in the Adelaide Hills with their young family.
That all changed on December 30, 2023, when a blow-up over kitchen renovation costs saw Dennis leave the house, driving off into the night in the family’s Volkswagen Amarok.
Hoskins did not want him to leave and in tragic scenes, she jumped onto the bonnet of the car as Dennis drove down Medindie Lane, behind their home, going at about 20km/hr.
When Dennis pulled into Avenel Gardens Road, Hoskins dismounted the bonnet and grabbed at the driver’s side door.
As Dennis accelerated away from the intersection, Hoskins held onto the driver’s side door handle.
She tripped and was dragged under the vehicle as Dennis drove down Avenel Gardens Road.
When Dennis heard a “thump”, he stopped the car and ran to help her.
Hoskins suffered critical injuries and later died at Royal Adelaide Hospital.
The breakdown happened in seconds.
CCTV footage recorded Hoskins on the bonnet of the car for about six seconds.
The time between Hoskins dismounting the vehicle and Dennis closing the driver’s side door and accelerating away from her was three seconds, the factual summary states, and the time between Dennis closing the door and Hoskins falling under the wheel was about two seconds.
In a police interview, recorded just hours after the crash, Dennis said his wife was still alive and struggling to breathe in the aftermath of the accident.
“I rolled her onto her side ‘cos she seemed to be choking on something and I thought it might have been blood, and it was,” Dennis said.
“And then they gave — the neighbours they just gave me sort of a, a rug to sort of hold her head. I was holding that to try and stop any sort of bleeding. And just talking to her the whole time to try keep her awake.”
Hoskins’ death sent shockwaves through Australia’s sporting community.
She competed in the London and Rio Olympics in track cycling, only just missing out on a medal in London after finishing fourth in the 3000m team pursuit category.
In Rio, she finished fifth in the 4000m team pursuit.
Dennis snatched a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
In April, Hoskins’ family confronted Dennis in court as he sat in the dock, relaying their pain and grief in an emotional hearing.
Hoskins’ father Peter broke down when he spoke about the impact the tragic event would have on the couple’s two children, who he called the family’s “silent grievers”.
“The silent grievers too young to realise the present and future impact of their mother’s loss on their lives,” he said.
Sister Jessica said the family had not received an apology from Dennis for his actions.
“No remorse has been shown,” she said.
Peter said an “apology and some sort of explanation” from Dennis would help his family with their grieving process.
Hoskins’ mother Amanda said she believed the event was a “tragic accident”.
“I know that you would never intentionally hurt her,” she said.
Jane Abbey KC, for Dennis, said her client was “in love” with Hoskins at the time of her death.
“He loved her as his best friend, as his partner and as the mother to his children,” she said.
Dennis has admitted to driving a motor vehicle without lawful excuse while Hoskins was on or in proximity to the vehicle, knowing that act was likely to cause harm to another and being recklessly indifferent to whether such harm was caused.
On Wednesday, Judge Ian Press sentenced Dennis to one-year-and-four-months’ jail, to be wholly suspended, with a two-year good behaviour bond. His licence was disqualified for five years.
Judge Press stressed Dennis was not being held responsible for Hoskins’ death, but for his actions leading up to it.
His suspended sentence means he will return home and continue to care for the children.
“To describe the consequences of the events of December 30, 2023, as tragic, really does not do justice to the grief, the anguish and the turmoil those events have brought into the lives of those who knew and loved your wife Melissa,” Judge Press said.
“I accept you have a sense of responsibility for all that occurred. I accept you have anguished over what could have been different if you had acted in some other way … you are not charged with being criminally responsible for all of the events of that night and in particular you are not charged with causing the death of your wife.”
More Coverage
Originally published as ‘Not a happy person’: Rohan Dennis spoke of mental health issues years before Melissa Hoskins death
Senior AFL staffers at centre of botched Schultz probe revealed
Pressure is mounting on league bosses in the wake of the botched investigation into Lachie Schultz’s on-field concussion and the senior AFL staffers at the heart of the error can be revealed.
Duo close in on VFL return as key Cats push cases against Port
With a quartet of Geelong players in the mix to return in round 10, the Cats could have more reinforcements on the way as a number of players look to make their return via the VFL in the coming weeks.