He had worn yellow in the Critérium du Dauphiné and set a previous UCI Hour Record earlier this year but Rohan Dennis moved into a new league on Saturday with a time trial demonstration in the Tour de France that left former world champions Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara floundering around the Utrecht.
To illustrate the magnitude of Dennis’s ride in Utrecht, his time of 14:56 over the 13.8km course was the fastest individual time trial in Tour de France history, eclipsing Greg LeMond’s record from 1989. History, though, mattered little for Dennis as he sat in the hot seat, his girlfriend close by for morale support as he watched rider after rider fail to challenge his time.
When Chris Froome crossed the line 50 seconds down, and only Vincenzo Nibali to come, Dennis’s celebrations began, the Australian all but sure of being only the seventh man from his country to pull on yellow.
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“We decided to go off early, set a benchmark and make everyone else chase me. It worked out perfectly,” he said once he pulled on the yellow jersey and made his way through the first major press scrum of this year’s race.
“There’s a little bit of shock,” he admitted with a grin so big it would stretch from Perth to Sydney.
“We’ve worked with the team and came out here about a month ago to check and recon the course. It’s the Tour de France and the yellow jersey. I’ve always dreamed of being in this position and now I am.
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